Bram Presser

Semi-reformed punk rocker, recovering academic, occasional criminal lawyer and one-time cartoon character, Bram Presser was born in Melbourne. His stories have appeared in Vice Magazine, The Sleepers Almanac, Best Australian Stories, Award Winning Australian Writing and Higher Arc. His debut novel, The Book of Dirt, has just been named the winner of the Christina Stead Prize for fiction and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for new writing in the 2018 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, as well as the People’s Choice Award at the Sydney Writers Festival.

www.textpublishing.com.au/books/the-book-of-dirt

Sessions :
Sun 06th May
12:30pm
Elsewhere Streets
Venue: The Saturday Paper Auditorium, St Kilda Town Hall
From the farthest reaches we came, often at great risk, to make Australia our home. For many, we had only the coats on our backs and the stories in our hearts. Join celebrated writers A.S. Patrić, Alice Pung and Arnold Zable as they discuss the immigrant experience in Australian literature, and explore how notions of home, belonging and difference, influence the way we construct our national cultural identities. This session is dedicated to the memory of Serge Liberman and will be chaired by Bram Presser. Book Now >
Sun 06th May
1:45pm
Through History’s Looking Glass
Venue: Council Chambers, St Kilda Town Hall
From the meticulously authentic to the daringly playful and everything in between, historical fiction allows us to engage with the past like no other literary form. In this session Rachel Kadish, Marija Peričić and Bram Presser discuss different approaches to writing about the past, and explore the ways in which rethinking accepted narratives can provide insight not only into history as we think we know it, but to our understanding of the present and future as well. Chaired by Marie Matteson. Book Now >
Mon 07th May
11:15am
Other People’s Lives
Venue: The Saturday Paper Auditorium, St Kilda Town Hall
What do we talk about when we talk about other people's lives? Find out how Bram Presser (The Book of Dirt), Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Winner Sarah Krasnostein (The Trauma Cleaner) and Heather Morris (The Tattooist of Auschwitz) have achieved this empathy with compassion and a keen sense of responsibility in their writing. Chaired by Mark Baker. Book Now >
Wed 09th May
7:30pm
Closing Event: Tales: Tall and True
Venue: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda
Expect to be beguiled, bedazzled and even a teeny bit bewildered. Our brilliant MC Jaye Kranz will compere an evening of wonder, laughter and tears, of raw nerves, bitten nails and other delights we cannot reveal in advance. Performers Husky Gawenda, Morris Gleitzman, Elise Hearst, Judy Horacek, Sarah Krasnostein, Bram Presser and Maria Tumarkin will tell stories improbable and impossible – but all absolutely true. Book Now >