A time of celebration – and a tribute to my brother

4 August 2017 | 6 Comments

Last night, we launched The Undercurrent at Riverbend Books in Bulimba (Brisbane). It was a lovely night and I’m so grateful to everyone who came out and shared in the celebration.

Special thanks to Christine Bongers for launching (and asking great questions), my editor Mandy Brett from Text Publishing for coming up from Melbourne, my niece Katie for travelling up from Adelaide and the team at Riverbend Books for another beautiful launch event.

There was also a great deal of sadness waiting beneath the celebrations. My brother Steve – who has been at every launch even though he lives in Darwin, and who was intending on being at this one – passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on 20 July 2017.

I managed to say a few words in dedicating the night to Steve, and I wanted to repeat them here:

Steve would have been here tonight with his wife Debbie, daughter Kelly and her partner Mitchell. He and Debbie have been here for every launch. The whole family, including my nephew Aaron, was here two years ago when we launched Burn. 

I’m still in shock at losing him, to be honest. He was one of my favourite people. Almost all of our photos together are of eating, drinking or laughing, and that sums up how we spent our time together. He was a gentle soul, who was also a third dan black belt in Zen Do Kai. He was practical and sensible, but would laugh so hard he’d cry at the most inane things (like the dancing donkey in Nanny McPhee. Watching him watch that scene made me laugh so much I cried.) 

Steve loved his family more than anything, and they were adamant I still go ahead with this launch. So I’d like to dedicate tonight to Steve.

Despite the sadness, it was a lovely night – and a wonderful distraction. I am truly blessed to have such incredibly supportive family, friends and readers.

Here are some shots from the night:

And here’s one of my favourite shots of Steve and me.