1:00pm – 1:45pm

Grace Karskens, Sue Williams & James Vella Bardon.
Moderator: Catharine Coleborne

Delve into the captivating world of true stories, real history, and the power of research with our panel of acclaimed authors! Join us for an enriching discussion as three compelling voices share their insights into the stories that have shaped our past. James Vella Bardon will transport you to 16th-century Ireland through his historical fiction, weaving tales of survival from the wreckage of the Spanish Armada. Esteemed historian Grace Karskens will illuminate the shadows of Australia’s colonial history, exploring the complexities of early Sydney and settlement on the Hawkesbury with meticulous detail. Meanwhile, Sue Williams writes fiction and non-fiction with settings ranging from Colonial Australia to the corridors of power in Putin’s Russia.

Please note: Seating is unallocated. 

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

EXPLORE OTHER FREE AND $10 AUTHOR TALKS AT THIS VENUE!

Grace Karskens

Grace Karskens is Emeritus Professor of Australian History at the University of New South Wales Sydney. Her most recent book People of the River: Lost Worlds of Early Sydney won the Prime Minister’s Award for Australian History and the NSW Premier’s Award for Australian History.

Sue Williams

Sue Williams is a best-selling author and award-winning journalist and travel writer, who has written two historical novels set in colonial Australia, Elizabeth & Elizabeth about Elizabeth Macquarie and Elizabeth Macarthur, and That Bligh Girl about Mary Bligh and her father, Bounty mutiny survivor and governor William Bligh.

James Vella-Bardon

After reading law at the Universities of both Malta and Sydney, James Vella-Bardon wrote his award-winning debut novel The Sheriff’s Catch, which recounts the adventures of a Spanish Armada castaway in Tudor Ireland. In 2022 he was heralded as ‘the new king of historical fiction’ by British newspaper The Scotsman.

Catharine Coleborne

Catharine Coleborne is Professor of History at the University of Newcastle and best known for her writing about the histories of mental illness, institutions and care in Australia and New Zealand. Her most recent book is Vagrant Lives in Colonial Australasia, 1840 -1910 (Bloomsbury, 2024) which tells the stories of people who were arrested as vagrants in the colonies in the context of the social and legal worlds of Australia and New Zealand.