Discover the exciting world of Australian literature through UQ Book Club!
Now more than ever, we may find ourselves turning towards literature. Whether we are picking up a book for the first time or rediscovering a beloved pastime, literature can aid in the suddenly pressing need to escape from reality, to find a sense of hope and to provide comfort.
Hosted by the Centre's Director, Associate Professor Stephen Carleton, The UQ Book Club launched in May 2020, taking us through self-isolation and into a post-pandemic era. The book club will champion and discuss works of Australian literature as part of an interactive online community.
“At the Centre for Critical and Creative Writing, we want to make UQ the best place in Australia to become a writer and to think critically about writing that makes a difference in the world. I think that brief really aligns with some of the aims of the book club,” Associate Professor Carleton said.
In each club meeting, Stephen will be joined by a guest from the Australian literary scene, opening with a discussion and followed by a Q&A with audience members.
Audience members will then have the chance to participate in a live vote to decide next month's book.
About The University of Queensland Press (UQP).
UQP is one of Australia’s leading publishing houses. Established in 1948 as a wholly owned subsidiary of The University of Queensland, UQP has consistently produced culturally significant works across genres such as fiction, non-fiction and poetry, as well as children's and young adult books.
Born Into This by Adam Thompson
Special guest
Joan Makes History by Kate Grenville
Special Guest
Ordinary Matter by Laura Elvery
Special Guest 
Melanie Myers is a Brisbane-based writer, academic, and occasional actor. She has a Doctorate of Creative Arts. Her short fiction and articles have been published in a variety of publications, including Kill Your Darlings, Overland, Arena Magazine, Griffith Review and Hecate. In 2018 she won the Queensland Literary Awards Glendower Award for an Emerging Writer. She is the former artistic director of Reality Bites Festival, a non-fiction writers’ festival based on the Sunshine Coast.
When May’s mother dies suddenly, she and her brother Billy are taken in by Aunty. However, their loss leaves them both searching for their place in a world that doesn’t seem to want them. While Billy takes his own destructive path, May sets off to find her father and her Aboriginal identity. Her journey leads her from the Australian east coast to the far north, but it is the people she meets, not the destinations, that teach her what it is to belong.
Tara June Winch is an Australian writer based in France. She has written essay, short fiction and memoir for Vogue, Vice, McSweeneys, and various Australian publications and anthologies. Her first novel, Swallow the Air, was published in 2006 and won numerous literary awards, including the David Unaipon Award and a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. It has been on the education and HSC syllabus for Standard and Advanced English in Australia since 2009. In the same year she was awarded the International Rolex Mentor and Protégé Award that saw her work under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.
Mammoth by Chris Flynn
Special Guest
The White Girl by Tony Birch 
Special Guest
Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe
Special Guest