The gay author of international bestseller, The Slap is coming to Dublin to read from his new novel, and we have five pairs of tickets and five books to give away.

*This competition is now closed*

Australian writer, Christos Tsiolkas became a global success in 2008 with his fifth novel, The Slap, but he first became known on the international gay literary scene in 1995 after his debut, Loaded, was published.

Loaded, which was turned into the film Head On, follows Ari, a 19 year-old gay guy of Greek heritage over one the hedonistic night out in Melbourne. Caught between the traditional Greek culture of his immigrant parents and his place in contemporary Australian society, and not feeling at ease in either, Ari struggles toward finding a place where he can just be himself.

Tsiolkas’ new novel, Barracuda, returns to similar themes, exploring issues of personal desires juxtaposed against immigrant tradition as teenage competitive swimmer, Daniel Kelly comes to terms with his homosexuality. But unlike The Slap, which had its violent inciting incident at the beginning, there is a beguiling mystery at the heart of Barracuda. Daniel’s coach believes the boy is good enough to make the 2000 Australian Olympics team, but the novel skips ahead ten years later to show that Daniel now has a phobia of swimming, and has spent some time in prison. What happened to him is slowly revealed, as Tsiolkas fashions a big novel about big issues.

“After The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas has written another novel that deserves to make a big splash,” said reviewer Mark Lawson in The Guardian. See Tsiolkas in conversation with Nadine O’Reagan at The Pavillion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire on January 17 at 8pm, as part of the DLR Library Voices Series. Tickets are €10/8 and can be purchased here.

We have five pairs of tickets and five copies of Barracuda to give away. To be in with a chance to win, answer the following question:

What was the name of Christos Tsiolkas’ first novel?