About the Event
Telling your story can sometimes be a difficult and challenging task, join us as Gerard McCann and Khin Myint discuss their writing journey, in conversation with Anne-Louise Willoughby.
The Mandurah Readers’ and Writers’ Festival is an annual adult literature event presented by City of Mandurah Library Services. In 2025 it will be held from 16 – 18 January at the Seashells Resort Mandurah. The aim of the festival is to foster a love of reading and literature and encourage creativity in our community. This year the festival brings together an array of established and emerging storytellers from across Western Australia. The free to attend three-day festival includes author talks, and panel discussions.
Gerard McCann
Born in the Western Australian wheatbelt town of Goomalling, Gerard grew up in the Perth suburb of Cottesloe, the second of five boys in a staunch Catholic family. After school with the Jesuits, he studied Architecture at the Perth Technical College and the University of WA. He completed an Arts degree at UWA in the 1990s, majoring in Australian and American literature. In 2012, he re-immersed himself in non-fiction writing which led to Gerard write a memoir of his childhood, which developed into a major exploration of clerical sexual abuse and its lifelong consequences. He lives with his life partner in Fremantle.
Anatomy of a Secret – Gerard McCann
A courageous memoir about the personal toll of seeking justice from the Catholic Church. As a boy, Gerard was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at his local church. As a grown man, he confronts the trauma of the abuse he suffered and the psychological aftermath of the experience, grappling with shame, guilt, and the devastating impact it had on his family, relationships and sense of self. Despite the pain he endured, this is ultimately a story of hope and healing, of acknowledging pain and seeking support, of honesty and justice. Anatomy of a Secret is a raw, compelling memoir that bravely shares long-silenced, unspoken truths.
Khin Myint
Khin Myint's searing debut memoir explores a family grappling with the right to die in the face of a non-terminal illness. His writing has received critical acclaim and has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, Slate Magazine and The West Australian.
Fragile Creatures – Khin Myint
Khin's sister Theda has a strange illness, and a euthanasia drug locked in a box under her bed. Her doctor thinks her problem is purely physical, and so does she, but Khin is not so sure. He knows what they both went through growing up in Perth – it wasn't welcoming back then for a Burmese-Australian family. With Theda's condition getting worse, Khin heads off to the United States. He needs to sort things out with his ex-partner. Once there, events take a very odd turn, and he finds himself in court. This is a family story told with humour, wonderment and complete honesty. It's about care, truth and the hardest choices – and what happens when realities clash. How do we balance responsibility for others with what we owe ourselves? Fragile Creatures will sweep you up and leave you stunned at its power.
Anne-Louise Willoughby
Anne Louise holds a PhD in Creative Writing in the genre of Biography from the University of Western Australia and teaches in the School of Humanities’ Creative Writing program. Anne-Louise is the author of the biography Nora Heysen: A Portrait published by Fremantle Press in 2019. She lives in Fremantle, Western Australia
What to Expect:
2.00pm: In Conversation
2.45pm: Q & A
3.00pm: Book signing
Tea & Coffee provided.
Festival Bookseller is Dymocks Busselton
Places are limited, Bookings required. Book Now!
