Author talk: Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Author talk: Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel

Canberra Writers Festival and author Emily St. John Mandel present a special In Conversation event focused on her new book, Exit Party.

Electrifying, atmospheric and deeply immersive, Exit Party explores freedom and surveillance, art and survival, love and loss and the terrifying possibility that reality is not as fixed as we think. Hear about the mysteries at its heart and the worlds that exist just beyond our own. 

Emily St. John Mandel will appear in conversation with Canberra Writers Festival Artistic Director, Andra Putnis.

A split image of author Emily St John Mandel on the left, wearing a brown shirt with arms crossed, and the cover of her book 'Exit Party' on the right. The book cover shows a stylized, colorful reflection of a cityscape.

Emily St. John Mandel

Emily St. John Mandel

This event is in partnership with Canberra Writers Festival.

Logo of the Canberra Writers Festival

About Exit Party

From the bestselling author of Station Eleven comes Emily St. John Mandel’s most thrilling novel yet. Exit Party is a mind-bending epic of crime, love, surveillance and fractured realities spanning space and time.

2031. Los Angeles is ready to celebrate. America is at war with itself, but a fragile new hope has emerged. The Republic of California has been declared. The curfew is lifted. And, for the first time in weeks, the people of Los Angeles are free to gather.

Freshly released from prison, Ari arrives at the party with her friend Gloria. But something is wrong. Among the revelers are people who shouldn’t be there - and before the night is over, Ari’s understanding of reality will be shattered.

Years later, living a new life in Paris, Ari remains haunted by what happened that night. Could the mystery of the party hold the key to another world entirely?

Buy the book

About Emily St. John Mandel

Emily St. John Mandel lives in New York City and Los Angeles. She is the author of seven novels. Station Eleven was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. It also won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Toronto Book Award and the Morning News Tournament of Books. The Glass Hotel was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Translated into 34 languages, Station Eleven was made into an acclaimed limited TV series. 

Event details
25 Nov 2026
6:00pm – 7:00pm
$24 General | $21 Concession | Fees apply for all tickets
Theatre
Accessibility
Assistance animals icon Assistance animals icon Assistance animals welcome
Assistive learning icon Assistive learning icon Hearing induction loop
Wheelchair icon Wheelchair icon Wheelchair accessible

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