Popular author visits Townsville for book reading

Date: Thursday, 9th July 2009

One of Australia’s most popular authors will visit Townsville this month.

Nick Earls is the author of 12 books, including the best-selling novels Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses and Perfect Skin.

He will be at CityLibraries Thuringowa on Monday, 20 July from 7pm, reading excerpts from his latest book, The True Story of Butterfish, and discussing his work.

Nick Earls was born in Ireland in 1963 and, after moving to Australia with his family in 1972, completed a degree in medicine. He worked as a GP before becoming a fulltime writer.

Many of his works are set in Brisbane, his ‘new’ hometown, and explore humorous aspects of everyday life, often via adolescent male characters.

He has won several awards, including the Betty Trask Award (Zigzag Street, 1998) and the Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award (48 Shades of Brown, 2000). The latter work was also turned into a movie, while others have been produced by the La Boite Theatre.

His latest work, Butterfish (published by Random House), will also be performed as a play at the Brisbane Powerhouse in October, complete with original music by Go Betweens co-founder Robert Forster.

Publisher’s synopsis:

When Annaliese Winter walks down Curtis Holland`s front path, he`s ill-prepared for a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl who`s a confounding mixture of adult and child. After years travelling the world with his band, Butterfish, he`s not used to having a neighbour at all.

So when Curtis receives an invitation to dinner from Annaliese`s mother, Kate, he is surprised when he not only accepts but finds himself being drawn to this remarkably unremarkable family. Even to fifteen-year-old Mark who is at war with his own surging adolescence.

Curtis soon realises that with Kate divorced, Annaliese and Mark need a male role model in their lives, but it`s hard for him to help when he`s just starting to grow up himself and harder still when Annaliese begins to show an interest in him that is less than filial.

Filled with acute observation, humour and tenderness, Butterfish is Nick Earls at his very best.

Nick Earls is presented by CityLibraries in conjunction with Mary Who Bookshop, ABC Local Radio, the State Library of Queensland and The Courier-Mail Big Book Club.

Admission is free. Bookings can be made by calling CityLibraries Thuringowa on 4773 8830.