Join us for a captivating conversation with Emily St. John Mandel as she discusses her bold new novel, the mysteries at its heart, and the worlds that exist just beyond our own.

From the bestselling author of Station Eleven comes Emily St. John Mandel’s most thrilling novel yet: Exit Party, 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?

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.

In conversation with Canberra Writers Festival Artistic Director Andra Putnis.