Paperbark Book Club contemplates faith and science in medicine with author Michelle Johnston at Six Degrees

We are in the Gold Room at Six Degrees on a chilly Wednesday evening at the very tail end of a cold winter in Kinjarling/Albany.

It’s August 30 and the town is on the cusp of waving farewell to winter for another year.

The room is full and the heaters cranked. The air filled with the noise of cutlery grazing plates, clinking glasses and the rustle of book pages.

The last Wednesday of the month has fast become a favourite night for book lovers across the city.

It is the Paperbark Book Club monthly meeting.

We pack the Gold Room at Six Degrees and have the author of our monthly read join us either in-person or via zoom (for Eastern States authors).

At 6pm, the lights are dimmed and, with the guest author and myself comfortably situated on stage, the in-depth book chat begins.

August had us reading Tiny Uncertain Miracles by consultant emergency physician and MUD Literary Prize shortlisted WA author Michelle Johnston.

Readers might remember Johnston’s 2018 debut release Dustfall, a harrowing tale of the medical fallout surrounding asbestos mining in Wittenoom.

In Tiny Uncertain Miracles, Johnston aptly focuses her lens on the intricate and nuanced conditions of a modern hospital setting while contemplating larger concepts of faith and science in the medical field.

The book chat is an engaging one with Johnston generously divulging many entertaining anecdotes and factoids from her busy life as a consultant physician, writer, educator, mother and wife.

We learn of her keenness for enrolling in writing courses, matched only by her passion for swiftly dropping out of said courses, her unending desire to form the perfect sentence and her three writerly rules: “Think of things anew, see things anew, write of things anew”.

At the close of the session, we all feel a little closer to the author, having been invited to glimpse for a short time beyond the veil of mystery that surrounds all writers and their craft.

With questions satisfied, the feeling in the room is one of readied anticipation to embrace the next month’s read.

September has our club reading The Escapades of Tribulation Johnson by the ever-talented Karen Brooks.

If you would like to know more about the Paperbark Book Club, email events@paperbarks.com.au.