Join us for the launch of Susan Steggall's new novel To Carve Identity, on Wednesday the 20th of March from 6pm at Harry Hartog Warringah Mall.

Susan will be in conversation with Northern Beaches artist Michelle Perrett, discussing the novel, along with Michelle's experiences as an artist - her education and influences, interest in conservation and the natural environment, how art fits in with her everyday life, and her successes with awards, residences, and exhibitions.

We hope to see you there!

About the Book:

Novels traditionally end with a ‘happily ever after’. To Carve Identity begins with a ‘happily into the future’.

In 1949 Ellie Gilmartin returned to her native Glasgow after travelling to Australia to learn the truth about her parents’ tragic lives (The Heritage You Leave Behind, 2021). If her professional career as a sculptor was progressing nicely, her private life was in limbo as she reflected on her long-distance relationship with solicitor Jim Blackwood. Fortune smiled on Ellie. Jim came looking for her and so their future began.

The novel follows these two very different people as they negotiate married life – first in London, then in the NSW Hunter Valley town of Maitland. For Jim, marriage represents companionship, stability and family. For Ellie it is more complicated: how to be wife, mother and professional sculptor in mid-twentieth-century regional Australia. That she succeeds is due to determination and a belief in her talent but at story’s end she must truly fashion her own identity.

About Susan Steggall:

Susan Steggall has written: Alpine Beach: A Family Adventure (1999); a family history series; a biography, A Most Generous Scholar: Joan Kerr, Art and Architectural Historian (a successful PhD thesis and a non-fiction winner in the 2013 Society of Women Writers NSW (SWW) Book Awards); novels: Forget Me Not (2006), It Happened Tomorrow (2013),‘Tis the Doing Not the Deed (2019) and The Heritage You Leave Behind (2021), which was Highly Commended in the SWW 2022 Book Awards. Susan also writes art-related articles, exhibition and book reviews, book chapters and essays. www.steggalls.com

About Michelle Perrett:

Michelle Perrett is a visual artist working in ceramics and installation. She is interested in threatened species and researches native plants and ecosystems. Her nursing background informs her interest in healing properties of plants, and previous bodies of work about hospitals and maternity. She has been a finalist in art prizes for her porcelain botanical sculpture and installations including the North Sydney Art Prize 2018, Meroogal Women's Art Prize 2016, Little Things Art Prize 2020, 2021, The Environmental Art & Design Prize 2021 and The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2021. Michelle has a B Fine Arts and M Fine Art from College of Fine Arts (COFA) UNSW, and an Advanced Diploma in Ceramics, Northern Beaches TAFE. In 2018 Michelle received the 6-month Northern Beaches Council Residency Award at Eramboo Artist Environment and was an Open Winner in the Northern Beaches Art Prize ‘Postcards from Home’ 2020. Her exhibitions include: Craft NSW, Sir Hermann Black Gallery, 9 Designers, Manly Art Gallery & Michael Reid Southern Highlands Gallery. www.michelleperrett.com