Siang Lu in conversation with Matthew Condon at Brisbane Grammar School

Join Siang Lu and Matthew Condon as they discuss their writing styles, inspirations and where to next.

This event is held at Brisbane Grammar School and hosted by Where the Wild Things Are Bookshop. Where the Wild Things Are Bookshop will have a pop up bookshop with all of Matthew's and Siang's books available. Doors open at 5.00pm, with both authors signing prior to the in-conversation, and the event runs 6.30-7.30pm.

5pm Doors open + pick up your books
6.00pm Authors Signing
6.20pm Audience Seated
6.30pm In-Conversation ensues!
7.30pm Event closes

Ghost Cities by Siang Lu
Miles Franklin Literary Award 2025 Winner

Perfect for fans of Haruki Murakami, Ghost Cities is a profound and highly imaginative novel that cleverly draws on Chinese history to explore the absurdity of modern life and work.

Ghost Cities - inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China - follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work.

How is his relocation to one such ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed - then re-created, page by page and book by book, all in the name of love and art?

Three Crooked Kings by Matthew Condon

Three Crooked Kings is the shocking true story of Queensland and how a society was shaped by almost half a century of corruption. At its core is Terry Lewis, deposed and jailed former police commissioner. From his entry into the force in 1949, Lewis rose through the ranks, becoming part of the so-called Rat Pack with detectives Glen Hallahan and Tony Murphy under the guiding influence of Commissioner Frank Bischof.

The next four decades make for a searing tale of cops and killings, bagmen and blackmail, and sin and sleaze that exposes a police underworld that operated from Queensland to New South Wales. This gripping book examines the final pieces of the puzzle, unearths new evidence on cold cases, and explores the pivotal role that whistleblower Shirley Brifman, prostitute and brothel owner, played until her sudden death.

Based on extensive and unprecedented access to Terry Lewis and his personal papers, as well as hundreds of interviews with key players and conspirators, Three Crooked Kings is the first of three explosive books. Awarded journalist and novelist Matthew Condon has crafted the definitive account of an era that changed a state and is still reverberating to

Siang Lu is the Miles Franklin-winning author of Ghost Cities and ABIA-winning author of The Whitewash. He is the co-creator of The Beige Index and the creator of #sillybookstagram.
Ghost Cities was shortlisted for eight additional awards, including the ALS Gold Medal, The Voss Literary Prize and The Age Book of the Year. In 2026, Ghost Cities was published with Simon & Schuster’s Summit UK and US imprints, and in 26 territories in translation thereafter.
Siang is based in Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. www.siang-lu.com www.thebeigeindex.com

Matthew Condon is an award-winning journalist and the author of more than 18 works of both fiction and non-fiction, including the bestselling true crime trilogy – Three Crooked Kings, Jacks and Jokers and All Fall Down. His other books include The Trout Opera and The Motorcycle Café. In 2019 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the community. He is a senior writer and podcaster for The Australian.

Secure your spot via the Where the Wild Things are events page, here.