Join us for an intimate event at Brush Turkey Books to celebrate the wonderful world of birds!

Tickets are very limited with only 30 available. Get in quick!

Tickets include finger food throughout the evening.

Snacks and soft drinks will also be available for purchase. Alcohol Free event.
The evening will feature talks and presentations from these amazing illustrators, authors, photographers and authors.

Start time 6pm. Doors will open at 5:30pm for seating.

PETER SCHOUTEN:
Will be presenting and discussing his beautiful illustrations from the book "Feathered Dinosaurs: The origin of Birds"

Peter Schouten is an Australian artist and illustrator of publications in the field of zoology and
palaeontology. David Attenborough termed his skills as "rare and precious" and among the world's best.
His works are characterized by naturalism and faithfulness to detail, whereby Schouten incorporates his own ideas and assumptions in the reconstruction of extinct creatures and thus gives them an individual touch.

His early works deal mainly with the fauna of his home continent Australia, the first book in which his illustrations emerge throughout, Prehistoric Animals of Australia, also addresses this topic. During his work as an illustrator and co-author, he worked with several scientists, including Tim Flannery (Astonishing Animals, winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award 2005, A Gap in Nature, Possums of the World) and John Long (Feathered Dinosaurs).

Schouten became known internationally for his portrayal of Homo floresiensis, which was published in 2004 as the first scientific reconstruction of this species of Hominid.[3] His work has been honoured in the epithet of a new species of Wakaleo, which was announced in 2017 prior to it formal publication. Schouten immediately began to work on an illustration of Wakaleo schouteni.

SAMANTHA TRAYHURN:
Will be discussing her new book "My Father is a Curlew" and talking about the process of writing and bringing this book to life.

Samantha Trayhurn lives and writes on Biripi Country, on the mid-north coast of NSW. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find her surfing or roller skating. She holds a Doctorate in Creative Writing from Western Sydney University, where she was supervised by Gail Jones, Anthony Uhlmann, and Ben Etherington. This novel forms the creative component of her thesis, and her work explores the liminal spaces where nature, bodies, and ideas intersect. Her writing has appeared in Overland, Westerly, eTropic, Hecate, Scum Mag, and elsewhere. She also contributed a chapter to Gerald Murnane: Another World in This One (Sydney University Press, 2020). The manuscript of this novel placed third in the 2023 Hawkeye Publishing Unpublished Manuscript Prize. She is currently at work on her second novel.

JAMES BENNETT:
Will be discussing his bird photography and his Big Year of birdwatching.

You may recognise James from his career as an amazing singer songwriter, but he will be leaving the guitar at home and presenting some of his favourite photos and discussing his birdwatching journey.
James came late to birding having previously specialised in surfing photography, and he sees a lot of similarities between the fast movement of surfers and fast-moving birds.
James has travelled all over Australia on his birding journey and was recently involved in recent sightings of the endangered and rare Regent Honeyeater on the Mid North Coast.

BRAD COLLINS:

Will be showcasing some of his artwork from his Art Installation "Birds, Deaths and Marriages" Currently on display at Off the Kerb Gallery in Melbourne.

"Birds, Deaths & Marriages explores the symbolism and significance we place on animals, objects and places during pivotal times in our lives.

From Brad: "In the past year, I’ve experienced the passing of my mother, my best friends getting married and everything in between.
I’ve witnessed the many ways people choose to handle love and grief and taken the time to contemplate how I handle them myself… humour is usually the answer."

"Like a bird collecting twigs and trinkets, I’m collecting and contemplating the significance of specific objects or animals that act as a portal to a memory of a person or pivotal moment in our lives."