And what a wonderful weekend it was too! So many readers and writers of crime all come together and such a buzz swapping notes about favourite books and favourite authors. The greatest difficulty was choosing between panels when there was such a wide range of exciting topics and authors to choose from! I was lucky enough to share a panel with the very fabulous Kerry Greenwood, whose Phryne Fisher novels are already a household name and likely to become even more so when the TV series goes to air. We were talking about the historical research that goes into our novels, along with three other amazing authors, Judith Rodriguez, Carolyn Morwood and Sulari Gentill. On another panel I discussed some of the pleasures and pitfalls of writing for YA with Nansi Kunze and Karen Healey. In among I sampled such delights as ‘Crimeance’ – and might have a go at writing crime and romance next as that sounds like so much fun. Also a panel on writing humour, as well as listening to experts in their fields (ex-cops, a doctor, a pilot and a horse-breeder) talking about how they use their knowledge to inform their books. In among we listened to international guest speakers Shamini Flint, Margie Orford and Vanda Symon who told us how their countries of birth inform their novels – all fascinating. I started the weekend with an ‘cold cases’ walking tour of Melbourne on Friday afternoon – so much crime in Melbourne! So many unsolved cases! So much reward money still to claim if only you can solve the crimes! (Sadly, none of us could.) There was also the Davitt awards dinner to attend – those sisters sure know how to have fun! Go to their website: www.sistersincrime.org.au for details. And congratulations to Sisters in Crime for such a well-organised and fascinating weekend.

3 Comments

  1. It was great to meet you there, Flick! Pity I couldn't catch your YA panels, but I was downstairs with those delightful old veterans of Dolly fiction, Goldie Alexander and Susan Green and, in the afternoon, also Catherine Jinks, doing a pretty good panel given that our audience was smaller than the panel. 🙁 Perhaps next time we might suggest that they not have two panels on similar themes up against each other.

    I did get to some good sessions, though, including your historical panel and that wonderful session on research. 🙂

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