Author in conversation: Kirsty Murray

About this recording

Hear author Kirsty Murray discuss her award-winning YA novel, India dark, with Justine Hyde. 

Kirsty shares the scandalous story of Pollard's Lilliputian Opera Company, comprising 29 Australian child performers that worked the Empire circuit from Melbourne to India in 1909, on which India dark is based. 

She talks about her Library Creative Fellowship, where she made extensive use of the Newspapers and the WG Alma collections to research the novel. She also discusses her involvement in the Bookwallah project that makes storybooks available to orphans and children of trauma in India. 

This audio recording includes a short reading from India dark and Q&A with the audience. 

This free 'Author in-conversation' event was held at M Pavillion on 2 December 2016. 

Speakers

Kirsty Murray is a prolific author of books for children and young adults. She has written 11 novels which have won and been shortlisted for many awards, including the NSW Premier's Literary Award, the WA Premier's Award and the NSW Premier's History Award. She is a 2017 nominee for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to young people's literature. She has been a guest presenter at literary festivals across Asia, an AsiaLink literature resident and writer-in-residence at the University of Himachal Pradesh in North India. Kirsty researched her novel India dark as a Library Creative Fellow.

Justine Hyde is Director, Library Services and Experiences at State Library Victoria.