This year, Wagga Wagga City Library is again hosting 'One Book One Wagga', the city's largest book club. The selected novel for 2022 is Alice Pung's One Hundred Days.
Over the coming months, hundreds of locals will read One Hundred Days, then spend an evening with Alice, a 2022 recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to literature, at a Gala Dinner in May.
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One Hundred Days tells the story of Karuna, who at 16 discovers she is pregnant. Incensed, Karuna's mother, already over-protective, confines her to their fourteenth-storey housing-commission flat for one hundred days, to keep her safe from the outside world, and to make sure she can't get into any more trouble.
If you would like to join Wagga's largest book club, there are dozens of copies of One Hundred Days now waiting at the library. Also, library membership is free.
Julia Faragher, reviewing the novel for ArtsHub, writes: "One Hundred Days is Pung's best work so far, but know that it will break your heart."
Now in its ninth year, One Book One Wagga has featured such writers as Rosalie Ham (The Dressmaker's Secret, 2021), Chris Hammer (Scrublands, 2019), and Liane Moriarty (Truly Madly Guilty, 2017). Many of these titles have gone on to win major awards.
One Book One Wagga wraps up in style with a three-course Gala Dinner on Friday, May 20, at The Gardens Function Centre, situated in Wagga's beautiful Botanic Gardens.
Join Alice Pung for a fascinating evening of in-depth conversation about reading, writing, mothers, daughters, and complicated love. Tickets are just $65 per person, and available through the Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre, on 6926 9688.
For more details on any library events, visit our 'What's On' page at waggalibrary.com.au, phone 6926 9700, or talk to library staff.
