Christmas with Ben & Maya
Join Ben Hobson and Maya Linnell for a Christmas special in the second week of December featuring Maya’s latest rural romance ‘Paperbark Hill’. The two authors will also be discussing all things festive with podcaster and florist Rebecca Noble and Kristi Brooks from Mount Gambier Library.
During this discussion, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, interact with the guests, and enjoy a light-hearted engaging conversation about books, floristry, gardening, and cooking.
Christmas with Ben and Maya is a special edition of Library Lovers with Maya Linnell and Ben’s Book Club.
Ben’s Book Club will continue to be held on the fourth Tuesday of each month in 2023 and invites all attendees to engage and interact with authors from all genres. The Zoom link will be emailed to all attendees on the day of the event to join the discussion.
This month’s featured title, ‘Paperbark Hill’ by Maya Linnell is available to borrow from your local library. If not, you can request your library to buy these titles. Download Libby and find your local library to start reading: meet.libbyapp.com
ABOUT THE GUESTS
Maya Linnell
Maya Linnell lives in country Victoria with her family and a menagerie of farm animals. She describes herself as a Writer, Baker and Green Thumb. She is also the bestselling author of the rural fiction books, Wildflower Ridge, Bottlebrush Creek and Magpie’s Bend. A former country journalist and radio host, Maya also blogs for Romance Writers Australia, loves baking up a storm, tending to her rambling garden and raising three young bookworms. Her new novel, Paperbark Hill, was published with Allen & Unwin in June.
Ben Hobson
Ben Hobson is a teacher, and an author, based in Brisbane. To Become a Whale, his debut novel, was released in 2017. It was longlisted for the ABIA Debut Fiction award and shortlisted for the Courier-Mail’s People’s Choice Award. His second novel, Snake Island, a literary thriller, was released in 2019. The Death of John Lacey, which will be released in February 2023, will be his third novel.
Rebecca Noble
Rebecca Noble grew up in the South Island of New Zealand, where she spent her holidays roaming the family’s high country sheep station with her siblings and cousins. Discovering nature and inventing new ways to dam up the creeks surrounding the homestead. Fast forward a few years and the Yarra Valley, Victoria, is now home. Rebecca is the owner and head designer at LLB, a floral design business that promotes and advocates for locally grown and seasonal flowers. Specialising in retail, event and installation flowers. With a style that is wild and abundant and reflecting moments in time.
Through her floristry work Rebecca realised a gap in the market between florists and farmers. To help grow connections, she started a podcast called “Dish the Dirt” in which a different flower farmer throughout Australia is interviewed every week sharing their stories, knowledge and insights into the industry.
Kristi Brooks
Kristi Books has been with Mount Gambier Library for more than 12 years. She is the Team Leader of Library Programs and the Manager of Library & Community Development, working with a diverse team to provide events, programs and services for children, youth and adults as well as ensuring the library remains relevant and an exciting community place for people to visit, engage, discover and enjoy!
One of Kristi’s favourite roles is working with authors to host live events: whether it’s a debut author or returning favourite, and she says it’s a great excuse to curl up with a book at home (and glass of vino!) all in the name of work!
Christmas with Ben and Maya is brought to you by OverDrive and your local library. Libby is compatible on all devices with iOS 10+ and Android 5.0+ and KOBO. If you have a Windows computer, Mac computer, or a Chromebook, you can use Libby in your web browser at libbyapp.com. We suggest using the latest version of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge.