Kate Grenville Author Talk

Kate Grenville, AO, is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. A multi-award winning author of 16 fiction and non-fiction books, she has been writing since she was 16 years old and in 2017 received the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.

Raised in Sydney, Kate has worked as a film and television editor, creative writing teacher, and author. Her first novel, Lillian’s Story, won the Australian/Vogel literary award, and since then her novels have won numerous literary awards, been published worldwide, and translated into many languages. Three of her novels have been adapted into acclaimed feature films, and her best-known book, The Secret River, was also adapted into a stage play which enjoyed sell-out seasons at the Adelaide and Edinburgh Festivals.

Kate writes deeply compelling and complex characters, often working to free themselves from social and gender stereotypes. Extensively researched, Kate often uses historical or other sources as the starting point for her novels, including the lives of her own ancestors.

Her most recent novel, Restless Dolly Maunder, is a compelling novel using Kate’s own family memories to imagine her way into the life of her grandmother. Dolly Maunder was born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society’s long-locked doors were starting to creak ajar for women. Growing up in a poor farming family in country New South Wales but clever, energetic, and determined, Dolly spent her restless life pushing at those doors. Restless Dolly Maunder was shortlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Kate will be available for book signings at the Yass Book Store stand in the Library from 11.30am-12pm.