There are book launches, and then there's a book launch with live chooks wandering the lounge room. The party for The Chook Book, held at Jason Kimberley's St Kilda home, was firmly the latter - hilarious in parts, surprisingly serious in others, and about as eclectic as Melbourne events get. We were invited along to what was one of the most fun launch events of the year.
Chooks, Cocktails and Reginald
Guests arrived to an initial photoshoot posing with chickens in a large living area. To have chickens wandering around the house was something we haven't experienced before - and to actually hold a chicken in my arms was a highlight. Then we walked to a detached dwelling out the back and up the stairs to Kimberley's home bar in full swing, with drinks poured by a bartender who clearly knew his craft, and a spread of canapés that kept the room grazing between conversations. It was the kind of intimate, casual evening that only really works inside someone's own house - fascinating people, easy conversation, and, every so often, an actual chook wandering past your feet.
The formal part of the night belonged to Kimberley and broadcaster Russel Howcroft, who took guests behind the scenes of the book with a pair of speeches that were as funny as they were pointed. Between them, the two returned again and again to the idea of the "pecking order" - not just in the chook shed of the book, but in workplaces, families and, at times, in the very room they were standing in.
Have You Met Your Workplace Reginald?
Raised in one of Australia's most successful retail families, Kimberley is an Antarctic adventurer, photographer and education entrepreneur who has spent a lifetime watching how people behave - and has landed on one conclusion: everything you need to know about human nature can be found in a chook shed.
At the centre of it all is Reginald, the self-proclaimed greatest cock to ever live - a narcissistic chook with an inflated sense of importance and a pecking order to defend at all costs. Kimberley's point, delivered with plenty of laughs on the night, is that every workplace has one. Listening to him talk through the book's cast of characters, it's hard not to start mentally sorting your own colleagues, friends and family into chook types.
That's the trick of The Chook Book: it's genuinely funny, but there's real bite underneath it. A backyard chook shed becomes a lens for workplace politics, family dynamics and the quieter cruelties of social hierarchy - and once you start seeing people through Kimberley's eyes, it's difficult to unsee.
The Story: Power, Pecking Order and Reginald's Throne
The Chook Book is set on a dusty Australian outback farm, where a ruthless hierarchy governs a flock of chooks, each aware of exactly where they sit in the pecking order - a belief the whole flock accepts as unquestioned fact. Presiding over it all is Reginald: crown-comb resplendent, a gift for humiliation, and a bloodstained stump for a throne. Every morning brings a fresh ritual of dominance; every day is a careful negotiation of ego, gossip and survival.
The flock gets by on scraps, gallows humour and traded philosophy, aware that death on this farm is never abstract - it's simply part of the landscape. But something shifts in the chook shed. A private grievance finds unlikely allies, and the flock begins to understand that tyranny doesn't just crush bodies - it bends minds and turns ordinary chooks into accomplices. In the shadows, a quieter current builds: misfits and thinkers with nothing left to lose, daring to imagine something beyond fear.
Darkly funny and uncomfortably sharp, The Chook Book plays as a modern fable about power, rebellion, and the moment a whole system starts to break down.
About the Author: Jason Kimberley
Jason Kimberley is an Australian author, photographer, adventurer and social entrepreneur with an eye for the raw edges of humanity and the vastness of the natural world. His work sits somewhere between laconic and lyrical, balancing irony with reverence - Kimberley has never chased the obvious or possibly populist view, no postcard sunsets or neatly framed landmarks, and his lens tends to lead somewhere unexpected instead.
His first major book, Australia Exposed (2003), drew praise from Jack Thompson AM, Hugh Jackman, and a roll call of Australian names including Eric Bana, Naomi Watts, Russell Crowe and Greg Norman, all of whom saw in it the humour and understated grandeur of everyday Australian life. Two years later, Kimberley turned his lens south for Antarctica: A Different Adventure (2005), chronicling a 16-day expedition with Peter Hillary and Jason Veale at 80 degrees south, hauling sledges through whiteout blizzards - work later praised by Dick Smith and polar explorer Børge Ousland.
Self-taught and famously unafraid of discomfort, Kimberley treats photography - and now storytelling - as a form of exploration. The Chook Book is his first work of fiction, and on the strength of launch night, his darkest and funniest yet.
A huge congratulations to Jason (a true "renaissance man") on a fabulous night at home - and thank you to Flourish PR for the invitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Chook Book about?
Set on an Australian outback farm, The Chook Book follows a flock of chickens governed by a brutal pecking order under Reginald, a self-styled tyrant rooster. It's a darkly funny fable about power, hierarchy and the moment a rigid system begins to collapse.
Who wrote The Chook Book?
Jason Kimberley, an Australian author, photographer, Antarctic adventurer and education entrepreneur. It's his first work of fiction, following two earlier photographic books, Australia Exposed and Antarctica: A Different Adventure.
Where was The Chook Book launched?
The book was launched at Jason Kimberley's home in St Kilda, with a small, intimate gathering of guests - and live chooks wandering through the house.
Who spoke at the launch?
Jason Kimberley and media identity and broadcaster Russel Howcroft delivered speeches, with Kimberley taking guests behind the scenes of the book and its cast of chook characters.
What was the launch event like?
Eclectic and genuinely fun - cocktails from Kimberley's home bar, generous canapés, and conversation that swung between hilarious and surprisingly serious as the "pecking order" theme played out in the room as much as in the book.
How much does The Chook Book cost?
The book is priced at $29.95.
Is The Chook Book suitable for children?
No - despite the barnyard setting, this is a dark, adult fable dealing with themes of tyranny, mortality and rebellion, told with sharp humour rather than as a children's story.
Looking for more of Melbourne's social calendar? Check out our guide to Melbourne's Best Bars for where to find a cocktail as good as the one Dave was pouring, or browse our Best Wine bars in Melbourne and full list of 50 Things to Do in Melbourne for what's next.