Death, Grief and Finding the Light

Katia Ariel, Joanne Fedler, Andrea Goldsmith – moderator Magdalena Ball

In this soul-searching session, Joanne Fedler recounts her mother’s dying months during Covid, her mercy dash to be with her in South Africa, and the pull of the sea. Katia Ariel paints the remarkable life of deathworker, community builder, and cultural archivist, Ephraim Finch, with profound insight. And esteemed author, Andrea Goldsmith, reaches new heights with The Buried Life, her latest novel that centres on death while grappling with the conundrums of life. 

About the artists:

Katia Ariel is an award-winning 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 won the 2024 Society of Women Writers NSW Non-fiction Prize. Katia’s work has appeared in the Age, Womankind Magazine, Archer and The Guardian. She was the recipient of the Varuna Residential Fellowship (2022) and Bundanon Writing Residence (2024). Katia holds an Arts/Law degree from Monash University and Graduate Diploma and Publishing and Editing from RMIT. Her second book, Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch, was published by Wild Dingo Press in June 2025.

Joanne Fedler is the internationally bestselling author of more than fifteen titles which have been translated into many languages and have sold over 750,000 copies worldwide. She is a Fulbright scholar and has a master’s degree in law from Yale. Prior to immigrating to Australia in 2001, Joanne set up and ran a legal advocacy centre to end violence against women in South Africa. She also sat on a Law Commission to rewrite domestic violence legislation. She lives close to Coogee beach where she indulges her love of open-water deep ocean swimming. She also mentors aspiring writers both one-on-one and in groups, at retreats all over the world as well as online.

Andrea Goldsmith’s nine novels include The Prosperous Thief, short-listed for the 2003 Miles Franklin award, and The Memory Trap, awarded the 2015 Melbourne Prize. Her most recent novel, The Buried Life, is shaped around three very different characters. It tells a story of life and death, of love and friendship, of the power of music, and the pressures of the past. It’s a novel that draws on poetry, the music of Mahler and the delights of cheese.

Magdalena Ball (moderator) was born in New York City, where she grew up. After gaining an honours degree in English Literature from the City University of New York (CCNY), she moved to Oxford to study English Literature at a postgraduate level. After a brief return to the US, she migrated to NSW Australia, where she now resides on a rural property with her family. While in Australia she obtained additional post-graduation qualifications in Business, Marketing and Sustainability. Magdalena runs the respected review site Compulsive Reader. Her poetry, reviews and articles have appeared in a wide number of printed anthologies and journals, and have won local and international awards for poetry and fiction. She runs a podcast, Compulsive Reader Talks, which has over 150 interviews.

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