4:30pm – 5:30pm

In conversation with Michaela Kalowski

As the sun sets and with a glass of chilled sparkling in hand, hear an enthralling tale of legacy, love and the making of champagne from one of Australia’s finest writers, Heather Rose. In her historical fiction A Great Act of Love, we sail back in time to Van Diemen’s Land, 1839. Caroline is a woman with a young boy in her charge, a vineyard to nurture… and a big secret to hide. With a startling connection to Heather Rose’s own family and their convict history, this is a tale both fantastical and heart-rendingly real. Please join us for an afternoon of good company, fine wine and spellbinding stories with Heather Rose.

Please note:

• Doors at 4:15pm

• Seating is unallocated

• Your ticket includes one glass of complimentary sparkling wine. Substitutes will not be available.

• Bookseller BOOKFACE Erina will be onsite to sell books, which can be signed by the authors after the event •

• There will be a licensed pop-up bar onsite, only alcohol purchased from the bar at the Event may be consumed at the Event Site. You must be aged 18 years or over to purchase and/or consume alcohol on the Event Site and you must provide photographic identification documents to purchase

Heather Rose

Heather Rose is the bestselling Australian author of nine novels and a memoir. Her work has won the Stella Prize, the Christina Stead Prize, the Margaret Scott Prize, the ABIA Fiction Book of the Year and the Davitt Award. Her new novel is A Great Act of Love.

Michaela Kalowski

Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator & curator for writers and ideas festivals. Highlight interviews include Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Tim Winton, & Stan Grant. She was curator of Big Weekend of Books, ABC RN’s annual on-air writers’ festival for five years, until it finished in 2024. She produces & hosts a monthly books conversation event for Petersham Bowling Club. Michaela has conducted radio interviews and presented programs across ABC radio & TV. She’s co-presenter & co-writer of a two-part podcast for ABC RN, tracing part of her family’s history, called Laya’s Way Home.

Partner: Upstairs Wines

Upstairs Wines is a boutique wine store curated by husband and wife wine people, Dave and Michelle. The name came from their tiny tasting room on top of a speakeasy in Bondi. To get an invite to the tasting, you had to know who to text. The reply would be, “just come upstairs”. The name stuck. They’re no longer upstairs in the figurative sense, but have grown and evolved into a collection of wine store/tasting rooms/come hang out with us and talk about wine spaces. If you are on the Central Coast of NSW please drop in and visit at their stores in Long Jetty and Ettalong.