Book Launch: Linger | An Evening with Hetty Lui McKinnon

Join us to celebrate the launch of Linger, the new cookbook by Hetty Lui McKinnon — a heartfelt exploration of friendship, connection, and the humble power of salad.

Hetty will be in conversation with fellow writers Benjamin Law and Jennifer Wong, sharing stories of food, community, and the moments that bring us together around the table.

'My culinary life began with salad. A charred broccoli salad, to be specific. Crispy florets tossed with chickpeas and cooling mint, flecked with red chilli pepper and zested lemon peel, bathed in a garlicky caper oil. That salad inspired me to consider possibilities. It ultimately led me here.'

From her salad-delivery days in Sydney to her current career as a food writer and bestselling cookbook author in New York, Hetty Lui McKinnon has long known the power of salads to connect and create community. Salads are meant to be shared; they are what you bring to a gathering of friends or family, the ultimate comfort food.

With Linger, Hetty has come full circle. Rather than delivering salads to members of her community, this time, she has invited friends into her home, to share salads, sweets and stories around her dining room table. Linger documents these intimate gatherings, with vegetable-laden, loosely seasonal menus enjoyed and photographed in real time.

Through her inventive recipes for meal-worthy salads, smaller bites and simple sweets, Hetty invites you to become a part of an unforgettable shared experience of community, food and friendship.

6:30pm arrivals for a 7pm start

Tickets:

Single ticket and book - $45 + Humanitix fee and GST

Two tickets and book - $52 + Humanitix fee and GST

About the authors:

Hetty Lui McKinnon is a Chinese-Australian cook and food writer. She is the author of five bestselling cookbooks, including her genre-defining Community, Neighbourhood, Family, To Asia, With Love and, most recently, Tenderheart, which won a 2024 James Beard Foundation Award. Hetty is a regular contributor to New York Times Cooking and ABC Lifestyle, and writes the popular weekly newsletter To Vegetables, With Love. Born and raised in Sydney, Hetty now resides in in Brooklyn, New York.

Benjamin Law is the author of The Family Law (2010), Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East (2012), the Quarterly Essay Moral Panic 101 (2017), and editor of Growing Up Queer in Australia (2019). Benjamin created and co-wrote three seasons of the award-winning SBS TV series The Family Law, based on his memoir, and his sold-out debut play Torch the Place (Melbourne Theatre Company) ran February–March 2020.

In 2019, he was named one of the Asian-Australian Leadership Summit’s (AALS) 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians (winning the Arts, Culture & Sport category) and one of Harper’s Bazaar’s Visionary Men. He has a PhD in creative writing and cultural studies from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

Jennifer Wong is a writer, comedian, and co-author of Chopsticks or Fork?: Recipes and Stories from Australia’s Regional Chinese Restaurants.

Her humorous writing about food, culture, and mental health has appeared in The Guardian, SBS Food, ABC News, and The Big Issue.

Jennifer is the presenter of Chopsticks or Fork? (ABC iview), and creator and host of FEAST: live storytelling events for people who love food, stories, and stories about food.