Melbourne Writers' Festival's 30 Under 30

This year, to celebrate their 30th anniversary, Melbourne Writers' Festival is celebrating '30 Under 30', an initiative that seeks to promote 30 of Melbourne's writers, editors, bloggers, illustrators and songwriters aged 30 and under.

I am both thrilled and grateful to be one of these 30.

As part of this fantastic campaign, the 30 under 30 will be featuring in events throughout the 2015 Melbourne Writers' Festival between 20 and 30 August, but will also - with your support - be attending additional literary and writers' festivals elsewhere in Australia and overseas. It's a fantastic opportunity for all of us to showcase our work as young Australian writers, and to continue to develop our skills and careers.

In order to visit literary festivals in places as far and wide as Edinburgh, Poland, Singapore and Ubud, we're asking for your support through MWF's 30 Under 30 Pozible Campaign. Donations over $2 are tax deductable, and there are some wonderful rewards to be had, including double passes to MWF, exclusive party invitations, personalised thank yous and official acknowledgement of your support on the MWF website.

More informations can be found HERE.

The 30 Under 30 are...

ADOLFO ARANJUEZ • METRO EDITOR • WRITER 
CAMERON BAKER • ZINE MAKER • 100 STORY BUILDING 
DANIELLE BINKS • YA WRITER • REVIEWER • ALPHA READER 
BROEDE CARMODY • JOURNALIST • EDITOR 
ROBERT F. COLEMAN • WRITER • EDITOR 
ANDRE DAO • FICTION & NON-FICTION WRITER • RIGHT NOW INC 
ALIA GABRES • POET • STORYTELLER 
MINNA GILLIGAN • ILLUSTRATOR • BLOGGER 
DECLAN GREENE • PLAYWRIGHT • SISTERS GRIMM 
REBECCA HARKINS-CROSS • WRITER • JOURNALIST • ART CRITIC 
ERIK JENSEN • AUTHOR • EDITOR • THE SATURDAY PAPER 
HANNAH KENT • NOVELIST • PUBLISHER
TRENT KUSTERS • GAMES DESIGNER • WRITER • FREEPLAY 
BRODIE LANCASTER • EDITOR • WRITER • ROOKIE • THE GOOD COPY 
MICHAELA MCGUIRE • AUTHOR • COLUMNIST • WOMEN OF LETTERS 
AMY MIDDLETON • WRITER • EDITOR • ARCHER MAG 
ALLYSE NEAR • NOVELIST 
ALEXANDRA NEILL • COMIC • BLOGGER • NATIONAL YOUNG WRITERS' FESTIVAL 
KIRA PURU • SONGWRITER 
BHAKTHI PUVANENTHIRAN • DEPUTY ARTS EDITOR • THE AGE 
LUKE RYAN • COMEDIAN • WRITER • MEMOIRIST 
ELLENA SAVAGE • WRITER • EDITOR • CRITIC • THE LIFTED BROW 
VERONICA SULLIVAN • WRITER • EDITOR • KILL YOUR DARLINGS 
GILLIAN TERZIS • WRITER • HISTORY • POLITICS • CULTURE 
BILLIE TUMARKIN • WRITER • BIRDEE 
LOURIS VAN DE GEER • PLAYWRIGHT • DRAMATURG 
STEPHANIE VAN SCHILT • EDITOR • COLUMNIST • THE REREADERS 
SAM WALLMAN • CARTOONIST • COMICS JOURNALIST 
LAURA WOOLLETT • NOVELIST 
JESSICA YU • EDITOR • SHORT STORIES • POET • BETA NARRATIVES 

An Extraordinary Tour

I've recently returned home from a truly memorable trip to Germany, Iceland, Spain and Italy, where I had the pleasure of promoting Burial Rites in translation. To my extraordinary publishers - Droemer Knaur, Forlagið, Alba Editorial and Edizioni Piemme - thank you for welcoming me to your cities, your offices, and your in-house cats (I'm looking at you Forlagið), and for your tireless work in bringing this story to new audiences. To my brilliant dugleg translators - Leonie von Reppert-Bismarck and Thomas Rütten, Jón St. Kristjánsson, Laura Vidal and Velia Februari - it was such a pleasure to meet so many of you. To the people who came to listen to Nicolette Krebitz read from Das Seelenhaus in Munich, Berlin and Wiesbaden, the audience members at Pordenonelegge Literature Festival, the book club of Rafael Alberti, and the kind, generous Icelanders who made me feel so welcome at Cafe Rosenberg in Reykjavík - your interest and support meant so very much to me. Thank you.

To celebrate the release of Burial Rites in various translations throughout 2014, I will soon be giving away some copies of the novel in German, Turkish, Dutch, French, Danish, Hebrew, Spanish, Mandarin, and Portuguese, as well as some copies of Burial Rites English and in audiobook form. Stay posted!

With Droemer's Hanna Pfaffenwimmer, and Christian Dunker from Autorenbuchhandlung in Berlin, Germany.

With chair Knut Elstermann and German reader Nicolette Krebitz at Autorenbuchhandlung in Berlin.

Burial Rites Icelandic translation: Náðarstund.

Signing copies of Náðarstund at Forlagið.

Viewing the axe and block used in Agnes Magnúsdóttir's execution. These items are held in the Þjóðminjasafn in Reykjavík.

Meeting Nói, the Forlagið office cat.

With the wonderful Jón St Kristjánsson, the Icelandic translator.

Reading at Café Rosenberg in Reykjavík, Iceland.

With Spanish translator Laura Vidal, and editor Maria Tenas. In Madrid for a reading at Libreria Rafael Alberti.

With Giulia De Biase, Fiction Editor at Piemme, Arianna Malacrida, Briony Kent, Alessandro and Italian translator Velia Februari in Pordenone, Italy.

Wheeler Centre and Melbourne Writers' Festival

I'm very pleased to write that I'll be involved in three forthcoming events in Victoria over this month and next. This weekend I'll be participating in two events with Melbourne's fantastic Wheeler Centre, one alongside Jo Case, and the other with musicians Lior and Genevieve Lacey.

 I'm also very chuffed to be appearing at Melbourne Writers' Festival in conversation with Bethanie Blanchard on Friday 22 August. MWF, one of Australia's finest literary festivals, promises to be particularly special this year, with guests such as Dave Eggers,  Helen Garner, astronaut Chris Hadfield, Sir Salman Rushdie, NoViolet Bulawayo, and Emily Nussbaum appearing. Go along to be challenged, inspired, and to have your world shaken up a little.

GOOD CONVERSATION. GREAT WINE: HANNAH KENT BOOKED OUT

Montalto Vineyard & Olive Grove, 7:00PM - 10:00PM, Friday 25 July 2014

Hannah Kent’s debut novel Burial Rites has been shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Bailey Women’s Prize for Fiction. Featuring the curious case of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman to be hanged in Iceland, it was one of the international success stories of 2013. Join her as she recounts how she came to write the story of this misunderstood woman, in conversation with Jo Case.

WORDS & MUSIC: HANNAH KENT AND LIOR    

The Substation, 5:00PM - 6:00PM, Saturday 26 July 2014

Who do our favourite writers listen to? What do the musicians we admire love to read? In the second instalment of Words and Music, debut novelist Hannah Kent, whose book Burial Rites has been an international sensation, is joined by ARIA-award-nominated singer/songwriter Lior, whose first albumAutumn Flow is one of the most successful Australian releases in recent history.

MWF: HANNAH KENT IN CONVERSATION WITH BETHANIE BLANCHARD 

Friday 22 August at Deakin Edge, 4pm-5pm

Hannah Kent discusses her journey from an unpublished author to an internationally acclaimed writer, whose debut novel Burial Rites has been translated into no fewer than 20 languages. In conversation with Bethanie Blanchard.

Click here to book.