Join award-winning author Holden Sheppard in this special Q&A event with fellow author Michael Trant.

About King of Dirt
A gritty and heartfelt gay coming-of-age story from the author of the bestselling Invisible Boys.

Giacomo Brolo, aka Jack, is a mess. He works piecemeal construction gigs in remote WA, drinks himself to oblivion and is estranged from his family and friends.

But then Jack returns to his hometown of Geraldton for a family wedding. He hasn’t been back since he fled at the age of eighteen, and his past soon catches up with him.

Turns out Jack’s deeply conservative Italian family would prefer he remained in the closet. Then he finds out he may have conceived a son with his teenage girlfriend, and now Jack needs to convince her and her new husband that he’s fit to be a father figure. And whatever happened to Xavier, the former schoolmate who Jack was in love with and whose rejection spurred him to leave Geraldton in the first place?

Is Jack doomed to live a dead-end life – or can he open himself up to the possibility of love, found family and connection?

About Holden Sheppard

Holden's debut novel Invisible Boys achieved both commercial and critical success, winning many accolades including the WA Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer. Invisible Boys has now been adapted for television as a ten-episode Stan Original Series, which premiered in February 2025 and became the #1 TV show nationally on Stan Australia upon release. Holden’s second book The Brink won several accolades, including the 2024 Ena Noël Award.

Holden lives in Perth's far north with his husband and his V8 ute.

About Michael Trant

Michael Trant is a WA country boy, dividing his time between Three Springs and Perth after various careers including farmer, marine draftsman, pastoralist and FIFO pot washer. He is the author of Ridgeview Station (2017, A&U), Wild Dogs (2022, PRH), No Trace (2023, PRH), and Blood and Gold (2025, PRH).