Julia Prendergast’s debut novel, The Earth Does Not Get Fat (UWA Publishing), doesn’t shy away from the ugly truths families hide behind closed doors. Her protagonist, Chelsea, is responsible both for her dementia-riddled grandfather and her alcoholic mother – responsibility she carries with as much grace and love as she can in each moment. In conversation with our First Book Club Coordinator Ellen Cregan at Readings Carlton on 10 May, Julia touches on what people hide beneath the surface, and why it’s really Chelsea’s mother’s story after all.
Further reading:
Read an extract from The Earth Does Not Get Fat.
Read Ellen Cregan’s review of the novel.
Our June First Book Club title is Mira Robertson’s The Unexpected Education of Emily Dean (Black Inc).
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KYD First Book Club Event: The Earth Does Not Get Fat

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Editor’s note: This episode contains discussion of death and grief practices.
Each month we celebrate an Australian debut release of fiction or non-fiction in the Kill Your Darlings First Book Club. For June that debut is The Eulogy by Jackie Bailey (Hardie Grant), an autofiction novel about family, death and grief that was shortlisted for the 2018 KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award.
Our theme song is Broke for Free’s ‘Something Elated’. Sound production by Nial Hosken.
Further reading:
Read Ellen Cregan’s review of The Eulogy in our June Books Roundup.
Read about Jackie’s favourite books and reading habits in this month’s Shelf Reflection.
How To Be Between is available now from your local independent bookseller.
 (more…)
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Jackie Bailey on ‘The Eulogy’: First Book Club

Each month we celebrate an Australian debut release of fiction or non-fiction in the Kill Your Darlings First Book Club. For May that debut is How To Be Between by Bastian Fox Phelan (Giramondo), a memoir about female facial hair, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and negotiating identity for those visibly between gender binaries.
Our theme song is Broke for Free’s ‘Something Elated’. Sound production by Nial Hosken.
Further reading:
Read Ellen Cregan’s review of How To Be Between in our May Books Roundup.
Read about Bastian’s favourite books and reading habits in this month’s Shelf Reflection.
How To Be Between is available now from your local independent bookseller.
 (more…)
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Bastian Fox Phelan on ‘How To Be Between’: First Book Club

Each month we celebrate an Australian debut release of fiction or non-fiction in the Kill Your Darlings First Book Club. For April that debut is Hovering by Rhett Davis (Hachette), a powerful and kaleidoscopic story about three people struggling to find connection in a chaotic and impermanent world. Rhett discussed the novel with our First Book Club host Ellen Cregan at a live event at Bargoonga Nganjin, North Fitzroy Library on 7 April.
Our theme song is Broke for Free’s ‘Something Elated’. Sound production by Nial Hosken.
Further reading:
Read Ellen Cregan’s review of Hovering in our April Books Roundup.
Read about Rhett’s favourite books and reading habits in this month’s Shelf Reflection.
Hovering is available now from your local independent bookseller.
 (more…)
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Rhett Davis on ‘Hovering’: First Book Club

Each month we celebrate an Australian debut release of fiction or non-fiction in the Kill Your Darlings First Book Club. For February that debut is Son of Sin by Omar Sakr (Affirm Press), a multifaceted tale brimming with angels and djinn, racist kangaroos and adoring bats, examining with a poet’s eye the destructive impetus of repressed desire and the complexities that make us human.
Our theme song is Broke for Free’s ‘Something Elated’. Sound production by Nial Hosken.
Further reading:
Read Ellen Cregan’s review of Son of Sin in our March Books Roundup.
Read about Omar’s favourite books and reading habits in this month’s Shelf Reflection.
Son of Sin is available now from your local independent bookseller.
 (more…)
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Omar Sakr on ‘Son of Sin’: First Book Club

Each month we celebrate an Australian debut release of fiction or non-fiction in the Kill Your Darlings First Book Club. For February that debut is The Cost of Labour by Natalie Kon-yu, out now from Affirm Press.
Natalie was nine weeks pregnant when the trembling began. Two weeks later she checked herself into a mental health unit. Rather than a woman with a health concern, the doctors saw Natalie as a vessel carrying precious cargo. This loss of agency carried on through childbirth and into her early years as a mother. Natalie discovered that she was far from alone.
In fact, her experience typifies the inequalities that weigh heavily on child-bearing women, as well as the devaluation of what is still perceived as ‘women’s work’. With bracing clarity and verve, Kon-yu tackles the outdated institutions, expectations and ideologies that hold us hostage as parents. The pressure is building and the cost on families is stacking up. Something has to give.
Drawing on personal narratives, history, social research and interviews, The Cost of Labour tackles the expectations that keep us all hostage to a dynamic unfit for contemporary society and offers hope for a way out of the trap.
Our theme song is Broke for Free’s ‘Something Elated’. Sound production by Lloyd Pratt.
Further reading:
Read a review of The Cost of Labour in our February Books Roundup.
Read about Natalie’s favourite books and reading habits in this month’s Shelf Reflection.
The Cost of Labour is available now from your local independent bookseller.
 (more…)
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KYD First Book Club Event: The Earth Does Not Get Fat

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