August 12: In an ANU/Canberra Times meet the author event from 6pm, Emma Shortis will be in conversation with Allan Behm on Shortis's Exceptional friend. Australia's fatal alliance with the United States. T2 Kambri Cultural Centre, ANU. Registrations at anu.edu.au/events.

August 16: In an ANU/Canberra Times meet the author event from 6pm, ALP deputy leader Richard Marles will be in conversation with Rory Medcalf on Marles's Tides that Bind: Australia in the Pacific, stressing the need for improved relationships with Pacific nations. T2 Kambri Cultural Centre, ANU. Registrations at anu.edu.au/events.

August 23: In an ANU/Canberra Times meet the author event from 6.30pm, Gideon Haigh will be in discussion with Frank Bongiorno on Haigh's The Brilliant Boy. Doc Evatt and the Great Australian Dissent. Cinema, Kambri Cultural Centre, ANU. Registrations at anu.edu.au/events.

August 25: In an ANU/Canberra Times meet the author event from 6pm, Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty will be in conversation with Tracy Smart on Doherty's An Insider's Plague Year, an illuminating glimpse into the scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Manning Clark Auditorium, Kambri Cultural Centre, ANU. Registrations at anu.edu.au/events.

August 26: Poetry at Manning Clark House. 11 Tasmania Circuit, Forrest, at 7pm, features K.A. Nelson, Rosa O'Kane, Moya Pacey and Sandra Renew. $10 entry. Bookings essential on Trybooking.com.

August 12: Kim Rubenstein, author of The Vetting of Wisdom: Joan Montgomery and the Fight for PLC, will be in conversation with Frank Bongiorno at 5pm. RSVP info@paperchainbookstore.com.au or phone 6295 6723.

August 25: Christine Sykes' book Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and Beyond will be launched on Wednesday, August 25 at 5pm. RSVP info@paperchainbookstore.com.au or phone 6295 6723.

August 3: Historian and author Robert Macklin will give a talk to the Australia China Friendship Society titled Dragon and Kangaroo - a troubled history at 7.30pm in the Catchpoles Room of the Southern Cross Club Jamison. All welcome; $2 donation at the door.

August 2: At Smith's Alternative at 7pm, Geoff Page has organised readings from Jennifer Harrison via Zoom from Melbourne and Jen Webb live in Canberra. $10/$5, bookings at smithsalternative.com.

August 7: At 4pm, author and art historian Janine Burke will discuss her book My Forests: Travels with Trees with Inga Simpson. Tickets: $10. musecanberra.com.au.

August 8: At 3pm, ABC-TV 7.30 satirists Mark Humphries and Evan Williams will discuss their book On Politics and Stuff with James Jeffrey. Tickets: $10. musecanberra.com.au.

August 17: At 8pm, the Translations Book Club will discuss Jayant Kaikini's short story collection No Presents Please (trans. Tejaswini Niranjana). Registrations: musecanberra.com.au.

The Canberra chapter of the Tough Guy Book Club will meet at 7pm at King O'Malley's, 131 City Walk, Canberra, on August 4. For more information, phone Darren Saffin on 0411 089 209.

August 4: Glenda Korporaal will deliver a lecture, Marion Mahony Griffin: In her Own Right, at 6pm in the National Library of Australia theatre. $20 Friends & Australian Garden History Society members; $25 non-members (refreshments included). nla.gov.au.

For consideration for Litbits, email litbits@canberratimes.com.au by 5pm Monday.

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