Cirrus@Austlit

'The wildly impressive, raucously funny and deeply moving second novel from award-winning writer, actor and director for television, theatre and film, Brendan Cowell, confirming the talent he showed in his bestselling debut novel from 2010, How It Feels.

'Peter 'The Plum' Lum is a 48-year-old ex-star NRL player, living with his son and girlfriend in Cronulla. He's living a pretty cruisey life until one day he suffers an epileptic fit and discovers that he has a brain disorder as a result of the thousand-odd head knocks he took on the footy field in his twenty-year-career. According to his neurologist, Plum has to make some changes - right now - or it's dementia, or even death.

'Reluctantly, Plum embarks on a journey of self-care and self-discovery, which is not so easy when all you've ever known is to go full tilt at everything. On top of this, he's being haunted by dead poets, and, unable to stop crying, discovers he has a special gift for the spoken word. With spectral visits from Bukowski and Plath, the friendship of local misfits, and the prospect of new love, Plum might just save his own life.

'From award-winning writer, director and actor, Brendan Cowell, Plum is a powerfully moving, authentic, big-hearted, angry and joyous novel of men, their inarticulate pain and what it takes for them to save themselves - from themselves. It's got a roaring energy, a raucous humour, a heart of gold and a poetic soul.' (Publication summary)

A hard-drinking advertising executive is given a second chance by his long-suffering girlfriend, on condition that he stays away from alcohol for a year.

'From award-winning actor and writer Brendan Cowell comes a brilliantly perceptive take on everything true Australians hold dear: mateship, family, footy and sex scandals.

'First there’s Dean, a former NRL star who’s switched codes and cities. Then there’s his brother Liam, the footy workhorse who tries to clean up Dean’s mess but mostly just makes things worse. And finally, there’s Amber, the teenage athlete who rests uneasily on the edge of complicity and victimhood. The team footy trip to Thailand is where things start to get ugly, but when the brothers meet on game day it’s a showdown Melbourne will never forget.

'The Sublime cuts through the media-managed world of professional football to expose human foibles that exist way beyond the sporting field. Director Sam Strong combines forces with actor Josh McConville to create a fiery production for lovers of any code, and for those who’ve never set foot inside a stadium.' (Production summary)