Annette Higgs in-conversation with Belinda Castles

Told from five different points of view, each one revealing something different, On a Bright Hillside in Paradise, tells the story of a family of convict descendants in the back-blocks of Tasmania, on a farm in a place called Paradise. They lead hard-scrabble lives. The drama begins when strangers arrive, Christian Brethren evangelists who hold big revival meetings in local barns.

On a Bright Hillside in Paradise tackles big questions of faith and family but remains grounded in the dreams and strivings of its beautifully drawn characters. Higgs takes lives that history might have judged as small and imbues them with immense dignity and complex and compelling inner lives.

Our event space is wheelchair accessible via a stair lift. Please contact events@betterread.com.au with any additional access requirements and/or questions.

Annette Higgs is a writer living in Sydney, Australia. She was born and grew up in Tasmania, leaving on her 18th birthday to study literature and law at the Australian National University in Canberra. She has lived, worked and studied in Sydney, London and Italy, and holds a Doctor of Arts from the University of Sydney. A Pushcart nominee, her short work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies in Australia, the USA, the UK and India. Her novel On a Bright Hillside in Paradise won the 2022 Penguin Literary Prize.

Belinda Castles is the author of four novels and winner of the Australian/Vogel’s and Asher literary awards, as well as being named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Novelists. Her most recent novel, Bluebottle, was long-listed for the Stella Prize. She is the editor of the collection Reading like an Australian Writer and is working on a fifth novel and a book about walks with writers in Sydney. She has taught writing in Australia and the UK and is currently a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Sydney.