THURSDAY 14 NOVEMBER | INSTORE EVENT
6pm for a 6.30pm start | 60 mins
Join Editor Carody Culver and Griffith Review 86 contributors Sita Walker and Tom Doig to discuss doomsday preppers, post-faith scepticism, and fear of the future – plus enjoy readings from fellow edition contributors Amber Gwynne, Melanie Myers and Phil Brown.
ABOUT THE EDITION
To take a leap of faith is to bet your belief on an unknown future. But belief is central to the human experience. Whether it’s religious, political, societal, philosophical or spiritual, the act of believing can be a lodestar, a comfort, a ritual, a guiding principle, a reason for living. We place our faith in everything from gods and mortals to medicine and magic, and while the bet doesn’t always pay off, it can usually tell us something about our desires, our values and our selves.
In this edition, we leave planet Earth behind via NASA's Exoplanet Travel Bureau in search of a connection with alien worlds. We unpack the intricate intersections between the traditional belief systems of Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders and those of the Bible to illustrate the ways in which they nourish one another. We explore the struggle to come to terms with the in/out dilemma of post-faith spirituality, unpick the contradictions and consistencies of Italy's very own gay saint, and meditate on the connection between powerlessness and magical thinking. We dive into the world of doomsday preppers, consider the complex relationship of faith and feminism, and meditate on the ebb and flow of grief.
ABOUT THE PANEL
Sita Walker is a high school literature teacher, freelance writer and award-winning memoirist whose first book, The God of No Good, won The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Award at the Queensland Literary Awards and the University of Sydney People’s Choice Award at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
Tom Doig is a non-fiction author and a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Queensland. He is working on a book about survivalist and prepper subcultures around the world.
Amber Gwynne is a researcher, writer and editor based in Meanjin/Brisbane. She is a senior officer in the public service, managing editor of the Journal of Australian Studies and a lecturer in writing at the University of Queensland.
Melanie Myers won the Queensland Literary Awards Glendower Award for an Emerging Writer in 2018. Her winning manuscript was published as Meet Me at Lennon’s, which was shortlisted for the 2020 Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance and The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Award. Her short stories and non-fiction have appeared in Kill Your Darlings, Overland, Arena Magazine, TEXT and Hecate, among many others.
Phil Brown is an arts journalist and commentator, poet and author who has worked for all the major news outlets in Australia and internationally.
Carody Culver is the editor of Griffith Review. She has written for publications including Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, The Lifted Brow and Books+Publishing. Her chapbook, The Morgue I Think the Deader It Gets, was published by Cordite in 2022, and she's been a featured Australian poet on the Best American Poetry blog.
