BOOKED OUT! 31st Scarlet Stiletto Awards: Paint the town red

Go wild in scarlet!

Saturday 23 November, 6 for 6.30 pm at the Rising Sun, South Melbourne.

Multi-award-winning author, Candice Fox, will present Sisters in Crime’s 31st Scarlet Stiletto Awards, after first discussing her life in crime with fellow award-winning author, Sarah Bailey.

This year, 195 short stories have competed for 16 awards, with a record $13,400 prize pool. Twenty-eight stories by 28 authors have been shortlisted. Each author will receive a framed certificate and the winner of the 1st Prize will also take home ‘The Shoe’– a scarlet stiletto trophy with its steel heel plunged into a perspex mount. (Click here for the shortlist and here for more about the awards.)

Candice Fox is the author of 11 solo novels, three of which have won Australia’s prestigious Ned Kelly Award. All of her novels have been shortlisted for the award. She has multiple TV and film adaptations currently in production. Her bestselling Crimson Lake hit screens as Troppo starring Thomas Jane and Nicole Chamoun in 2022. A second series aired this year and a third is planned. Troppo is being screened in Europe and the United States. In 2015, Candice began collaborating with US crime writer James Patterson. Every one of their seven novels together has been New York Times best sellers. 

A meticulous researcher, Candice has interviewed a serial killer on Death Row, been to prison three times (for work purposes), and while on honeymoon in the US took a road trip to famous crime scenes looking for clues. She has also dined with a former President of the United States, filmed a cameo role in her latest screen adaptation and, as a volunteer for WIRES, has rescued countless wild animals.

Host Sarah Bailey is a Melbourne-based writer with a background in advertising and communications. She has three sons and is the Managing Director of advertising agency VML. Her internationally award-winning Detective Gemma Woodstock series includes The Dark Lake, published in 2017 and the winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and the Davitt Award for Best Debut, followed by Into the Night in 2018 and Where the Dead Go in 2019. Body of Lies is the fourth book in the series. Sarah also published the bestselling The Housemate and Audible original, Final Act in 2021. The Dark Lake is currently in development with Brouhaha Entertainment and Stan, with Phoebe Tonkin to play Gemma.

Dress code: scarlet

Venue
The Rising Sun Hotel (upstairs – no lift); 2 Raglan Street, South Melbourne
Free on-street parking. Trams 1, 12 and 55 or St Kilda Road trams

Tickets
Entry and dinner combined charge: $60 non-members; $55 concession; $52 Sisters in Crime and Writers Victoria members; $40 shortlisted authors; $50 under 19. Please book by 12 pm Wednesday 20 November. Dinner upstairs from 6.30-7.30 pm. Please order by no later than 6.45 pm. Vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free and other dietary requirements catered for). Drinks at bar prices. Men or ‘brothers-in-law’ welcome.

Bookings
Please book individually or for groups of up to 10 through Eventbrite by Wednesday 20 November, 12 noon.

Sun Bookshop stall
Sisters in Crime members receive a 10% discount

Morre info: Carmel Shute on 0412 569 356 or admin@sistersincrime.org.au