Everything is Water: A river-walking journey

Author(s): Simon Cleary

Stories / Narrative | Biographies / Memoirs

Four weeks, 344km and one inspiring river journey

When writer and hiking enthusiast Simon Cleary sets off to follow the course of a river that has so influenced his life, he hopes that by walking its banks he will better understand the power and impact of this immense waterway on the environment and communities who rely on it.

Despite being extremely well-prepared, Cleary is at the mercy of the weather and one of the wettest autumn months on record. His ambitious journey, alone and with companions, threatens to be cut short by the subject of his walk - the swirling, unpredictable and magnificent Brisbane River. Over four eventful weeks and 344 kilometres - from its source to where it empties into the bay - we are witness to the river in all of its beauty and fury.

Everything is Water considers our complex relationship with nature through flood, drought, time and place. It is an inspiring pilgrimage that invites us to connect with nature and also to navigate our own path.


Product Information

Simon Cleary is the author of three novels, including The Comfort of Figs (2008), which was published after the manuscript was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards. His second novel, Closer to Stone (2012), was inspired by his experiences in North Africa at the commencement of the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. It went on to win the Queensland Literary Awards People's Choice Award. Simon's third novel, The War Artist, was published in 2019. Everything is Water is his first work of non-fiction. He is a life-long walking and environmental enthusiast, and lives in Brisbane.

General Fields

  • : 9780702268502
  • : University of Queensland Press
  • : University of Queensland Press
  • : 01 June 2024
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Simon Cleary
  • : Simon Cleary
  • : 336
  • : 336
  • : Paperback
  • : Paperback