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 9 September
Labour of Love by Oceane Campbell
From her first days as a junior midwifery student, through to birthing babies during lockdown measures, Labour of Love follows Australian midwife Oceane Campbell. In her first ten years catching babies she finds the courage to advocate for mothers, save lives, and soothe, grieve with, and celebrate new parents.
As a feminist, woman, mother and midwife, Oceane keenly observes the impacts of birth, and the power dynamics of a system that doesn’t always support women when they’re most vulnerable. 1 in 10 women in Australia report obstetric violence, and 1 in 3 report trauma from their birthing experience. Something needs to change.
Labour of Love explores issues of consent, risk, misogyny and autonomy that surround the monumental transition from woman to mother. Oceane’s stories will leave you in awe of the human body and the miracle of witnessing a baby’s first breath.
Pre-order the book from Betty Loves Books for a 15% discount!
Oceane Campbell
Oceane Campbell is a proud and passionate midwife and writer working, living and mothering her three children on the unceded lands of the Awabakal nation. In her latest book, “Labour of Love”, Oceane shares birth stories with illuminating insights into the issues of consent, risk and autonomy that exist in our maternity care system. In “Labour of Love”, Oceane takes as through her own experiences of IVF, miscarriage and birth as she makes mistakes, learns weird and wonderful things about the pregnant body, and every day witnesses the most transformative moment of a person’s life. Oceane’s first book The Silence Between Us: A Mother and Daughter’s Conversation Through Suicide and into Life (2021), is a raw and original double memoir tracing mother and daughter as they try to understand and rebuild their relationship after Oceane’s suicide attempt as a teenager.
Before becoming a midwife, Oceane completed a psychology degree with honours. In 2022, she was named Newcastle Woman of the Year for her advocacy work in mental health and improving LGBTQI+ families accessing maternity care. Oceane has pubished a number of articles for midwifery journals, magazines and The Guardian.
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
