Books at the Brewery - Christmas 2025
Come and share the literary and musical love with an incredible line-up of writers, storytellers, and conversationalists at our annual Books at the Brewery Christmas event.
This year we celebrate the latest Anthology from Fremantle Press:
Rivers Flow: Reflections on the songs of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter
To celebrate the release of this beautiful collection of stories which are a wonderful tribute to the strength, artistry and enduring spirit of two of Australia’s most cherished artists and cultural leaders, we will be asking a number of guests to do a reading from the book.
More on who those guest readers will be is to come.
We will also welcome Tony Birch and Sofie Laguna to The Taproom to chat about their new books and as usual, we’ll have a range of ‘new release’ titles (both adult and children’s) for you to enjoy a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping.
We will be donating a percentage of revenue from book sales to Nalderun
About the authors:
Sofie Laguna
Sofie Laguna has written four novels for adults which have won numerous literary awards including the Miles Franklin Award, the Colin Roderick Award and the Indie Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the ALS Gold Medal, the Voss Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Sofie’s many books for children have been published in the US and the UK and in translation in Europe and Asia, and been named Honour and Notable Books by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. The Underworld, is Sofie’s fifth adult novel and we are delighted that she’ll be chatting with Mel Fulton about this novel for this event.
The Underworld is for every reader you know; thinkers, laughers, empaths, quirky folk, queer folk, nostalgists, the young and those getting on. Readers seeking a happy ending and anyone ready to feel. Anyone who has ever been fourteen.
‘The Underworld is a wondrous novel from an author who wields her considerable powers with assuredness and grace. Funny, brave, insightful and clever, Martha will break your heart – then mend it – many times over.’
Tony Birch
Tony Birch is the author of four novels: Women & Children, which won the 2024 The Age Fiction Book of the Year; The White Girl, winner of the 2020 NSW Premier’s Award for Indigenous Writing, and shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award; Ghost River, winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2012. He has also published two poetry books and four short story collections, the most recent of which, Dark as Last Night, won both the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award. Tony Birch is an activist, historian and essayist, and is currently the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne.
Tony will be discussing his new collection of stories, Pictures of You which brings together the best of Tony’s short fiction from the past two decades. Cherry picking from across his oeuvre, this anthology showcases his skills at finding the extraordinary in ordinary lives, and the often-unexpected connections and kindnesses between strangers. His work is by turns poignant, sad, profound and funny – and always powerful.
The Details
Date:
Tuesday December 16 2025
Time:
5 30pm - 8 30pm finish
Venue:
Shedshaker Brewery, The Taproom, 9 Walker Street, Castlemaine, 3450
Cost:
$40 includes a $20 book voucher to spend at the bookshop on the night.
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