The Wheeler Centre, in partnership with Fane Productions and Penguin Random House, is thrilled to present one of Australia’s finest living writers, Richard Flanagan, in conversation with journalist and television presenter Jennifer Byrne.

Flanagan is perhaps best known for his 2014 Booker Prize-winning novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, about Australian prisoners of war forced to build the Thai-Burma railway track during World War II. That novel was a work of unflinching, sometimes harrowing, realism, and a deeply researched masterclass in historical fiction. In Flanagan’s other books, however, he’s often delved into magic realism or blurred notions of fact and fiction, especially in the much-loved 2001 novel, Gould’s Book of Fish, and the 2017 fictional mock-memoir, First Person.

Flanagan’s new novel, The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, again embraces strange and surreal elements. It’s about vanishing species and vanishing selves; about a woman who sees herself, and others, disappearing – in part and in full.

Join this shape-shifting storyteller as he discusses his highly anticipated new work. You can find booking information – including ticket prices and instructions for how to attend an online event – on the Wheeler Centre website.

Readings is thrilled to be the official bookseller at this exciting event.