Black Rock White City by Alec Patric: 3 Feb, 2017

Black Rock White City is a novel about the damages of war, the limits of choice, and the hope of love. It’s the story of Australia’s suburbs and the attempts of two Serbian refugees— Jovan and Suzana—as they try to reclaim the hopes of a life left behind.

It was awarded the 2016 Miles Franklin Literary Award.

Alec Patric will join us for a Q&A on Friday, 3 February between 10 and 11am. Please leave any questions you have below. (And discuss the book at your leisure!)

Want to buy Black Rock White City? Receive 10% off when purchasing it from Readings at State Library Victoria. To receive the discount online, enter the promo code BOOKCLUB in the promo code box during online checkout. To receive the discount at our State Library bookshop, simply mention the Thursday night book club at the counter.

← Currently viewing a single comment. Back to the whole discussion.

Hi Alec, thanks for a great talk at the Library last night! You mentioned that each chapter of your book was written as a short story - how did the idea come about to combine the stories, and what was the selection process?

Hi Bec,

I wrote the novel in one unbroken sequence but later, when it came to editing, I wanted to retain my short story sensibility, so I focused on each chapter the same way as I had when writing short stories, making sure each word was absolutely necessary, that there was no sentences that felt flat, etc. Also wanted to have a strong beginning, middle and end to each chapter while developing the overall narrative momentum. There's also a feeling of concision and integrity that the best short stories have and I wanted to not lose that in my novel.