Books on Bywong with Carly-Jay Metcalfe

Celebrating books and reading, Books on Bywong is a new regular book club hosted by Sally Wilson. Each month a guest author will take readers behind the scenes of their book, discussing their inspiration, writing process and publishing journey, as well as their top reading recommendations.

There is no obligation to have read the book, simply come along to enjoy the bookish conversation, pick up some new summer reading recommendations and enjoy a relaxed evening at the West Toowong Bowls Club. Books will be available for purchase and the bar will be open!

The guest author in November is Carly-Jay Metcalfe. Carly-Jay will be talking about her incredible memoir, Breath, and sharing her summer reading and Christmas book gifting recommendations.

Carly-Jay Metcalfe is a Queensland-based writer whose debut memoir Breath was published by UQP in February 2024 to critical acclaim and won The Courier-Mail People's Choice Award at the Queensland Literary Awards. Her work has appeared in Kill Your Darlings, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Women’s Weekly, and TEXT journal. Carly-Jay is getting ready to submit her M.Phil. in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland where her research focuses on the intersection of creative nonfiction and medicine. She lives a simple, quiet life with her dog, Billie.

About Breath

I am dying. I know that I’m dying, despite not having been told by my doctors that I am dying. I know I am dying because I’m in the dying room.

Carly-Jay Metcalfe was born with cystic fibrosis, survived a double-lung transplant at the age of twenty-one and faced a rare cancer at the age of thirty. What she has endured should have killed her, but her humour, courage and optimism became her best survival skills.

From her hospitalised childhood to her many friendships, loves and losses, Carly-Jay shares the fickle nature of life with candour and warmth. She writes with compelling insight about organ donation, opioid addiction and survivor's guilt, while still managing to find joy amongst the wreckage.

Breath is a stunningly frank and darkly funny memoir about living, dying and trying to breathe.

‘A candid, raw and at times, comedic glimpse into a life full of courage and positivity ... She will help hundreds of people who read Breath, both directly and indirectly, and I applaud her, and appreciate her, for showing the courage to write this book.’ The Australian

‘Metcalfe has a generous, conversational style of storytelling and this, combined with her wicked sense of humour – as often bawdy as it is black – means Breath is never grim or even traumatic ... It is, ultimately, a deeply affirming book, as big of heart as it is gutsy.’ The Saturday Paper

About Sally Wilson

Sally Wilson has worked in books and magazine publishing for more than 20 years as a writer, editor, book publicist and marketer. She's passionate about storytelling in all forms and has worked with publishers and literary organisations such as the Brisbane Writers Festival, University of Queensland Press, Griffith Review, Stella Prize and the Australian Book Industry Awards. 

For more of Sally's book recommendations, sign up to her newsletter The Booklister: https://thebooklister.substack...