Author Description

A moving and hilarious fish-out-of-water memoir of a millennial leaving his inner-city life to take over the family farm.<p><br></p>Winner, Prime Minister's Literary Award for Nonfiction 2023</p><br></p>'My Father and Other Animals is a warm, surprising and beautifully crafted book.' -Billy Griffiths, author of Deep Time Dreaming</p><br></p>Sam Vincent is a twenty-something writer living in the inner suburbs, scrabbling to make ends meet, when he gets a call from his mother: his father has stuck his hand in a woodchipper, but 'not to worry - it wasn't like that scene in Fargo or anything'. When Sam returns to the family farm to help out, his life takes a new and unexpected direction.</p><br></p>Whether castrating calves or buying a bull - or knocking in a hundred fence posts by hand when his dad hides the post-driver - Sam's farming apprenticeship is an education in grit and shit. But there are victories, too: nurturing a fig orchard to bloom; learning to read the land; joining forces with Indigenous elders to protect a special site. Slowly, Sam finds himself thinking differently about the farm, about his father and about his relationship with both.</p><br></p>By turns affecting, hilarious and utterly surprising, this memoir melds humour and fierce honesty in an unsentimental love letter. It's about belonging, humility and regeneration - of land, family and culture. What passes from father to son on this unruly patch of earth is more than a livelihood; it is a legacy.</p><br></p>'Sam Vincent probes deeply into some of the biggest issues of our time ... This book is a celebration of the love of land and builds bridges of understanding that will appeal to a broad cross section of readers.' -Judges' comments, Prime Minister's Literary Awards</p><br></p>'My Father and Other Animals is a beautiful tale of legacy, family, and a millennial finding his place in the world.' -Samuel Bernard, The Weekend Australian 'Notable Books'</p><br></p>'For any reader desiring to underst