Exit Party: Emily St John Mandel

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. Emily St. John Mandel 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 thirty-four languages, Station Eleven was made into an acclaimed limited TV series. Emily St. John Mandel lives in New York City and Los Angeles.