Meet the Author: Fernanda Dahlstrom - Redcliffe

Next date: Saturday, 22 August 2026 | 02:00 PM to 03:00 PM

Join Fernanda Dahlstrom in conversation with Isobelle Carmody to explore the story behind her memoir The Framing.

As a young Legal Aid lawyer in Darwin, Fernanda Dahlstrom had a lot of contact with the criminal justice system as she tried to help her clients.

But Fernanda’s exposure to the system actually began much earlier than that. When she was eight years old, the only parent in her life - her mother - was sent to prison and their idyllic life in rural Victoria was shattered.

The Framing explores the complexities of trust and betrayal in family relationships as Fernanda unpacks her past and examines her mother's culpability and her own understanding of identity and justice.

The manuscript that became The Framing was shortlisted for the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer in 2023. It was highly commended in The Next Chapter 2024.

Bookings required for this free event. Suitable for adults. Arrive 1:45 PM for 2:00 PM start. Fernanda will sign copies of her book after the event. Book sales courtesy of QBD The Bookshop North Lakes.

Praise for The Framing

“A heartbreaking exploration of a very complex mother/daughter relationship.” – Bri Lee and Jaclyn Crupi

“Exploring the complexities of trust and betrayal within family relationships, Fernanda Dahlstrom’s memoir is a searing study of identity and justice. Set in Darwin and Victoria and criss–crossing the author’s adult life as a lawyer and a childhood where her mother is regularly convicted of fraud but claims to be innocent, Dahlstrom asks what it is to be deceived by the person she trusts the most.” – Queensland Literary Awards 2023, Judges’ comments

About the author

Fernanda Dahlstrom was born in Melbourne and has made homes in Darwin and Brisbane. She practised law for eight years, in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Dahlstrom's work has appeared in Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, Overland Literary Journal, Mascara Literary Review, Art Guide Australia and The Guardian. She is currently a PhD candidate at Queensland University of Technology.

About Isobelle Carmody

Dr Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia's most highly acclaimed authors of fantasy. At 14, she began Obernewtyn, the first book in her much-loved Obernewtyn Chronicles, and has since written many works in this genre. Her novel The Gathering was joint winner of the 1993 Children's Literature Peace Prize and the 1994 CBCA Book of the Year Award, and Greylands was joint winner of the 1997 Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction (Young Adult category), and was named a White Raven at the 1998 Bologna Children's Book Fair.

Isobelle's work for younger readers includes her two series, The Legend of Little Fur, and The Kingdom of the Lost, the first book of which, The Red Wind, won the CBCA Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers in 2011. She has also written several picture books as well as collections of short stories for children, young adults and adults.

Recently she completed a PhD at the University of Queensland and currently divides her time between her home on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and Brisbane.