See you at Thursday Book Club this week before we take a two-week break
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The People’s Choice Prize is open for voting.
Dear Friends, I’m looking forward to seeing you at Thursday Book Club this week before we break for the school holidays. I’m also delighted to announce American author Jennifer Steil as my next guest on Thursday Book Club.
Jennifer is the award-winning author of the novels The Ambassador’s Wife and Exile Music and the memoir The Woman Who Fell From the Sky. Since 2019, she has been based in Uzbekistan. Jennifer will be zooming in for a chat on 22 October and I’ll hope you’ll be able to join us then. We’ll be talking about her novel, The Ambassador’s Wife, which tells the story of a woman who is kidnapped while hiking in the mountains of an imagined Islamic country.
Thank you so much for all your support following my shortlisting for the Mark and Evette Nib Literary Award and subsequent nomination for the People’s Choice Prize. Voting for the People’s Choice Prize closes next week and it would be wonderful if you had a moment to vote for The Deceptions or one of other shortlisted works here:
https://haveyoursay.waverley.nsw.gov.au/nib2020peopleschoice/survey_tools/nib2020peopleschoicevotingform
Jennifer Steil is an award-winning novelist and memoirist who left the United States in 2006 to take a job as editor of a newspaper in Yemen, which inspired her first book, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky. She began writing her first novel, The Ambassador’s Wife, after she was kidnapped when pregnant with her daughter. That experience became the first scene of the novel. In 2012, Jennifer and her family moved to Bolivia where she met Jewish Bolivians whose families had fled the Nazis in Europe during World War II. Their stories inspired her third novel, Exile Music.
Join me when I chat to Jennifer at Thursday Book Club on 22 October 2020. The Ambassador’s Wife is available in print, e-book and audiobook and can be ordered from Booktopia here: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-ambassador-s-wife-jennifer-steil/book/9780804171465.html
NEWS
Monica McInerney in conversation with Suzanne Leal
At 7.30pm on Wednesday 14 October 2020, I’ll be talking to internationally best-selling author, Monica McInerney, about her new novel, The Godmothers. This is a free virtual online event presented by Geelong Regional Libraries. To attend, please register here: https://events.grlc.vic.gov.au/event/4550511
2020 National Book Award for Translated Literature (US)
Iranian–Australian writer Shokoofeh Azar has been longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Translated Literature for her novel The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree. Narrated by the ghost of 13-year-old Bahar, the novel tells the story of a family of five compelled to flee their home in Tehran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Earlier this year Azar became the first Australian to be shortlisted for the International Booker Prize for The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree. Azar came to Australia from Iran as a political refugee in 2011, and the novel, her first to be translated into English, was translated from the original Farsi by a translator who wishes to remain anonymous.
Booker shortlist
The shortlist for the 2020 Booker Prize is:
• The New Wilderness by Diane Cook (Oneworld Publications)
• This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Faber & Faber)
• Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House)
• The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste (Canongate Books)
• Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (Picador, Pan Macmillan)
• Real Life by Brandon Taylor (Originals, Daunt Books Publishing)
Word for Word National Non-fiction Festival goes online
The seventh annual Word for Word National Non-Fiction Festival will move online this year and will feature a series of events including live conversations, panel discussions, workshops, and special presentations across three days from 20-22 November 2020. The full program will be announced and tickets go on sale Thursday 1 October.
Voting is open until 1 October for the People’s Choice Prize as part of the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award
All Australian readers can vote and it only takes a minute to do it. The People’s Choice Prize is a great initiative to bring more Australian writers to the attention of the general public and we appreciate your support.Vote Now
Hope to see you at Thursday Book Club.
I’d love to see you at Thursday Book Club this week. Zoom in as you can – it doesn’t matter if you’re late or have to leave early. Just join my Zoom conference room between 8pm and 8.30pm on Thursdays by clicking on this link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8521042343
If prompted, here are the details to manually enter:
Meeting ID: 852 104 2343
Password: 886196
What is Thursday Book Club? Thursday Book Club is a relaxed, friendly book club connecting readers online. Each Thursday we meet on Zoom from 8 - 8.30pm. There are no scheduled books to read: we simply chat about books we like and books we’re reading. Every now and then, I invite a guest writer to join us. American author Jennifer Steil will be joining us on 22 October.
Thursday Book Club recommendations
My recommendation
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Your recommendations
Barbie R
A Dog Called Harry by Jill Baker
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Cakemaker’s Wish by Josephine Moon
Night Lessons in Little Jerusalem by Rick Held
Ravi S
The Returns by Philip Salom
The Girl in Kellers Way by Megan Goldin
Daddy Cool by Darleen Bungey
Silver by Chris Hammer
When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin
The Beautiful Mother by Katherine Scholes
Bernadette O
The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Stephanie W
Bruny by Heather Rose
The Briny Cafe by Susan Duncan
The Writing Class by Stephanie Johnson
Elizabeth E
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Fragments by Toni Jordan
Take care,
PS. Would you like me to drop in to your book club?
If your book club has chosen to read The Deceptions or The Teacher’s Secret, I’d be delighted to attend your meeting by Zoom (whether your group is meeting online or gathering together in person) to answer any of your questions. To schedule a date, please email me here.
Click here for my Zoom Virtual Conference You can buy The Deceptions and The Teacher’s Secretdirectly from my publisher here
Kindle version
Paperback
Or more helpful links and resources on my website: www.suzanneleal.com Questions? Email me Suzanne Leal | suzanne@suzanneleal.com |
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All rights reserved. Copyright © 2020 Suzanne Leal
Suzanne LealPrince Edward StreetMalabar, Nsw 2036Australia
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