About this Event
Join us for a fireside chat with Lance Richardson & Caroline Baum about Peter Matthiessen - Writer. Seeker. Spy
Lance & Caroline take a fine toothed comb to the extraordinary life of Peter Matthiessen, who led a life of such improbable scale it reads like invention.
From co-founding The Paris Review while undercover for the CIA, to a restless flight into the wilds of the Amazon, the Himalayas, Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Everglades, his narrative defies a single shelf. His magnum opus, The Snow Leopard, was less a search for a spotty cat than a relentless, spiritual inquiry into meaning within a fractured modern world.
Join us as Caroline and Lance give us a glimpse into a life less ordinary!
The Details:
🗓️ Friday 06 March at 12.30pm
đź“Ť Henry Carmichael Theatre
🎟️ Free for SMSA Members. $10 for friends and visitors
ABOUT LANCE & CAROLINE
Lance Richardson
Lance Richardson’s latest biography, True Nature: The Lives of Peter Matthiessen, landed in October 2025 and was instantly crowned one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The New Yorker and Vogue.
This isn't his first triumph. His previous work, House of Nutter: The Rebel Tailor of Savile Row, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and racked up accolades from The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday, Esquire and the American Library Association. His shelf holds awards and fellowships aplenty, including a prestigious year-long residency at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center.
Today, he teaches in the MFA in Writing program at Bennington College in Vermont, a long way from his roots in a small town in the Hunter Valley. Not bad for a local kid.
Caroline Baum
Caroline Baum is the author of Only, a Singular Memoir and the host of Life Sentences, a podcast dedicated to biography.
She has always been a creative force: a journalist and broadcaster for the ABC, The Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald, and Vogue Australia; a judge for the Stella Prize and the Walkley Awards; a recipient of the prestigious Hazel Rowley Fellowship; and the former Editorial Director of Booktopia, where she steered the ship for four years.
Caroline lives on the gorgeous south coast of NSW.
Not a member?
For the price of two forgettable cocktails, you could have a year of films, events and unfettered access to our library which, we should note, is suspiciously well-stocked with M**der mysteries. One might even call it an alibi for a good time.
Join today! A year of intrigue is just $50 (or a $40 for concessions)
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney, Australia
AUD 0.00 to AUD 11.90
