Please join Leanne for a chat with author Kevin Radley at our Port Macquarie Library on Friday 21st November at 3pm.

Welcome back Kevin! Two new releases, two different genres.

While navigating his Kombi van around Australia in the early 1980’s, working and writing along the way, Kevin collided with a bull near the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia. He spent the dry season working in one of the two pubs in town. It was there that he wrote about the characters he encountered in a collection of short stories.

When he returned to Sydney, Kevin used samples of his stories in a successful application to join the team of story-liners for a new television series, ‘Neighbours’. He worked in this capacity until the program was cut by Channel Seven and picked up by Channel Ten.

Whilst maintaining an interest in writing, he threw himself wholeheartedly into a teaching career, nurturing a passion for delivering creative science lessons to his students. He taught in schools of the Nepean Valley for more than 30 years. During the final two years of teaching in the region, he wrote his first novel, ‘The Teacher’s Secrets’.

In 2019, he moved with his wife to the mid-north coast of New South Wales, where he taught on a casual basis for a year while writing his second novel, a work of contemporary fiction, ‘Thundersong’. Kevin retired from teaching in 2021 to focus on writing his third novel, a work of historical fiction, ‘Rabbit Town’, published by Contempo Publishing, 2024.

Kevin has published a reworking of his original teaching memoir, ‘Teacher Fella’ and has recently released s a work of contemporary fiction titled ‘The Baobab Tree’ . He has also completed the memoir of a mid-north coast man who was institutionalised from the age of four until eighteen and subjected to the most awful abuse.

THE BAOBAB TREE

Lucas is a man torn between two worlds. Facing the prospect of new love, he can’t forgive himself for how he let his wife down. Even worse, when he tried to make it up to her, it was too late. Maddy is a strong woman with an unfortunate history. She harbours a burning desire for Lucas but struggles with him being trapped in the past.
From the rush of city streets to gumtrees and meandering rivers of the coast, Lucas and Maddy are two damaged people grappling with embarking upon love again. They take a chance on each other and set off upon an epic journey through the Australian outback and across the continent.
It takes them to the wilderness of the Kimberley in Western Australia where the heat shimmers on the horizon in a world they have to themselves. It is there, at the foot of a Baobab Tree, Lucas scoops a handful of red earth and lets it run through his fingers, knowing at last, he can forgive himself.
Do Lucas and Maddy have the courage to embrace each other’s pasts and the scars they’ve collected along the way? Can they endure the obstacles that confront those who dare to love again?

SHARDS OF A BROKEN BOY

Michael is one of six brothers under eight, longing for their mother’s affection. After her repeated admittances to a psychiatric ward, the boys are shifted to Burnside Presbyterian Home for Children in western Sydney. Michael needs hugs and reassurance, but what he receives are beltings and verbal abuse.
Over the next fourteen years, Michael is shunted through one institution after another. Some are under the guise of religious banners such as the Presbyterian Church and the Salvation Army, and others are run by the State.
Physical and sexual abuse are normalised by those in authority during this shameful part of Australia’s history. Michael is vulnerable as psychological weaponry destroys many of those around him. During dark periods of his life, it seems unlikely he will survive the horror.
Despite his fragility, Michael finds something deep within himself to fight through the terror. When his time comes to leave the system, he embarks upon a new journey. Michael is a damaged soul but vows to take a step forward each day towards a better life.
Decades later, as a husband and father, he takes on each new day with determination to stay ahead of the demons. He remains a work in progress.