Author encounters at #micallefavid & other shenanigans

So, Shaun Micallef was in town last night to delight us with the release of his, no doubt wonderfully hilarious, novella Preincarnate. A group of us rocked up to the HiFi in West End (since the Avid Reader book shop was way too small to hold this crowd), ready to be entertained, and we were not disappointed. He spent the introduction attempting to hide behind the curtains, only to appear at the front of stage to read passages from John Howard's recently released autobiography Lazarus Rising.
In the end, we did get to hear Shaun read a few pages of his own book, followed by a lively Q&A.
Of course we all lined up to get our books signed, and a fitting group photo – thanks, Shaun, for being a good sport!

Sidenote: I also ran into Benjamin Law on the way to the toilet of all things, whose fabulous book The Family Law I devoured last weekend. I've always loved Benjamin's articles in Frankie, so I was very keen to get my hands on his book, in addition to my friend Andrew's recommendation. Go read the book, it's funny and poignant. I would also like to add, I really love it when I meet people whose work I like, and then they turn out to be as lovely as I'd hoped in real life!