October 1: From 5.30 to 6.30pm, Emma Dawson, Janet McCalman and Andrew Leigh will be in conversation on What Happens Next, essays with a framework aimed at improving Australian lives and global sustainability.

October 7: From 6 to 7pm, Jane Harper will be in conversation with Anna Creer on Harper's new crime novel, The Survivors, set in a small Tasmanian coastal community.

Registrations at anu.edu.au/events.

September 25: At 7pm, join author Aminata Conteh-Biger in conversation with literary journalist Nicole Abadee as she discusses her memoir, Rising Heart. State Library of NSW website: sl.nsw.gov.au/events/author-talk-rising-heart.

September 25: At 6.30pm join award-winning YA author Christie Nieman in conversation with fellow author Miriam Sved about her new fiction, Where We Begin. Readings: readings.com.au/event/christie-nieman-in-conversation.

Future readings: October 6, November 9 and December 7. Physical admission: $10 waged, $5 unwaged (20 people only, paid online in advance via Smith's Alternative calendar). 7pm at Smiths Alternative Bookshop, 76 Alinga Street, Civic (Melbourne Building). Zoom readings will also start at 7pm and will finish by 9pm at the latest. Log-on information will be sent shortly beforehand. No open mic. Technical inquiries: SmithsPoetryThing@gmail.com.

Spring School Holiday Activities: Visit the website to register for Zoom activities for children aged six and up. harryhartog.com.au/events.

September 30: Invisible & Unseen: A Conversation with Kylie Maslen (Show Me Where It Hurts) and Jacinta Parsons (Unseen) will be live-streamed at 6.30pm via Zoom. Spaces are limited. harryhartog.com.au/events.

October 7: No Matter Our Wreckage: A Conversation with Gemma Carey & Ginger Gorman will be live-streamed via Zoom at 6.30pm. More information and tickets: harryhartog.com.au/events.

The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist by Professor Kate Fullagar of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at Australian Catholic University has just won the NSW Premier's History Award. It tells the little-known story of Ostenaco, a Cherokee warrior and diplomat, and Mai, a traveller from the Pacific Island of Raiatea, and their meeting with Joshua Reynolds, founder and first president of Britain's Royal Academy of Arts.

Canberra writer Irma Gold's first novel Thailand, The Breaking (MidnightSun Publishing ($29.99) is about the bond between two young women - friendship, companionship, and falling in love - and the enduring cost of animal exploitation.

Australian Book Review is calling for entries in the 17th Peter Porter Poetry Prize, one of Australia's most lucrative and respected awards for poetry. First prize is $6000 and four other shortlisted poets will receive $1000 each. Entry is open to all poets writing in English, until midnight on October 1, 2020. Entries must be an original single-authored poem of not more than 70 lines written in English. The five shortlisted poems will be published in the January-February 2021 issue and the winner will be announced at a ceremony in January. australianbookreview.com.au.