Honey Blood: Kirsty Everett in-conversation with Patti Miller

'I thought if I was going to die I should write some things down'

Kirsty Everett was going to be an Olympic gymnast. But as she made plans to win gold, life, as it does, laughed at the goal she'd set. Aged nine, she was diagnosed with leukaemia and spent the next two and a half years in treatment and attending the funerals of children she met in the cancer ward. At the age of sixteen, Kirsty's cancer returned. Faced with a devastating prognosis, she threw herself into as much as she could - friends, school, drama, sport, even a life-writing course with Patti Miller. As she said, 'I thought if I was going to die I should write some things down.'

Against the odds, Kirsty survived. She never achieved gold at the Olympics, but she learned a lot about people, attitudes and resilience.

This is a book about growing up different when you want to be the same; sparking hostility where there should be support; and how love can be tested to its utmost. It's wise and unflinching and hopeful, and you won't feel the same after reading it.

'Honey Blood is one of the most exuberant, life-affirming memoirs I have ever read. The fact that it is about the uncompromising reality of childhood cancer, makes it all the more extraordinary. Read it and be utterly bowled over Kirsty Everett's astonishing courage, honesty and cheeky humour' - Patti Miller

Kirsty Everett is First Nations writer, a proud Darug woman currently residing on Dharawal country, who defied the odds and survived two bouts of cancer, aged nine and sixteen. She completed her HSC as well as a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English and Aboriginal Studies. In 2006 Kirsty received an award for Outstanding Voluntary Service from NSW Governor Marie Bashir. She has been a motivational and educational speaker since the age of fourteen. Her public speaking was kickstarted by Professor Darcy O'Gorman Hughes (the founder of the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia) at UNSW. Kirsty continues to this day to be an Ambassador for Kids Cancer.

Patti Miller was raised on Wiradjuri land in central western NSW and now lives in Sydney. She is the author of Writing Your Life (Allen & Unwin, 1994, 2001); The Last One Who Remembers (Allen & Unwin, 1997); Child (Allen & Unwin, 1998); Whatever the Gods Do (Random House, 2003); The Memoir Book (Allen & Unwin, 2007); the award-winning The Mind of a Thief (UQP, 2012); Ransacking Paris (UQP, 2015); Writing True Stories (Routledge, 2017); and The Joy of High Places (NewSouth, 2019). She has also taught memoir and creative non-fiction for many years around Australia and in Fiji, Bali, Paris and London.