Litbits: What's on in the Canberra literary scene from October 10, 2020

October 29: In an ANU/Canberra Times meet the author event from 6pm to 7pm, former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove will be in conversation on his new memoir, You Shouldn't Have Joined, with Alex Sloan. The event will be chaired by ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt. Manning Clark Theatre, Kambri Cultural Centre, ANU. Limited to 100 people with social distancing.

Registrations for all events are at anu.edu.au/events.

October 12: Triple launch: Wild Curious Air by Jill Jones, Night by Penelope Layland and Doggerland by Moya Pacey. Physical admission: $10 waged, $5 unwaged (20 people only, paid online in advance via the Smith's Alternative calendar). 7pm at the Smith's Alternative bookshop, 76 Alinga Street, Civic. Zoom readings will also start at 7pm and will finish by 9pm at the latest. Technical inquiries: smithspoetrything@gmail.com.

October 20: At 6pm, The Noel Butlin Archives Centre annual lecture, Archives for a dry and drying land, will be given online by ANU Centre for Environmental History director Ruth Morgan. She will discuss the dangers of global warming and discoveries of stories of adaption and resilience in the archives. Bookings at archives.anu.edu.au/events or 6125 2219.

We've had a few letters lately about crime fiction set in Canberra. Ian McFarlane has reminded us that his psychological thriller, The Siberian Sparrows, published by Hale & Iremonger in 1990, was set in Canberra and was well received. We will make no invidious remarks about crime and politics.

October 25: Reading on the Margins - Book Club is on at 3pm. Join co-hosts of the podcast Margin Notes, Yen Eriksen and Zoya Patel, for their bimonthly book club. musecanberra.com.au.

Writer Nigel Featherstone, who had a residency at UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy, is one of those longlisted in the ARA Historical Novel Society Australasia Prize, for his book Bodies of Men (Hachette Australia). Also longlisted for the $50,000 first prize and $5000 for two shortlisted authors are Master of My Fate by Sienna Brown, Shepherd by Catherine Jinks, Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe, The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith, Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams and The Yield by Tara June Winc.