Book Launch - Katia Ariel

Please join us to celebrate the release of Katia Ariel’s remarkable new book, Ferryman: The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch. Katia’s book will be launched by Michaela Kalowski.

Event runs from 7-8pm. Join us from 6.30pm for a drink.

The book will also be available for purchase on the day by our official bookseller, Gertrude and Alice Bookstore.

About the book
Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch is a profoundly moving exploration of life, loss, and legacy. Blending biography, memoir, and cultural history, Katia Ariel brings to life the remarkable story of Ephraim Finch OAM
—a deathworker, community builder, and guardian of cultural memory.

Drawing from Finch’s handwritten journals and intimate interviews, Ariel masterfully explores themes of grief, memory, ritual, and the celebration of life, all with tenderness and wisdom. Finch’s extraordinary journey—from his working-class
Sydney upbringing to his conversion to Orthodox Judaism, and later, his pivotal role as director of Melbourne’s Jewish Burial Society—offers a deeply human reflection on belonging, service, and the enduring power of stories.

For thirty years Finch provided unwavering support to bereaved families, including Holocaust survivors, while seamlessly navigating coroners, police, clergy, and medical professionals. A consummate connector, he preserved sacred Jewish traditions while fostering understanding across religious and secular communities, making death and its rituals less daunting and more accessible. At a time of increasing cultural division and societal fractures, Ferryman is a vital and timely story—one that reminds us of the power of compassion, service, and the sacredness of life itself.

With a foreword by Arnold Zable and praise from literary luminaries such as Hannah Kent, Raimond Gaita, Chloe Hooper, and Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Ferryman is an essential addition to our literary and cultural landscape.

About the author
Katia Ariel is an author, book editor and educator from Melbourne/Naarm. She was born in Odessa, Ukraine. Her memoir, The Swift Dark Tide, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2024 and was the winner of the 2024 Society of Women Writers NSW Non-fiction Prize. She was the recipient of the Varuna Residential Fellowship (2022) and the Bundanon Writing Residence (2024). She lives with her family, by the sea.

Interviewer Bio

Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator and curator for writers and ideas festivals. Highlight interviews include Margaret Atwood, Amos Oz, Tim Minchin and Etgar Keret. She's curator of ABC RN’s on-air writers’ festival, Big Weekend of Books. Michaela has conducted radio interviews and presented programs across ABC radio and TV and is the copresenter and co-writer of a two-part family history podcast for ABC RN called Laya’s Way Home.