Laura Jean McKay is the author of The Animals in That Country (Scribe 2020) - winner of The Victorian Prize for Literature and Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction 2021. Bold, exhilarating, and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying. Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean’s infected son, Lee. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.Īs disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals-first mammals, then birds and insects, too. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. She’s never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.

McKay will read from her award-winning novel, followed by a craft conversation with Stefanovic and a Q&A portion with you! *JOIN US* on Crowdcast as we virtually welcome the winner of the 2021 Victorian Prize for Literature, Laura Jean Mckay (THE ANIMALS IN THAT COUNTRY, Scribe) and her in- conversation guest, author Sofija Stefanovic (MISS EX-YUGOSLAVIA: A MEMOIR, Atria Books)

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