Books@Stones event: The Victoria Principle by Michael Farrell

Join us on Sunday 2 August (2pm) for a special author event with Melbourne-based author and poet Michael Farell discussing his latest collection of stories, The Victoria Principle (Girramondo) in-conversation with local poet and writer, Liam Ferney and award-winning author Laura Elvery.

The Victoria Principle is Melbourne poet Michael Farrell’s first book of fiction: made up of twenty short stories. Michael will read a story from his book, and be available for discussion and signing copies. Special guest and local fiction writer Laura Elvery will also read from her short story collection.

In The Victoria Principle, award-winning poet turned storyteller Michael Farrell extends the humour and narrative drive demonstrated in recent collections such as I Love Poetry and Googlecholia to the short story. The collection begins with a writer trying to do literary justice to the fear of birds. Other stories feature creative activity, such as the conceptual artist who deliberately boils an egg to Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, or the would-be writers who attend a nude retreat in Nova Scotia. There is pathos, too, in a storyteller’s relationship with his sister, and in that of a gay doctor with a straight Italian waiter, who is trying to make ends meet while supporting two children with two different women. The stories also revisit classical and popular myths, such as the judgement of Paris, and the life of Andy Gibb. The associations brought into play can be unexpected or absurd, but the process has its own logic: we may think of these fictions as meta-fictions, as ‘thought stories’ rather than short stories, offering inflections and reflections on queer Catholicism and mental breakdown, amidst the ongoing contradictions and ironies of contemporary Australian life.

'One of the most original and compelling collections of short works I have ever come across. The writing is fluid, poetic and enthralling. It is both easy and challenging to read and begs to be re-read...' - Erich Mayer, ArtsHub

'Wordplay, pop-infused irony, surreal puns, and lots of kitsch are in play throughout the collection which lives up to Farrell’s trickster reputation… It makes for consistently entertaining, and often challenging reading that encourages uncertainty.' - Magdalena Ball, The Compulsive Reader

Michael Farrell was born in Bombala, NSW, and has lived in Melbourne since 1990. Michael has a PhD in literary studies from the University of Melbourne and is a practising artist, as well as a poet. Awards include the 2018 Judith Calanthe Queensland Literary Award for I Love Poetry, and the Peter Porter Poetry Prize for ‘Beautiful Mother’. Michael has performed and published internationally, and has been given residencies in Italy, Slovenia, Japan and China, as well as giving guest lectures in China and Chile.

Laura Elvery is the author of two short story collections, Ordinary Matter and Trick of the Light, and a novel, Nightingale, which won the 2025 People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award. She was longlisted for the 2026 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.

Liam Ferney’s latest collection is ‘Shark of Messina’ (Hunter Publishing). In 2025 he also published ‘The Book of Grogu’ (Now Orries), a chapbook of poems about his daughter. Other volumes include ‘Hot Take’ (Hunter Publishing, 2017), ‘Content’ (Hunter Publishing, 2015) and ‘Boom’ (Grande Parade Poets, 2012). He lives in Brisbane with his wife and daughter. He holds the All-Time Games Record for the New Farm Traktor Collective.

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All our events are free to attend, but bookings are required as seats are limited.