Louis de Bernieres, the author of the bestselling Captain Corelli's Mandolin, will deliver the opening night address of this year's Melbourne Writers Festival. He will speak at the Melbourne Town Hall on August 20.
He is also the author of Red Dog, the story of the canine wanderer whose statue stands in Karratha in Western Australia, which was turned into a popular film in 2011 by Kriv Stenders.
De Bernieres' first novel, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, was published in 1990 and formed part of a loose Latin American trilogy that made use of the British writer's time working as a teacher in Colombia. He has published eight novels, with his latest, The Dust that Falls from Dreams, to be published in July, several books of fiction, and two collections of poetry.
The program for the 30th anniversary MWF program will be announced on July 24.
