Lunch with Chef Tony Tan

360Q
$85

Over a delicious two-course meal prepared from new book Tony Tan’s Asian Cooking Class, Tony will share the excitement of growing up in his family’s restaurants, eye-opening experiences working in kitchens around the world, and the remarkable path that inspired him to start his own cooking school. With Kerrie O’Brien.

Candice Fox’s Long Game

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

International bestselling author Candice Fox talks about her devotion to crafting page-turning stories with strong characters and gripping plots, and her extraordinary experiences co-writing with American author James Patterson. With J.P. Pomare.

The Dictionary of Pip Williams

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

The meteoric success of Pip Williams’ deeply researched, compelling novels has been celebrated worldwide. With a recent theatre adaptation and screenplays beckoning, Pip explains why, after a career writing academic and social research texts, shifting to writing fiction re-ignited her passionate love of history, drama and folklore. With Hannie Rayson.

NOTE: the QLF cashless bar will be open from 6.30pm, before this 7.30pm event.

Australia’s Love Affair with Fishing

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Historian Anna Clark’s new book is a personal account of her love of ‘the catch’ and an exploration of how fishing became a national pastime. Anna delves into favourite fishing spots, the passing down of fishing know-how, Indigenous fishing practices, and why we love ‘throwing a line’. With Clare Wright.

Pheasants Nest

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Award-winning investigative journalist Louise Milligan has spent her career breaking generation-defining news and exposing nefarious activities of the powerful across political, religious and social spectrums. She explains the inspiration behind her debut crime novel Pheasants Nest to J.P. Pomare.

You’re Cancelled!

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

High profile industrial relations lawyer Josh Bornstein explains the real victims of ‘cancel culture’ in his new book Working for the Brand: How Corporations are Destroying Free Speech. Find out what outspoken individuals are up against in organisations where freedom of expression is seen as an affront. With Crikey journalist Charlie Lewis.

Life Under the Microscope

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Two blokes leading big lives get diagnosed with cancer and write enthralling memoirs on lessons learned, mistakes made, and all the contemplative stuff that happens in between. Writers Peter Goldsworthy and Tim Baker will talk about difficulties, and the bleakly funny moments, of receiving a life-changing diagnosis. With Natasha Mitchell.

Telling Truths and Busting Myths

The Hub
$25 / $18

Respected historians Clare Wright and Mark Dapin describe the excitement and challenges of diving into historical records to expose truths that often make people feel uncomfortable about the past, as explored in Clare’s new book Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions and Mark’s Lest: Australian War Myths. With Hilary Harper.

Supported by Queenscliff Bowling, Tennis and Croquet Club.

The Fire Inside

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Two award-winning storytellers, Alexis Wright and Nardi Simpson, talk about their most recent works, Praiseworthy and The Belburd, the sparks that ignite their creative imaginations, the process of grappling with great stories, and why writing is as essential as breathing. With Mel Fulton.

Supported by The Bookshop at Queenscliff

Ben Shewry’s Uses for Obsession

TARRA Queenscliff
$65

From growing up on a farm in New Zealand to being a globally celebrated chef, Ben has written new book that is part memoir, part manifesto, and dives deep into how innovation and imagination are central to his business, his kitchen and his life. With Myf Warhurst.

Ticket price includes a range of delicious canapés created by TARRA. Bar open; drinks available at bar prices.

Supported by Searoad Ferries.

Workshop: How to Write True Crime

The Hub
All tickets $40

Award-winning historian, journalist, screenwriter and author Mark Dapin answers practical questions faced by first-time true crime authors. How do I find inquest reports and court transcripts? How do I visit prisons? How do I interview lawyers, detectives and criminals? How do I know who is telling the truth? And importantly, how much danger am I letting myself in for? Mark will explain how to structure a story and keep the reader guessing.

The Surfer and the Circumnavigator

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Surfer Pauline Menczer and circumnavigator Bonnie Hancock faced enormous hurdles reaching the top of their professions. Each has written fascinating memoirs explaining what drives them, what kept them bouncing back when the chips were down, and how they conquered challenges that the ocean has thrown at them. With Natasha Mitchell.

Who Killed the News?

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

In his new book The Men Who Killed the News, Eric Beecher, the owner of Crikey and ex-News Corp and Fairfax editor, explains the threat to democracies of media owners behaving badly, and what it was like being sued by the Murdochs. With Rick Morton and Nicole Chvastek.

Because I’m Not Myself, You See

The Hub
$25 / $18

After Ariane Beeston gave birth, she experienced postpartum psychosis and was admitted to a psychiatric unit. Ariane explains in her memoir the long road back from the brink, her efforts to create awareness and minimise shame about postpartum psychosis, and her career pivot to perinatal health. With Jayne Tuttle.

Fusing Fiction with Fact

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Novelists are increasingly drawing on real-world historical events to write fiction. Malcolm Knox’s new book The First Friend is set in Stalin’s Soviet Union, and David Dyer’s latest, This Kingdom of Dust, explores what-ifs during the 1969 moon landing. They speak about the allure of history to Mel Fulton.

Rick Morton: Mean Streak

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Journalist and author Rick Morton explains his extraordinary new book Mean Streak, exposing the fraud and damage wrecked by the Australian government’s Robodebt scheme, where 470,000 wrongly-issued debts were issued to citizens. Lives were lost, legal challenges, a royal commission and government inquiries ensued. With Sophie Black.

Presented in partnership with The Wheeler Centre.

The Flirtation of Girls

The Hub
$25 / $18

Lawyer Sara M Saleh discusses her books The Flirtation of Girls and Songs For the Dead and the Living. Sara’s stories explore the lives of women and girls traversing Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Australia, celebrating music and family and exposing the violence of colonialism, war and displacement. With Jayne Tuttle.

The Game Changers

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Anti-violence campaigners Rosie Batty and Hana Assafiri have changed conversations about violence and coercive control across their communities and across Australia. Their new memoirs explore how they each disentangled themselves from harmful situations and the role that hope has played in rewriting the scripts of their lives. With Hilary Harper.

Black Duck and Imperial Harvest

Queenscliff Town Hall
$25 / $18

Bruce Pascoe and Lyn Harwood will speak about their new book Black Duck: A Year At Yumburra, which canvasses our relationship with nature, traditional food growing and Indigenous cuisine. Bruce will also speak about his new novel Imperial Harvest, a chronicle of war, trauma and survival. With Michael Cathcart.