Every Wild Soul | Katherine Johnson in Conversation
Schedule
Thu May 07 2026 at 07:30 am to 08:30 am
UTC+10:00Location
131 Collins Street, Hobart, TAS, Australia, Tasmania 7000 | Hobart, TS
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The winner of the inaugural Australian Fiction Prize, Every Wild Soul is a lyrical and compelling tale of secrets, survival, and the healing power of nature.On Tasmania's wild and remote Maria Island, eighteen-year-old Min is trying to break free from her controlling, overly protective father, the island's head ranger. Her unlikely ally is Werner, an eccentric, homeless biologist who has always taught her to care for the imperilled natural world around her - even as it sets them against Piers, her father, who has his own plans. When Lucie, a journalist haunted by her family's role in the thylacine's extinction, arrives from London to investigate the island's Tasmanian devil conservation project, she is drawn into the island's rare beauty and mysteries, discovering a community grappling with the tension between progress and preservation, care and control. After a tempestuous storm sees a stranger wash ashore, a chain of events is set in motion that ends in a shocking and mysterious death, only weeks later.
A breathtakingly beautiful and gripping exploration of humanity's connection to the wild - and the hope that can be born from even the darkest of times - Every Wild Soul is an absorbing and evocative exploration of resilience, rewilding and healing, a story with nature and courage at its heart. Perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Prodigal Summer, and Wild Dark Shore, it is a vivid and haunting ode to the wild in all of us.
'A heartfelt and intriguing novel set in a wild and beautiful place. A wonderful read.' Favel Parrett
'A tender, aching story of our elemental need for wilderness.' Robyn Mundy
Tasmanian writer Katherine Johnson is the author of four previous novels. Paris Savages (Ventura Press 2019/2021, Allison and Busby UK/US 2020, Jimenez Edizioni 2021) is based on the true story of 'human zoos' in Europe in the late nineteenth century. It was shortlisted in the ABIA awards and was The Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month in June 2020. Her other novels include The Better Son (Ventura Press 2016), set in northern Tasmania's caves; Matryoshka (Ventura Press 2018); and Pescador's Wake (HarperCollins/Fourth Estate 2009), the story of the danger and heartbreak of lives at the mercy of the sea during a three-week Southern Ocean chase.
Katherine will be in conversation with Geordie Williamson. Geordie has been chief literary critic of The Australian since 2008. He is publisher of the Picador imprint at Pan Macmillan, a former editor of Island Magazine and Best Australian Essays, and author of The Burning Library, a collection of essays on neglected figures from Australian literature.
Tickets available on TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/DKXMR
Join Katherine and Geordie at the Afterword Cafe.
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Where is it happening?
131 Collins Street, Hobart, TAS, Australia, Tasmania 7000Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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