Peter Carey

Novelist Peter Carey writes wildly entertaining stories which focus a broad and bright spotlight on colorful characters in and around Australia. It's a style that has won him two Booker prizes - one for "Oscar and Lucinda," an epic tale of a young priest seized by a vision of a glass church in the Australian Outback, and another for “True History of the Kelly Gang," which recounts the story of Australian folk hero Ned Kelly. Carey was recently honored on a pair of Australian postage stamps, one of six authors recognized as part of a "Living Legends" series.

Mr. Carey’s newest book is his first to be set exclusively in America. “Parrot and Olivier” takes place in 1830 and is an “improvisation,” as Mr. Carey calls it, on the history of Alexis de Tocqueville. He reads from and signs his new novel at Elliot Bay Book Co. on May 6. Tickets are free and available at the door.