Join Booker-shortlisted author Steve Toltz in conversation with Caroline Overington as they launch Toltz' terrifically entertaining new novel, A Rising of the Lights, an audacious comic lament for a world that no longer knows itself.

Steve Toltz was born in Sydney, Australia in 1972. His first novel, A Fraction of the Whole, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. His second novel, Quicksand, won the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour. Here Goes Nothing, Toltz’s third novel, was a finalist for the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award and received the Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize.

Caroline Overington is the literary editor at The Weekend Australian, and the author of 15 books. She is a two-time winner of Australia’s highest award for investigative journalism, the Walkley Award; and she is a previous winner of the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Excellence in Journalism. Her book length examination of corruption in the UN oil-for-food program, Kickback, won the $30,000 Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature; and her book-length examination of the hanging of Louisa Collins, Last Woman Hanged, won the 2016 Davitt Prize. She has been a judge of the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Awards; The Australian Fiction Prize for emerging writers; and the Australian Book Industry Awards. She lives in Bondi.

Nab a book bundle and save!
Prepurchase your copy of A Rising of The Lights when booking your ticket and save a bundle on the cover price. Orders will be available for collection at the venue from the team at Gertrude & Alice Bookstore. 

Event information 
Refreshments and bookstore available from 6pm. 
Tickets are General Admission. Seats are not allocated. 
To book accessible seating, please complete the Accessibility Requirements section when registering for your ticket.

Presented by Waverley Council and Gertrude & Alice Bookstore. With thanks to Penguin Random House Australia.

Waverley Council's artistic program supports the free expression of ideas. All artists, panellists and guests reflect and speak their own views.