Avid Reader, West End
Brisbane launch of Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe
FRIDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2023 | INSTORE EVENT
6.00pm for a 6.30pm start | 60mins
Join us for a conversation between Mirandi Riwoe and Ashley Hay about the book Sunbirds
ABOUT THE BOOK
Shortly before the Japanese invade, the van Hoorn family throws their famous Sinterklaas party at their tea plantation. One of their guests, Mattijs, a Dutch pilot, hopes to forge a future in the Dutch East Indies, possibly with the family's daughter, Anna, but she is torn between her dreams of Holland and her desire to belong.
Meanwhile the housekeeper, Diah, keenly observes the goings-on around the plantation, wondering how much to tell her freedom-fighter brother. When the Japanese forces finally arrive on Java's doorstep, they all have to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.
Sunbirds depicts the intricate web of identities and loyalties created by war and imperialism, and the heartbreaking compromises that so often ensue.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mirandi Riwoe is the author of Sunbirds. Her novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain won the ARA Historical Novel Prize and the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Her novella The Fish Girl won Seizure’s Viva la Novella and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, while The Burnished Sun is a collection of her short stories and novellas. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT).