Kate Grenville in Conversation

Join Kate Grenville, author of The Secret River and one of Australia's most celebrated writers, as she brings her new book The Country Schoolmaster: A Mystery in 88 Letters to the Northern Rivers for this special in conversation event, with Mick O'Regan, on Monday 12 October at Bangalow A&I Hall.

‘I stood there holding the hundred-year-old letter with a feeling that was familiar from other archives, other bulging files of dog-eared paper. It was a blood-running-fast, itchy-palm, eyes-wide-open feeling of stumbling on something. A story…’

Rummaging around in the archives one afternoon, Kate Grenville comes across an innocuous-looking file full of letters about a schoolteacher in country New South Wales. Intrigued, she keeps reading – and discovers a tale far more curious and complex than first appears. Was Joseph Connor savagely beating the students in his care? Or was he the victim of a small-town vendetta? And what went so terribly wrong between him and his daughter?

Ultimately, Grenville simply has to know: was Connor a victim or a villain? Part colonial cold case, part locked-room mystery, part the dance of a writer's imagination among facts and semi-facts, The Country Schoolmaster is a book like no other. In it, the novelist comes to understand the seductive pleasure of story-making, but also its dangerous limitations.

About Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's most celebrated writers. Her international bestseller The Secret River was awarded local and overseas prizes and is now a much-loved classic. Grenville's other novels include The Lieutenant, Lilian's Story, the Orange Prize-winner The Idea of Perfection and A Room Made of Leaves. Her works of non-fiction include One Life: My Mother's Story, Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters and, most recently, Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place.

About Mick O’Regan

Mick O’Regan is a journalist, broadcaster, and radio producer with over two decades of experience. He is known for his work in current affairs, producing documentaries, and more recently as a guest presenter for ABC Radio North Coast and an MC. He also works as a freelance journalist.