She will be talking about her career and there will be a discussion around her new book – The Whole Bright Year.  

Oswald’s work is familiar to Goulburn audiences through her play The Peach Season, which was presented at the Lieder Theatre last year. 

“Debra Oswald is a wonderful writer of Australian drama” said Goulburn Mulwaree Library Manager Erin Williams. 

“Many people have enjoyed her plays, as well as her television series such as Offspring. 

“We’re delighted to hear her speak about her career as well as her new adult novel”.

She is a two-time winner of the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the creator/head writer of the first five seasons of the TV series Offspring.

Her stage plays have been performed around the world and are published by Currency Press. Gary’s House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award.

Debra has also written four plays for young audiences – Dags, Skate, Stories in the Dark and House on Fire.

Her television credits include Police Rescue, Palace of Dreams, The Secret Life of Us and Bananas in Pyjamas.

She has written three Aussie Bite books for kids and six children's novels, including The Redback Leftovers and Getting Air. Her first adult novel, Useful, was published in 2015 and her second adult novel, The Whole Bright Year, is available now. 

The Whole Bright Year is an intense and seductive new novel set on an Australian peach farm in 1976. It was written originally as the stage play – The Peach Season. 

It follows Celia, a strong woman in her early forties. Her regular picking team has failed to show, just when the orchard is loaded with ripe fruit.

Years ago, Celia’s husband was killed when she was pregnant and she decided to whisk her newborn daughter Zoe away from Sydney for a more secure life. Now 16, Zoe is a passionate, intelligent girl, chafing against her mother’s protectiveness and yearning for intensity and experience.

Barging into this world as itinerant fruit pickers come a desperate brother and sister from Sydney. Hard-bitten, spiky Sheena has dragged her wild, exuberant brother Kieran out west, away from trouble in the city. Kieran and Zoe are drawn to each other the instant they meet, sparking excitement, worry, lust, and trouble.

The Whole Bright Year is underpinned by the Greek mythology of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. It’s a story about the urge to safeguard the people we love but to still allow them to go out into the perilous world.

A mother protecting her daughter, children shielding their parents from pain, a sister trying to rescue her brother and young lovers yearning to save each other. 

The talk will begin at 2pm on Saturday, May, 12 with copies of Debra’s adult novels available for sale and signing.

The session is free, but bookings are essential and can be made online at https://www.trybooking.com/UKEI, in person at the Library, or by calling on (02) 4823 4435.