Kingdom of Men ~ Book Launch

You're invited to the launch of Kingdom of Men by Lea Weaver and Alayna Cole

Zoe has always believed that when something frightens her, it’s worth pursuing. So when a client offers her a job teaching Shiatsu at a high-security men’s prison, she says yes.

Each week, Zoe enters a classroom alone with a group of men she has been warned to fear. She connects with her students, bends the rules, and gradually finds herself more at ease with the prisoners than with the guards, her clients, and even her friends. What begins as an unlikely job evolves into a deeply human story of love, grief, and defiance. In this place known for violence and fear, the men offer Zoe something she has rarely known: respect.

Lea Weaver has done many things in her life, including teaching weaving at the Rudolf Steiner Curative Home, completing her Bachelor of Education in Arts and Crafts from Melbourne University in 1992, being an Artist in Residence at various primary schools, and teaching Shiatsu at the Port Phillip high security men's prison. She attended Barbara Turner-Vesselago’s Freefall Writing Residential workshops. She has had two stories in the Cartridge Family anthology that won the FAW 2007 award, and had two stories featured in the Cartridge Family publication of Melbourne Subjective. She recently spent two years as a co-presenter and interviewer for the writers’ program Take Me to Your Reader, broadcast at JOY 94.9fm.

Alayna Cole has spent the last decade working in and around the games industry. She’s been a producer in both AAA and indie studios, run a not-for-profit, mentored emerging developers, and taught game studies at several Australian universities. She has published across forms and genres, including short stories, memoir, textbooks, and journal articles. Her most recent book—Becoming Wild: Essays on Self and Society—is a creative memoir about what it means to be ourselves. Alayna has spoken at conferences and summits around the world, including a keynote at Games Connect Asia Pacific and as a panelist at a United Nations event about gender-based violence.

Doors 6.30pm
Event 7pm