Author talk: Steve Sailah at Hurstville Library

 Steve Sailah, former ABC foreign correspondent and two time Walkley Award winner for excellence in journalism, will be discussing his debut novel, A Fatal Tide at Hurstville Library. 
It is the story of Thomas Clare and his best friend Snow who find themselves on the blood soaked battlefields of Gallipoli in an attempt to track down his father's murderer. This powerful tale of murder and mystery will appeal to both fiction readers and history enthusiasts. 2014 is the centenary year of Australia's participation in World War 1 and Steve's continuing interest in trying to understand what it was really like for young men to leave home to become a part of The Great War provides a fascinating insight into his writing.
 During his twenty-six year career with the ABC Steve  befriended several of the last Gallipoli veterans when he accompanied them to the battlefields on the 75th anniversary of the first ANZAC landing. His interviews with six of them were released as an audio documentary, Stories from Gallipoli.

Thursday 11 September at 7.00pm         
Hurstville Library
cnr Queens Rd and Dora St, Hurstville

Free event: Bookings online here

Enquiries: 9330 6142

Book available for sale and signing.

                               

Author Talk: Pamela Cook at Penshurst Library for Library and Information Week 2014

Library and Information Week 2014 gets off to a great start when Penshurst Library welcomes guest author Pamela Cook. Pamela will give us a glimpse into the creative writing process and into her own journey from aspiring writer to successful published author of rural fiction. Her books Blackwattle Lake and the recently published Essie's Way are popular, contemporary stories in an Australian rural setting or in Pamela's own words,  "Australian fiction with a country heart". 
This morning will appeal to both keen readers of Australian fiction and to would-be writers looking for inspiration. Find out more about Pamela at her website 

Penshurst Branch Library

Monday 19 May, 2014 @ 11am

630 Forest Rd, Penshurst

Booking essential: 9330 6422 or online

Books available for sale and signing.

Author Talk with Deborah O'Brien at Hurstville Library

Deborah O'Brien

Join Deborah O'Brien at Hurstville Library when she launches her new book, A Place of Her Own, a contemporary romance in an Australian setting. With a strong female character, this new work is the third in the Millbrooke trilogy, following Mr Chen's Emporium and The Jade Widow.
Deborah is a teacher, visual artist and writer. She has written several non-fiction books, short stories and contributed articles to a variety of magazines. With family links to rural NSW, she divides her time between the city and a country cottage, overlooking a creek frequented by platypuses.

 Praise for The Jade Widow, "O'Brien delivers accuracy and grace in this deftly written tale." - Australian Women's Weekly

Visit Deborah's website to find out more about her and her work

 

Hurstville Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

Thursday 1 May 2014 @ 1pm

Bookings essential: 9330 6142

Book available for sale & signing

Light refreshments from 12.30pm

Chris Muir guest author at Hurstville Library

Chris Muir

Chris Muir, who has been described as Australia's very own Lee Child, will be Hurstville Library's first guest author for 2014.

Chris, no stranger to the intense beauties and hardships that pervade Africa, has drawn upon his own experiences to write his debut thriller, A Savage Garden. From living with gorillas on top of the mountains in the Congo to witnessing the chilling lead-up to the Rwandan genocide in 1994, his time spent in the country has been nothing short of life-changing. He has seen both the worst and best of life in Africa, and manages to weave this into his captivating thriller.

Join Chris as he shares some of his African adventures and learn how they have provided a rich source of material for his new book combining elements of political thriller, adventure and romance. 

Thursday 20 February @ 7pm

Hurstville Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

Bookings essential: 9330 6142

Book available for sale & signing

Author Talk: Tim Bowden, the Sydney Writers' Festival comes to Hurstville Library

                                                                                                                                                      

 In association with the Sydney Writer's Festival best selling author Tim Bowden will be appearing at Hurstville Library. Tim will talk about his book The Changi Camera, a unique record of the Changi POW camp and the Thai-Burma Railway. When the Allied forces in Singapore collapsed in February 1942, Private George Aspinall joined his fellow Australians on the march to Changi. He carried a folding Kodak 2 camera, given to him by an uncle as a departure present, and on it he captured rare images of three-and-a-half years of captivity - which would later be used as evidence in war crimes trials. They have also helped Tim Bowden tell the stories of these brave Australian soldiers.

Tim Bowden AM is a broadcaster, radio and television documentary maker, oral historian and author. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in Asia and North America, and in 1969 was the first executive producer of the ABC radio current affairs program PM before becoming a producer with the ground-breaking television current affairs program This Day Tonight in the early 1970’s.

Thursday 23 May @7pm
Refreshments from 6.30pm

Hurstville Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

                                             Free: Bookings 9330 6142

                                             Book for sale & signing

                                           

Author Talk Boyd Anderson

Penshurst Branch Library will be the venue for an evening with  author Boyd Anderson who will discuss his fourth novel, Amber Road set in colonial Singapore during the cataclysmic final months of World War 11. Resonating with intrigue, romance and suspense and written on the grand scale of a Gone with the Wind, Amber Road tells the story of Victoria Khoo a young woman of indomitable spirit who comes of age during the cruel occupation of Singapore by the Japanese.  This evening is a must for fans of historical fiction and anyone interested in a behind the  scenes glimpse into  the writing process.

Boyd spent several years as a creative director in advertising, winning many awards in New York, Cannes, London, Los Angeles and Sydney. His other books are Children of the Dust, Ludo and the intrigingly named Errol, Fidel and the Cuban Rebel Girls

"For me, historical fact provides a strong backbone for a compelling narrative; compelling because it lends a degree of immediate plausibility." Boyd Anderson in an interview  reviewer Scott Whitmont

Wednesday 27 February @ 6pm

Penshurst Branch Library

630 Forest Road, Penshurst

Free event: Bookings 9330 6422

Copies of book for sale & signing

Author Talks: Robin de Crespigny

Join Sydney film-maker, producer, director and writer Robin de Crespigny at Hurstville Library when she introduces her prize winning book, "The People Smuggler". Winner of the 2012 Queensland Literary Award for nonfiction, "The People Smuggler" is the true story of Iraqi refugee Ali Al Jenabi who became a people smuggler to save his family, and who ultimately came to be seen not as a heinous criminal but as the "Oskar Schindler of Asia". This is an epic tale that leaves it up to the reader to ask themselves what they would do in the same situation.
"The People Smuggler" was the highest selling Australian book at the Sydney Writers Festival, the Sydney Morning Herald's Pick of the Week, and has recently been hovering at the top of bestseller lists in bookshops around the country.

Robin de Crespigny

During the evening Robin will talk about the story, how, when and why she came to the project, her writing process and how she worked with Ali despite their cultural differences all interspersed with readings. The evening will then be opened up for a Q &A session which promises a vigorous discussion on this topical subject.

“An engrossing account of a figure seen by some as saviour and others as criminal. A significant book”, Thomas Keneally

Friday 9 November @ 7pm
Hurstville Library
cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville
Bookings: 9330 6142
Copies of book available for sale and signing.

Author Talks: David Hill "The Great Race"

Popular author David Hill who has written extensively about many key periods in Australian history will be Hurstville Library's next guest author. David's newest book  The Great Race: : The Race Between the English and the French to Complete the Map of Australia is an account of  the thrilling race between Frenchman Nicolas Baudin and Englishman Matthew Flinders to chart the coast of Australia. On the afternoon of 8 April 1802, in the remote southern ocean, the two explorers had a remarkable chance encounter. Written from diaries and other first-hand accounts, this is the fascinating story of men whose drawings recorded countless previously unknown species and turned mythical creatures into real ones, and whose skill and determination enabled Terra Australis Incognita to become Australia.

David Hill has had a remarkable career as chairman then managing director of the ABC, chairman of the Australian Football Association, chief executive director of the State Rail Authority NSW, chairman of Sydney Water Corporation and chairman of CREATE, a national organisation responsible for representing the interests of young people and children in institutional care.

David's earlier books  include

• The Gold Rush: the fever that forever changed Australia,
• The Forgotten Children: Fairbridge Farm School and its betrayal of Australia's migrant children
• 1788: the brutal truth of the First Fleet: the biggest single migration the world has ever seen.

Thursday 25 October @ 7pm

Hurstville Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

Bookings 9330 6142 or at Service Desk

Books available for sale & signing

Author Talks: Anne Henderson

Hurstville Library's next guest author is Anne Henderson, author, editor and  deputy director of The Sydney Institute who will be presenting a talk about Joseph Lyons the subject of her  highly acclaimed biography Joseph Lyons: The People's Prime Minister.  Australia's tenth prime minister between 1932 and 1939, Joe Lyons dominated Australian politics throughout the 1930's but has, until this book, been largely neglected by historians. He survived three consecutive elections, served through the era of the Great Depression and was a popular figure at the time. Denounced for leaving the ALP and under recognized by the conservatives this new full biography attempts to set the record straight.


"In this finely worked biography of the first Australian prime minister to die in office, Henderson makes a convincing case that Lyons, up to now, has not been afforded his rightful place in our political history. This book deserves a wide readership." Ross Fitzgerald The Lyons redrawn: PM gets his due in The Australian October 22, 2011

ABC 7.30 Report Forgotten prime minister remembered  view report and interview 18/10/11

Hurstville Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

Wednesday 26 September  @ 7pm

Bookings & enquiries 9330 6142

Book available for sale & signing

Author Talk Mark Gasnier

Mark Gasnier, the legendary St George - Illawarra Dragons player is coming to Hurstville Library and will share highlights from his life and career and introduce his recently released autobiography Gaz.

He is regarded as one of the best players in the game in recent years, playing at Club, State of Origin and International levels. With a Rugby League immortal as an uncle, there was always going to be a high level of expectation surrounding Mark Gasnier. He scored over 100 tries in his Rugby League career, and won that elusive premiership with the Dragons in 2010.

Mark is also a contributor to the recipe book Footy Flavours a collection of delcious dishes from favourite Rugby League stars.

This is a great opportunity for all Dragons fans and sports lovers to meet one of the club's most popular players.

Copies of Gaz and and Footy Flavours will be available for sale and signing.

Hurstville Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

Wednesday 29 August @ 7pm

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL 9330 6142

Author Talk: Sandy Brocking

Interested in improving your fitness and all round health, want to lose weight safely and permanently then come along to Hurstville Library's next Author Talk with Sandy Brocking.  Sandy is a health professional whose book  Think Smart and Lose Weight is both a memoir and guide to losing weight without rigorous, radical or expensive diet regimes.   Once heavily overweight herself, now fit and very active Sandy, after seeing her patients battling weight issues and associated diseases like diabetes and heart disease, dedicated herself to helping people change their lives for the better. This is a great opportunity to hear about her innovative health plan designed for those who want to lose weight sensibly and for good.

Thursday 28 June @ 7pm

Hurstville City Library

cnr Queens Rd and Dora St, Hurstville

Bookings: at the library or 9330 6142

  

                        

                           

                                    

Author Talk: Kate Forsyth

Fans of fantasy, historical fiction and anyone who loves a well told tale are in for a real treat when internationally best selling author Kate Forsyth appears at Hurstville City Library to talk about her amazing new novel Bitter Greens. Inspired by the traditional Rapunzel fairytale but definitely for adults this is a compelling story of desire, obsession, black magic, and the redemptive power of love.
Kate's books have been published in over 13 different countries and won or been nominated for many awards including including Best First Novel and a CYBIL Award in the US. Among her best known works are The Witches of Eileanan and the Rhiannon's Ride series for adults.
Kate is currently undertaking a doctorate in fairy tale retellings at the University of Technology.


"One of the best things about being a writer is you get to spend all day discovering fascinating things about the world and call it research." Kate Forsyth

Hurstville City Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

Thursday 24 May @ 1pm

Free event

Bookings at library Service Desk or 9330 6142

Author Talk: Arwa El Masri at Hurstville City Library

Share an evening with Arwa El Masri whose memoir Tea with Arwa: one woman's story of faith, family and finding a home in Australia has become a bestseller with its focus on how alike we all are, regardless of faith as we seek safety, love and a sense of home. Arwa was born in Saudi Arabia in 1976 and as the child of Palestinian migrants was a stateless person. Just before her 9th birthday her parents came to Australia to give Arwa and her sisters a place to call home. Although it took some time for Arwa to feel at home in Australia and for her to reconcile her Muslim faith with life as a young woman in Western Sydney she became an Australian citizen in 1990. Part of her fascinating story is her courtship and marriage to legendary Rugby League player Hazem El Masri.


Thursday 16 February 2012 @ 7.30pm
Hurstville City Library cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville
FREE EVENT
Bookings 9330 6142 or in person at the Information Desk
Copies of Tea with Arwa will be available for sale & signing

Author Talk: Kim Cheng Boey at Hurstville City Library

Award winning author and poet Kim Cheng Boey will be Hurstville Library's first guest author for 2012 and will share his ideas of home and belonging, and the predicament facing a migrant writer. He will read from his poetry and his recent book Between Stations. Kim Cheng is the author of four collections of poems Somewhere-Bound (1989), Another Place(1992), Days of No Name(1996), After the Fire(2006) and a collection of personal essays entitled Between Stations. These essays focus on his experiences travelling and working in China, India, Egypt and Morocco and transport the reader to particular places and states of mind. Kim Cheng emigrated from Singapore in 1997 and is now an Australian citizen teaching creative writing at the University of Newcastle.

Hurstville City Library
Friday 3 February, 2012
Free event. Bookings 9330 6142

His nostalgia for his childhood home and memories of his father travel with him as he visits places of difference, but there are vivid reminders of pathways previously trodden. His return to Singapore seeks to remind the reader of the, at times, distressing and disturbing effects of change on the itinerant traveller, who upon returning to his home country, finds it vastly different to the traditional memories he has carried with him on his travels. Part of a review for Between Stations on media-culture.org.au

Author Talk: Editor Anna Valdinger - HarperCollins Australia: A glimpse into the world of book publishing

Hurstville City Library
cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville
Thursday 27th October @ 7pm
Bookings 9330 6142

Ever wondered what it takes to get published?
Why do some authors end up on bestsellers lists?
What are publishers looking for?
What is the role of an editor?
Anna Valdinger Commissoning Editor of Australian commercial fiction authors for HarperCollins Australia will take us behind the scenes of the book publishing world. Anna is responsible for looking after and building up a stable of Australian commercial fiction authors and helping to develop their careers from book to book particularly in the genres of crime, thrillers, sagas, women's fiction both contemporary and historic.
Anna will share her insights and experience and looks forward to answering all those questions you may have about the publishing scene.
Star authors with HarperCollins include;
Colleen McCullough, Tara Moss, Nikki Gemmell and Belinda Alexandra.
Anna also looks after international authors such as Paullina Simons, Paulo Coelho, Daniel Silva and Michael Crichton, as well as some of the Avon romance authors including Stephanie Laurens and Anna Campbell.
With experience in the publishing world both in London and Sydney this evening promises to be a real treat for all avid readers and aspiring writers.

Colleen McCullough

Author Talks: Michael Mobbs "The Sustainable House"

Author and sustainability expert Michael Mobbs will be Hurstville City Library's guest author for September. Whether you're planning to build, renovate or just want some tips, whether you live in an apartment or a house, Michael's book Sustainable House is regarded as the essential guide to help you achieve an environmentally friendly home. First published in 1998, the long-awaited second edition covers the revolutions that have since occurred in sustainable housing, and, critically, includes his assessment on technologies and materials used in his own ground-breaking sustainable house more than 14 years after installation. Did the solar panels last? Is rainwater in the city safe to drink? How has the garden handled over one million litres of treated sewage?
Michael has worked as a lawyer, specialising in environmental law. He has advised on technology, design, environmental law and policy to government, the private sector and community groups. Since publishing Sustainable House in 1998 he has founded his own company specialising in the design and project management of sustainable residential and commercial properties. Read Michael's website to find out more.

Michael's first hand experience on all aspects of sustainable housing and gardening promises an enlightening and information packed evening.

Hurstville City Library
cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville
Thursday 22nd September @ 7pm
Bookings 9330 6142
Books availabe for sale & signing

Author Talk @ Hurstville City Library - Terry Boylan

Fuzzy & furry anecdotes about life at the zoo!

Share an evening at the library with zookeeper and author Terry Boylan who has just released his first book The Keepers and the Kept: Confessions of a Zookeeper. Terry has worked as a zookeeper for more than 40 years at Taronga Zoo, Melbourne and in London. In his 'zoological memoir' he lightheartedly recounts life at a zoo from a zookeeper's perspective.

Interesting and sometimes bizarre human characters, the day to day running of a zoo and of course the humorous and heart-warming escapades of the animals will appeal to all. Terry also reveals through his anecdotes how modern zoos have developed into the professinal organizations they are today.

Thursday 21st July @ 7pm
Hurstville City Library
cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville
Free event, please book 9330 6142
Books for available for sale & signing

"While there is no doubt animals can behave in the strangest ways, the oddest creatures in the zoo are still the ones that come through the turnstiles." - Terry Boylan

Author Talk Georgia Blain for Library Week @ Hurstville City Library

Can't make it to the Sydney Writers' Festival? Then join us at the library for an evening with participant Georgia Blain who will introduce her new novel "Too Close to Home." In the tradition of The Slap and Indelible Ink, Too Close to Home is a dramatic account of contemporary Australian life.
Set against the back-drop of one of the most interesting events in recent Australian political history, the demise of the Rudd government the novel is an uncomfortable domestic drama exploring the failings of Freya and Matt, a couple who cannot lead the examplary lives they pretend they want.

Her recent non-fiction Births Deaths Marriages was shortlisted for the Nita B Kibble Award in 2009. She was named one of the SMH's Best Young Novelists in 1998 and has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.

Hurstville City Library, cnr Queens Rd & Dora St

Wednesday 25th May @ 7pm

Bookings 9330 6142

Books available for sale & signing

Larry Writer guest author at Hurstville LMG

Friday 8th April @ 7pm
Hurstville City Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville
Bookings 9330 6142

Enter the rough and tumble of Sydney's criminal underworld with Larry Writer Hurstville City Library's next guest author. Hear Larry introduce his new book Bumper The Life & Times of Frank 'Bumper' Farrell, the most feared and revered policeman in Australia's history.

Frank 'Bumper' Farrell was a legendary policeman and former Newtown footballer who worked the mean streets of Sydney in the wild days of Razor gangs, wartime and the ferocious '50s. His ruthless tactics put the fear of God into even the most hardened criminals. At notorious brothelkeeper Tilly Devine's 50th birtday party, she plunged the carving knife into the roast pork remarking, "I wish this 'ere pig was Bumper Farrell."

Among the books Larry has written or co-written are:

Razor (the Ned Kelly Award-winning account of Tilly Devine and soon to be the next Underbelly series)

Pleasure and Pain (the biography of Chrissy Amphlett)

The Australian Book of Heroism: Stories of Courage and Sacrifice

The Australian Book of True Crime

Fine Thanks Mate: John 'Bomber' Peard: League, Life and Second Chances

First Blood: Australia's Finest Great Sea Battle

The Moose that Roared (a biography of Rex Mossop)

Never Before, Never Again (the story of those players who played Rugby League for St George winning 11 premierships in a row from 1956-1966)

No One's Indestructible: Surviving Strokes and How to Avoid Them (with John Newcombe)

Sunshine & Shadow: a Brothers' Story (with Stephen Dack, the story of two brothers coping with the death of their mother from cancer)

He has worked in Sydney, London and New York as an editor, bureau chief and writer.

Prize winning author Katherine Howell at Hurstville City Library

Fans of crime thrillers, detective fiction and complex characters are in for a real treat when prize-winning Australian author Katherine Howell visits Hurstville City Library to talk about her recently released fourth novel Violent Exposure featuring Detective Ella Marconi.

Katherine a former ambulance officer left behind a fifteen-year career to pursue her lifelong passion for writing with great success. Her first novel Frantic won the 2008 Davitt Award for Best Crime fiction, her second novel The Darkest Hour won the 2009 Davitt Reader's Choice Award and her third novel Cold Justice was selected as a Big Book Club book of the month. She is currently working on her fifth Ella Marconi novel.

"With each book I write, I find myself revisiting some of my best and worst times as a paramedic, and Violent Exposure is no exception," says Katherine.

'[Detective Ella Marconi] is a complex and appealing character whose passion for crime solving is both endearing and compelling and keeps the pace of the book racing.' Sunday Telegraph

Hurstville City Library

cnr Queens Rd & Dora St, Hurstville

Thursday 17th February @ 7pm

Free Event

Bookings essential: 9330 6142

Books available for sale and signing.