One of the world’s most popular historical authors and biographers will appear at UQ this week as part of a rich program taking place during the Brisbane Writers Festival.
Simon Winchester OBE will discuss his works with Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield at a free public event at St Lucia on Friday, September 3.
Mr Winchester started his career as a journalist, making his name as a travel writer and at The Guardian, where he covered significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate scandal.
He had published a dozen titles before finding mainstream success in 1998 with The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words, which tells the extraordinary beginnings of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Although his publishers ordered a small initial print run, the book went on to sell millions of copies, and remains a bestseller today.
Other titles include The Map That Changed the World (2001) and Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded (2005).
The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary (2003) was shortlisted for the 2003 British Book Awards History Book of the Year, and A Crack in the Edge of the World: The Great American Earthquake of 1906 was published in 2007.
Mr Winchester’s 21st book Atlantic: A Biography of An Ocean, will be released in October.
Hear Mr Winchester in conversation with Professor Greenfield from 2-3pm, September 3 in Room 212 of the Sir Llew Edwards Building. All are welcome.
The event is among those sponsored or hosted by the University as a Premier partner of the 2010 festival, and sees top authors discuss their work across disciplines including engineering, business and neuroscience.
English novelist, playwright and journalist Louise Doughty will give a free public lecture at St Lucia from 1-2pm, also on September 3. A former judge of the Man Booker Prize, Ms Doughty’s books include A Novel in a Year and Whatever You Love.
Scientists Norman Doidge and Perminder Sachdev will discuss the delicate art of writing about the brain with Susan Wyndam at 5pm on September 4, while Australian authors Peter Goldsworthy and Anna Goldsworthy will discuss their writing at an event hosted by the UQ Library on September 6.
And in what promises to be an eye-opening event, cult Chinese author Mian Mian will give a public lecture from 5-7pm on September 3.
For a full list of BWF events, visit the festival website.
Media: Dani Lawrence (07 3365 9163, d.lawrence@uq.edu.au) or Cameron Pegg at UQ Communications (07 3365 2049, c.pegg@uq.edu.au)
