Katharine's Birthday 2026 - KSP Open Day

Katharine's Birthday 2026 - KSP Open Day

Join us for a day packed full of books, awards, history, food, and mingling at our annual Open Day to celebrate Katharine's Birthday. Our 2026 program will include a heritage tour by Nathan Hobby, a sausage sizzle fundraiser, our short fiction and poetry competition awards, and bespoke KSP merch sales!

We're excited to expand our Open Day in 2026 to include two incredible book launches. UWA Publishing will be launching a special edition of Katharine Susannah Prichard's prize-winning book, Coonardoo, and Dragonfly Publishing will be launching Karen Throssell's latest poetry collection. Karen Throssell is the granddaughter of Katharine Susannah Prichard, and we are honoured to support her launch at Katharine's Place.

Event Details:

Date: Saturday, 5 December 2026

Time: 10:30am – 5:30pm

Tickets: Free event, but registration is essential

RSVP:

Our program (see below) has been allocated separate tickets to assist with capacity and catering on the day. Please be specific about which events you'd like to attend when you RSVP. If you have any questions, or need to change your RSVP, please use the Humanitix "Refund" function or contact KSP staff as soon as possible via office@kspwriterscentre.com.

Spaces are limited, so please don't wait to reserve your spot! A waitlist will be available for events in our program that become booked out. You will be contacted if space becomes available.

Program:

10:30am - Doors open

11:00am - UWA Publishing Book Launch, Coonardoo

11:45am - KSP Heritage Tour (45 minutes)

12:00pm - Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser

1:00pm - Short Fiction Competition Awards

2:00pm - Poetry Competition Awards

3:15pm - Refreshments

3:45pm - Karen Throssell Book Launch

5:30pm - Event End

Book now and join us for a magical day of celebration!

Katharine Susannah Prichard’s Coonardoo was a national prize winner in 1928, and one of the most widely taught works of Australian literature in the twentieth century. Few books have attracted such differing assessments: brilliantly authentic, completely fabricated, incisive realism, ‘a fairytale’. The author herself attracted controversy as ‘the red witch’, a sobriquet used as the title for Nathan Hobby’s recent biography.

For the first time, the depth of Prichard’s research into the colonial history of the Pilbara, along with her family connections to that past, are explained. And for the first time the different versions of Coonardoo – which first appeared as a magazine serial, then in books prepared by publishers in London, New York, then Sydney – are compared, revealing ‘an inveterate reviser’ at work. Compiled with the help of dozens of experts in fields ranging from linguistics to botany, this edition gives scholars and general readers new perspectives on a major work of Australian literature.

This event is proudly hosted by the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre and supported by the Shire of Mundaring. KSP is a partner with Act, Belong, Commit for the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. We'd also like to thank Dragonfly Publishing and UWA Publishing for partnering with us for this event.