Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan, or The Whale will be visiting Hobart to talk about his book and to screen the new documentary, The Hunt for Moby Dick from 6pm at Fullers on Monday, December 7.

This is Fullers Bookshop’s final event in what has been a busy and inspiring year of book and community related events.

Philip Hoare, the author of Leviathan, or The Whale has an obvious love for and a great knowledge of these mysterious creatures of the deep that comes across when he talks about them.

He says he sought to discover why he too felt haunted by the whale, by the forlorn expression on the beluga’s face, by the orca’s impotent fin, by the insistent images in his head.

He won the esteemed 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction for this book.

In July 1804 in Hobart, the Reverend Robert Knopwood claimed that in crossing the River Derwent, ‘we passed so many whales that it was dangerous for the boat to go up the river unless you kept very near the shore’.

Fullers will also be screening a new documentary about whales The Hunt for Moby Dick.

In this acclaimed film by award-winning director Adam Low for the flagship BBC strand, Arena, Philip Hoare, winner of the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, embarks on a four-year adventure in search of the whale.

Filmed in Britain, New England and the Azores, The Hunt for Moby-Dick confronts our perennial fascination with this extraordinary animal, and the book it inspired: Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

All are welcome to attend this free event.