How do writers use satire to challenge assumptions, reveal uncomfortable truths and find meaning in a complex world? What is the role of humour, irony and absurdity in storytelling? The Rising Lights is Steve Toltz’ darkly comic and philosophical novel about a former child psychotherapist confronting modern loneliness and artificial intelligence. Alan Fyfe’s The Cross Thieves is a bold, compassionate and razor-sharp story of two hungry boys whose quest for adventure and revenge brims with street spirit. Billy Albert, in Everything Goes to the Dogs, creates an uproarious yet incisive satire of family, money and morality.
**Speakers:** Billy Albert, Alan Fyfe, Steve Toltz – moderator Scott Whitmont