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Three writers look unflinchingly at death, loss and what survival requires, from an individual, a family and a community. Katia Ariel's Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch, tells the story of a Melbourne Rabbi — a deathworker, community builder, and guardian of cultural memory — who spent 30 years guiding bereaved families through mourning. Kathryn Heyman's Circle of Wonders brings a daughter, sister and estranged mother together over one charged lunar month to reckon with old wounds, unfinished love and the unacknowledged wonders that surround them. And, in Isabelle Li's The Northern Tomb, an elderly widower and his live-in carer form an unlikely bond in locked-down Shenyang, confronting grief and the long reach of family history.
KEY INFO
Date: Saturday, 31 October 2026
Time: 3:30-4:30pm
Venue: Grand Dining Room, The Carrington Hotel
Tickets & More Info: https://www.bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au/events/grief-and-redemption
Katia Ariel was born in Odessa, Ukraine. Her memoir, The Swift Dark Tide, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2024 and won the 2024 Society of Women Writers NSW Non-fiction Prize. Her second book, Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch, was published by Wild Dingo Press last year.
Dr Kathryn Heyman is the author of seven novels as well as a memoir, a poetry collection and several dramas for stage and BBC radio. Kathryn Heyman won the Copyright Agency's Author Fellowship for her memoir Fury, which is now in development as a feature film. Her latest novel is Circle of Wonders.
Isabelle Li is a Chinese Australian writer and translator. Her collection of short stories, A Chinese Affair, was published by Margaret River Press and her Chinese translation of Sebastian Barry's novel The Secret Scripture was published by Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House. Her latest book is The Northern Tomb.
Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator and curator for writers and ideas festivals. She produces and hosts a monthly books conversation event for Petersham Bowling Club in Sydney and is a co-presenter and co-writer of a two-part podcast for ABC RN, tracing part of her family's history, called Laya's Way Home.
This event is part of the 2026 Blue Mountains Writers Festival, head to bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au for more information.
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Event venue
The Carrington Hotel, 15 Katoomba St, Katoomba NSW 2780, Australia, Katoomba
Tickets
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