Both Tyyni and I have now read The Work.  It is a tremendous read, a rich and vivid story, bristling with ideas. We've also been delving into her other, non-fiction, books, Eggshell Skull, Beauty, and Who Gets To Be Smart.

I was guilty of understatement when I wrote that she is something of a phenomenon. All her books are significant achievements, combining a keen intelligence with a strong narrative voice, and an innate sensibility.

She's on a nationwide tour and several of her events (Sydney, Canberra and Perth) are already sold out. 

Don't miss out on this opportunity to hear her speak.

Here is Annabel Crabb on The Work:

“Well this is annoying. Bri Lee—whose nonfiction debut Eggshell Skull revealed a fine mind and a stout heart—turns out to be a brilliant novelist as well. This novel isn’t just good; it’s superb. Assured, and powerful, and intelligent, and very, VERY hard to put down. Bri Lee has an established knack of articulating human confusion, pain and the cracks that open up in the systems we design to govern ourselves. And in The Work, she brings all her thrilling intelligence and her journalist’s eye to the art world, and its awkward historic dicta about who gets to make art, and how badly they can behave while they’re making it. Also it’s a love story. And a story about growing up in the country and moving to the city, observed with a perfect degree of spiky tenderness. I consumed it in a passion..."

Here at Outspoken we’re delighted to have been able to persuade Bri to come to Maleny to discuss her novel, but also to talk around her many other projects. These include, but are not confined to: lecturing in Media Law at Sydney University, where she’s doing a PhD into how Australia’s defamation laws stifle free speech; working as a guide on small group tours - the present one is to Egypt; doing weekend writing workshops.

Our introducing author is Carly-Jay Metcalfe.

Tyyni and I have also read Carly's memoir, Breath, and are furiously recommending it to everyone we meet.

It really is an extraordinary book, telling the story of a remarkable, and some might say difficult, life, but Carly brings to the story a profound sense of humour, combined with a close grasp of something most of us find difficult to deal with, that is, in a word, death.

She strikes me as utterly fearless, prepared to speak about everything and anything, which means there is a generosity in her words that is rare, and immensely valuable. 

Don't miss this opportunity to hear her speak. 

‘The only thing more remarkable than Carly-Jay Metcalfe’s story is the way she tells it. Breath captures the privileges and pains of living in our transitory bodies. The absurdities. The cruelties. The bone-deep joys. This book is a love letter to the sublime human mess. An invitation to pay attention to every precious lungful.’

Beejay Silcox