7:00pm – 9:00pm

Late Night Lit

$20 + booking fee (beverages and food optional extras)

Sink into a sultry summertime eve at Late Night Lit, our much-loved event of spoken word, poetry, literary readings and other surprises. Together, we can gently turn the page on a brilliantly bookish 2025 by celebrating some very special authors; all with a trademark Bar Toto cocktail in hand. What’s not to love?

In Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath, S. Shakthidharan has written a fearless, tender memoir about home and love, history and legacy, mothers and fathers, Sri Lanka and Western Sydney. Miles Franklin Award-winner Shankari Chandran calls it, “Raw, unflinching, poetic and profound – an artist’s journey…” You might chuckle, you will definitely cry.

Actor and writer Zoe Terakes will share Eros, their stunning collection reimagining five ancient Greek queer myths. Full of sex, water and rage, this sexy modern take will leave you shaking in your Bar Toto armchair. “Eternal, timely and timeless,” says Benjamin Law. We agree.

Finally as ever, we have local representatives burning up the stage. First and foremost is local poet Toby Davidson, who will share poems from The Grand Reopening portraying a changed world, from Sydney bars to Dublin’s streets to the ancient volcano beneath Santorini. He will be joined by open mic legends reminding us that the creative soils of the Central Coast are indeed rich.

Don’t miss it, sit in and soak in our final Late Night Lit for the year.

Please note: seating is unallocated.

Umina Beach Book Nook will be the bookseller for the evening; please support the authors, purchase their books and have them signed at the event.

S. Shakthidharan

S. Shakthidharan is a Western Sydney storyteller with Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. He’s a writer, director and producer of theatre and film, and a composer of original music. His debut play, Counting and Cracking, was voted ‘the best Australian play of the 21st century’ in an ArtsHub poll, was called ‘one of the great Australian plays’ by The Guardian, and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. The script won the Victorian Prize for Literature in the 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting in the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. His latest play, The Wrong Gods, premiered in 2025.

Zoe Terakes

Zoe Terakes is an actor and writer living and working on Gadigal land. They are a vocal advocate for trans rights within arts industries and on a global scale.

Zoe was most recently seen on screen in A24’s critically acclaimed film Talk to Me. Their other acting credits include Nine Perfect Strangers, Creamerie, Wentworth and Ellie & Abbie. They will soon appear in the Marvel Studios series Iron Heart. Zoe has also worked extensively across Australian stages, including the Belvoir, Melbourne Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre and The Old Fitz Theatre. They have received two Sydney Theatre awards, including the Best Newcomer Award, and were also nominated for a Helpmann Award.

Eros is Zoe’s debut literary work, inspired by their Cretan heritage. Full of sex, water and rage, this stunning collection reimagines five ancient Greek queer myths.

Toby Davidson

Toby Davidson is a poet and Australian poetry scholar now living on Darkinjung Country on the NSW Central Coast. His prior collections are Four Oceans (Puncher and Wattman, 2020), Beast Language (Five Islands Press, 2012) and, as editor, Francis Webb’s Collected Poems (UWA Publishing, 2011). His latest non-fiction book is Good for the Soul: John Curtin’s Life with Poetry (UWA Publishing, 2021).

This event is made possible through the unwavering support of Venue Partner, Bar Toto Ettalong.

And our Festival Bookseller, Umina Beach Book Nook.