Pandemics, Animals & Us: Laura Jean McKay

What if we could talk to animals? How far would you go to find a loved one? How does a pandemic restructure our values? And what kind of conversation would you have with a dingo?

These are just some of the questions that Laura Jean McKay’s rambunctious, road-tripping, heart-stirring novel, The Animals in That Country, asks. When a pandemic sweeps the world those infected can commune with animals both large and small. And when it gets really serious even the insects can talk. Booze-loving grandma Jean strikes up a relationship with Sue, a dingo, and the pair set off on a roadie across a heavily-infected country to find Jean’s family.

Join Laura and Verb Director, Claire Mabey, to talk about the voices of animals, launching a pandemic novel in an actual pandemic, literary heroes, influences, inspirations and more.

About Laura:
Laura Jean McKay is the author of the Animals in That Country (Scribe, 2020) Holiday in Cambodia (Black Inc. 2013), shortlisted for three national book awards in Australia. Her work appears in The Guardian, Best Australian Stories and The North American Review. Laura is a lecturer in creative writing at Massey University, with a PhD from the University of Melbourne focusing on literary animal studies. She is the ‘animal expert’ presenter on ABC Listen’s Animal Sound Safari.