Book Launch: We Didn’t Think It Through – An Evening with Gary Lonesborough
Join Gary Lonesborough as he chats to fellow author, Felicity Castagna, about his newest YA novel, We Didn’t Think It Through.
From the author of the award-winning The Boy from the Mish, comes a compelling coming-of-age YA novel about sixteen-year-old Jamie Langton finding his future and navigating the challenges of racism, family and friendship in a small Australian town.
Gary Lonesborough will be chatting to fellow author, Felicity Castagna, followed by questions from the audience and a book signing.
6pm arrivals for a 6:30pm start.
RSVP in store, by phone: 02 9262 7996, email or via Eventbrite.
About the book:
The thought comes to me: This is how I die. Dally is going to lose control and crash us into a pole or a house and we will be killed on impact.
The justice system characterises Jamie Langton as a ‘danger to society’, but he’s just an Aboriginal kid, trying to find his way through adolescence.
Jamie lives in Dalton’s Bay with Aunty Dawn and Uncle Bobby. He spends his downtime hanging out with his mates, Dally and Lenny. Mark Cassidy and his white mates – the Footy Heads – take every opportunity they can to bully Jamie and his friends. On Lenny’s last night in town before moving to Sydney, after another episode of racist harassment, Jamie, Dally and Lenny decide to retaliate by vandalising Mark Cassidy’s car. And when they discover the keys are in the ignition… Dally changes the plan. Soon they are all in Mark Cassidy’s stolen car cruising through town, aiming to take it for a quick spin, then dump it.
But it’s a bad plan. And as a consequence, Jamie ends up in the youth justice system where he must find a way to mend his relationships with himself, his friends, his family and his future.
Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin man, who grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW as part of a large and proud Aboriginal family. Gary was always writing as a child, and continued his creative journey when he moved to Sydney to study at film school. Gary has experience working in youth work, Aboriginal health, child protection, the disability sector (including experience working in the youth justice system) and the film industry, including working on the feature film adaptation of Jasper Jones. His debut YA novel, THE BOY FROM THE MISH, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2021. It was published in the US in 2022 under the title Ready When You Are.
Felicity Castagna has published four novels for adults and young adults including her most recent book, Girls In Boys’ Cars (2021, Pan Macmillan) which received The Victorian and Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for YA and is now being adapted for stage and screen. Her previous novel, No More Boats (2017, Giramondo) was a finalist in the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Awards and is published internationally by Europa. Her young adult novel The Incredible Here and Now (2014, Giramondo) received The Prime Minister’s Award for Young Adult Literature as well as the IBBY Award and was a finalist in several other awards including the CBCA Book of the Year Award. She has worked with artists in many different fields to produce cross-artform collaborations, theatre and installation for major festivals including The Sydney Festival, The National Theatre of Parramatta and The Adelaide Festival. Most recently she wrote the script for Encounter, an epic work of dance, storytelling and music for The Sydney Opera House. Her creative non-fiction and critical responses to literature and art are published both here and internationally on platforms such as ABC radio and television, The Sydney Review of Books, Electric Literature, LitHub and The Griffith Review. She is currently a lecturer in creative writing at Western Sydney University.