'Hell Days', discussing PMDD: in conversation with Laura Elizabeth Woollett

In the fluorescent tedium of a call centre in 2018, acclaimed novelist Laura Elizabeth Woollett finds herself meticulously plotting her own death. Until her period arrives, and equilibrium with it. After years of dismissing these monthly turns, she’s diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Then, at 33, she falls pregnant and experiences a reprieve — but will it last?

Through case studies, interviews, extensive medical research, and forays into history, true crime, and algorithmic rabbit-holes, Woollett looks beyond herself to assemble a chorus of PMDD sufferers, along with dedicated scientists and clinicians. Navigating the impossible terrain between a potentially fatal disorder and treatments that can be almost as dangerous, Hell Days is a testament to the precarity and dignity of life as a periodically suicidal person in an often-brutal world.

During this dicussion, Very Small Bookshop owner Leah - who, too, suffers with PMDD - will interview Laura about 'Hell Days', followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Laura Elizabeth Woollett is an author and critic based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her short story collection, The Love of a Bad Man, was published in 2016, followed by the novels Beautiful Revolutionary (2018), The Newcomer (2021), and West Girls (2023). Her works have been listed for numerous awards, including the Stella Prize and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction. In 2025, she was a writer-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Hell Days is her nonfiction debut. Laura’s fiction work will also be available to purchase at the event.

Very Small Bookshop is a queer owned independent bookshop, housed in a 20 square foot shipping container, based at Willway Yard, in Bedminster. This event will be held in the large gallery space behind the shop. The event will be seated and is accessible for wheelchair users with access to disabled toilets. There will be a bar at the event to purchase alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and snacks.