Maria Papas will discuss her book, Skimming Stones, which won the 2020 Hungerford Award. A novel years in the writing and born out of personal experience, it is a deeply moving story which will remind you of the power of human connection.

Set in a paediatric oncology ward and at Lake Clifton in Australia’s southwest, Skimming Stones is about a nurse named Grace, who on the one hand cares for and guides her young patients, but on the other must navigate her own past as a child who once bore witness to her sister’s leukaemia. Skimming Stones explores the lifelong effects of childhood illness and trauma. It’s a novel about families, and the ways people within these families love and break until finally they begin to recognise what they have all been through.

Bookings are essential for this free event at https://171022b.eventbrite.com.au.

Please advise if you have any access requirements. Light refreshments will be available. We encourage you to bring your own keep cup for tea/coffee or water.

About Maria Papas: Maria Papas is a West Australian writer whose fiction, creative non-fiction and academic essays have appeared in various journals including TEXT, Griffith Review, Axon and The Letters Page. She holds a PhD from the University of Western Australia where she researched the ways people share narratives of illness and trauma. In 2020, the creative component of her research won the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award, and has since been published as her debut novel, Skimming Stones. Maria works as an English teacher and sessional academic, and when she is not writing or working, you can find her near the coast or with family.