It’s really only after the covid year of 2020 that I’ve come to realise how important writers festivals and similar events are to me. I always enjoyed them, but also thought they were a bit like the cherry on the cake. Now I think they’re far more important, almost essential. Writers spend so much time by ourselves, those solitary hours of working. It’s something I enjoy, but you can have… Read More »Sydney Writers’ Festival
Here I am with the wonderful Emma Viskic, about to embark on our session ‘Charismatic Crime Fighters’ at the Adelaide Writers’ Week. It was such a joy to be out and about, in front of a large and enthusiastic audience, without masks, in an atmosphere of near normality. Huge thanks to Jo Dyer for the invitation, and Kvitka Becker for making the visit run so very smoothly. Travelling to Adelaide… Read More »Adelaide Writers’ Week
I’m absolutely thrilled to have Trust longlisted in the General Fiction category for the Australian Book Industry Awards. It’s quite the honour, particularly considering the quality of the other books in contention, and the quality of many books that could so easily have been included. It’s also worth noting the continuing strength of Australian crime writing, with five of the eight longlisted books fitting into crime/thriller genre. Congratulations to my… Read More »Trust longlisted for ABIAs
Scrublands has been published in Italy this week by the wonderful Neri Pozza press. It’s called ‘Scrublands Noir’ and is presented with this wonderfully minimalist cover. Huge thanks to all concerned, especially translators Annamaria Biavasco and Valentina Guani. Such an amazing skill! Crime website Contorni di Noir says: “Supported by magnificent prose and a fast pace, Scrublands noir places Chris Hammer among the most original contemporary authors of noir and… Read More »Scrublands published in Italy
January the 7th – publication day in the United Kingdom! Also Ireland and continental Europe, plus the Commonwealth and pretty much everywhere else as well. The exceptions are here in Australian and New Zealand, where Allen & Unwin have done a brilliant job since publishing it in October 2020, and the US and Canada, where unfortunately we’re still overcoming publication difficulties (I know, frustrating, right?). I’m thrilled with amazing job… Read More »Trust published in UK!
Excellent news from the UK! Silver has been named a Times/Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year for 2020. This is a great honour, and follows on from Scrublands being named a Crime Book of the Year for 2019. Huge thanks to UK publishers Headline/Wildfire who have done so much to promote the book. Here’s the whole list. You can Silver is in some pretty good company. Troubled Blood by… Read More »Crime Book of the Year!
A huge thanks to all the bookstagrammers and bloggers who participated in this – taking turns to get the word out to their followers about Trust. This has been such a valuable means of communications in these Covid days, when getting out and about to bookstores and events in person has been largely impossible. The great thing about social media, of course, is that it’s not one-way communication; people provide… Read More »The Great Aussie Blog Tour
The first review in mainstream Australian media: The Weekend Australian October 10th, three days before publication. A huge thanks to Robyn Walton (mysteriously given the by-line ‘Dalton’ here) for such a positive review. She says, among other thing: “Chris Hammer has excelled himself with Trust.” And “Hammer…delivers a thriller strong on character development, social insights and ethical issues as well as dramatic action.”
LoveReading styles itself as the UK’s leading book recommendation website, so I’m very happy and grateful that the team there has chosen Silver as one of its six books of the month. Great timing with Silver published in paperback in the UK. Here’s what the site’s Reviews Editor Liz Robsinson writes: “A cracking and class-act of a crime novel stuffed full of atmosphere and detail which skilfully sits alongside a… Read More »Book of the Month
This is such a good idea – I haven’t heard of it before. The Tandem Collective has organised a read-along of Scrublands, lasting a week, with targets for each day. This is happening in the UK. As I understand it, many of those participating are booksagrammers and other high profile readers. I’ll be interested to see what they think about it!