Jelena Curic and Samantha W.L. Lee

Two striking debut novels come together for a lively evening of conversation between Jelena Curic and Samantha W. L. Lee. Though distinct in voice and style, Sing to Me and Bound share powerful themes: family, the past, migration, and the complicated pull of “home”.

Sing to Me follows Pero, a flawed Croatian immigrant in 1980s Western Sydney, drawn back to a past he has long avoided, while Bound is a sweeping, multi-generational narrative that traces three women across a century, each grappling with the ties that bind them to their family history.

Join Jelena and Samantha as they discuss each other's work, highlighting the similarities and the contrasts with warmth, insight, and humour, as well as sharing insights into their journey to publication with WestWords Books.

Jelena Curic is a writer of literary fiction, crime and comedy. Along with writing novels, short stories and comedy pieces, she is also the resident Diva in the Croatian community, singing most weekends. Her stories can be found in BAD Western Sydney and BAD Western Sydney: The Second Case, Living Stories: The Other City, Short Stories Unlimited Leaving Home Anthology, and she was short-listed for the Born Writers Award 2023 and 2024. Sing to Me is her debut novel.

Samantha W. L. Lee is a Chinese-Australian writer of literary fiction, essays and poetry. She was shortlisted for the WestWords/Ultimo Prize for her manuscript and completed the WestWords Fellowship in 2023. Samantha has been shortlisted for multiple Needle in the Hay flash fiction competitions and has been published in SBS Voices and FemAsia Magazine. Bound is her debut novel.