About 150 friends, family and readers celebrated the launch of Silver at the National Library in Canberra on Monday September 30th. Tony Wright did the honours, delivering a heartfelt speech wishing the book well, while publisher Jane Palfreyman was her ever-generous self. A wonderful night – such a joy to bring a new book into the world!
This was some sort of experience. Kununurra is about as far from Canberra as you can get while still being on the Australian continent, and the festival was about as far from a big-city festival as you might imagine. For a start, Kununurra, population 5,300, sits right at the top of Western Australia, not far from the NT border. It doesn’t even have a bookstore, so all the books for… Read More »Kimberley Writers Festival
I spent the weekend just past in Mudgee, appearing at the annual Mudgee Readers’ Festival. Nothing like a literary festival held in a wine-growing area: they always seem to work. (Can’t imagine why.) I was fortunate to have Scrublands chosen for Mudgee Library’s ‘One Book, One Community’ initiative. Kind of like a big book club. I was interviewed by local Michael Bourke. He’s quite a character: sometimes I felt as… Read More »Mudgee, Canberra, Katoomba
Wonderful news. Just as the German version of ‘Scrublands’ – ‘Outback’ in Germany & Austria – is published, ‘Scrublands’ has been shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers Association of the UK John Creasey ‘New Blood’ Dagger, and longlisted for the Crime Writers Assoication of Australia’s Ned Kelly award for best fiction.
I’ve been in Britain promoting Scrublands. Here I am at an event in Edinburgh with the amazing Val McDermid, a brilliant author but also a great champion of emerging writers. I also shared a stage with Ann Cleeves in Newcastle and Gytha Lodge in Bolton. Now I’ve arrived at the Harrogate Crime Festival (more to come). The team from Headline/Wildfire has been exceptional. And a big shout out to Waterstones,… Read More »UK Tour
Bellingen is such a beautiful little town, nestled in the rain forest of northern New South wales. The Readers and Writers festival in early June featured some great writers and intriguing panels. As well as crime fiction, I was included in a panel on the future of journalism. The memorial hall was packed to the rafters, with something of the atmosphere of a revivalist meeting. The police raids on the… Read More »Bellingen
One Book, One Wagga is a brilliant initiative, of a kind much loved by writers. It operates like a giant book club. The local library bought more than a hundred copies of Scrublands and promoted it heavily through the library etc. Then I came down Wagga for a ‘gala dinner’ at the Rules Club – more than a hundred people having a tasty dinner with wine etc. Meanwhile, I was… Read More »One Book, One Wagga
Margaret River – Foreign Correspondents Here I am with James Massola, talking journalism and the art of the foreign correspondent, at the Margaret River Writers Festival. James is the South-East Asian Correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and his book The Great Cave Rescue recounts the remarkable deliverance of the Wild Boars soccer team from deep within the earth back in July. It was a topical discussion,… Read More »Margaret River
A huge week in Sydney, in conjunction with the Sydney Writers Festival. I didn’t appear at the festival, but I was lucky enough to attend two important award nights. I was short listed for the NSW Premier’s Award for Debut Fiction – quite the honour as these awards tilt strongly towards the literary – and later in the week, short listed for the ABIA Award for General Fiction. I didn’t… Read More »Awards season
A literary lunch on the Great Ocean Road at Airey’s Inlet, hosted by the wonderful Great Escape Books. Michael Cathcart from ABC RN excelled in quizzing true crime writer Maryrose Cuskelly, author of Wedderburn, and myself. A most welcoming and engaged crowd, who enjoyed a beautiful lunch while we discussed the challenges of writing about crime, real and imagined. The one downside – I couldn’t have a drink as I… Read More »A literary lunch