Books at the Bowlo
Presented in collaboration with Club Lambton.
Calling All Booklovers!
What to expect:
- 6 pm – 7 pm: Host your regular book club or simply catch up with friends over a meal while chatting about your latest read.
- 7 pm – 8.30 pm: A conversation and Q&A with local authors. We talk about their books, inspirations and literary journey. Hosted by Nina Cullen and Katherine McLean.
Event Details
Cost
Entry is free. Lucky door prizes with every meal purchase.
Bookings
Book ahead to secure your table! Call Club Lambton on 02 4957 3272 or book online here.
Walk-ins also welcome.
Preorder The Book
Copies of the monthly featured book can be ordered via Betty Loves Books! This book will be available for collection at the event, as well as prior to the event.
Coming Up: Tuesday 14 October
An Onslaught of Light by Natasha Rai
A stunning, authentic debut novel about migration, diaspora and queer identity, from an emerging Indian-Australian writer.
A luminous, beautifully observed novel about the people we once were, and the people we can become – if only we’re brave enough to try.
1990: Indu and Vijay leave India for Australia, seeking a better life. But the move isn’t easy on anyone. Not gentle Indu, who becomes even further estranged from her family, nor the ambitious Vijay, who finds himself unmoored in a culture he doesn’t understand. At the centre is Archana, their quiet, sensitive daughter, who forms a shell to survive the bullying of children and the neglect of adults.
2022: Arch lives her ideal life, solitary and isolated. When her brother calls to say that Vijay is unwell and needs her help, Arch has no choice but to re-enter the world. To do so means confronting her relationship with her father, her queerness and the wounds of her upbringing. But it also might mean opening herself to the potential of a life filled with love.
Can Arch do what it takes to let in the light?
Pre-order the book from Betty Loves Books for a 15% discount!
Natasha Rai
Natasha Rai is an Indian-Australian woman who was born in India and migrated to Australia with her parents at the age of ten. She lived in the UK for several years as an adult, and the influence of three homes features in her writing. Her work has appeared in Australia’s first #MeToo anthology, Enough, Overland, Verity La and StylusLit. Her first novel, An Onslaught of Light, was longlisted for the 2017 Richell Prize and the 2018 KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award, and was highly commended for the 2022 WestWords/Ultimo Prize.
Co-Hosts
Nina Cullen
Nina Cullen is a Newcastle writer and reader. Her prize-winning writing has appeared in Australia and overseas in publications including Australian Book Review, The Big Issue Fiction Edition, Meniscus, Island, Sleepers Almanac, Taste – Fresh New Writing, Imagining Ourselves, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Guardian. She is also part of the Newcastle Writer’s Festival Story Hunter program, taking creative writing into primary schools in the Newcastle/Hunter region. You can read her monthly Bedside Bookstack reviews at ninacullen.com and say hi on both Instagram and X at @ninakcullen.
Katherine McLean
Katherine is the Director of Hunter Writer’s Centre. Katherine has over 20 year’s experience in leadership positions in arts and non-profit organisations, working across artistic disciplines such as theatre, puppetry, community cultural development, and digital storytelling. She has a great love for story and often spells it with a capital ‘S’ to give it the importance it deserves.
Program Partners
