Debra Adelaide in Conversation with Lynette Ainsworth

Friends of Wingecarribee Libraries (FOWL) present Debra Adelaide in conversation with Lynnette Ainsworth.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When I am Sixty-Four by Debra Adelaide was published by the University of Queensland Press (UQP) in March 2026. Debra’s latest book is a shimmering mosaic of a novel in which a writer reflects on the final days of her friend’s life.

In the decades after they met at school, the friends shared a passion for books and words, took care of each other’s children, received acclaim as authors, and endured failure and disappointment.

Yet during these last days together, as she and her friend go on walks through their neighbourhood, she discovers that their paths may have been more different than she realised – and bridging the gulf becomes more vital than ever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR & INTERVIEWER

Dr Debra Adelaide is the author or editor of 18 books, including fiction, non-fiction and reference works. Her 2008 novel, The Household Guide to Dying, was published to acclaim in Australia and around the world. It was also short- and long-listed for several literary awards, including the international Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize) for Fiction.

Debra’s most recent books include Zebra, which won the short story category in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards, and The Innocent Reader: Reflections on reading and writing. She taught creative writing for 20 years and is now an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney.

Debra lives and writes on Bidjigal Country in Sydney’s Inner West.

Debra will be interviewed by Lynette Ainsworth.

Lynette is a writer living on Gundungurra land in the Southern Highlands. Her writing was shortlisted for the 2019 EM Fletcher Award and is included in the 2019 Faber Anthology.  Awarded a Varuna Master Class in 2017 and Artist in Residency at The Old School House, Mt. Wilson in 2020, Lynette is an Alumni of both Varuna – The Writers House, and Faber Writing Academy where she studied under Patti Miller.  Lynette has been mentored by both Carol Major and Meera Atkinson.

Lynette is the Founder and Co-ordinator of Writers at the Woolshed, which holds writing workshops and writers retreats in the Southern Highlands.

$15/FOWL member. $20/non-member, with a morning tea to follow.