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Crimes for a Cold Winter’s Day: Sisters in Crime@Words in Winter Central Goldfields
August 20, 2023 @ 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Crime might go down during cold weather but not on the page.
That’s the modus operandi for the partnership between Sisters in Crime Australia and Words in Winter Central Goldfields. They’re plotting an event, Crimes for a Cold Winter’s Day, Sunday 20 August, 11.30 am – 1.30 pm, at the Maryborough Library.
Join regional writers – and Sisters in Crime members – Carmel Bird, Elizabeth Coleman, and Susan Green in conversation with Janice Simpson about their wildly different but entertaining approaches to plotting, characters, time periods, atmosphere, and sleuths. Just the thing to warm the imagination (and soul) on a cold winter’s day.
Carmel Bird is fond of reading true crime and crime fiction, as well as watching crime documentaries and movies. Crimes darken the fabric of much of her fiction writing, yet only three of her many novels, Unholy Writ, Open for Inspection, and Family Skeleton, are specifically ‘crime’.
Carmel grew up in Tasmania (a fine spot, she says, for crime, beginning with the official theft of the land by the British in 1803, as well as the systematic massacre of the First Peoples). She now lives in rural Victoria, where her Field of Poppies is set. This novel is fraught with crimes.
She has published 36 books of various kinds, the latest being a collection of short fiction, including a certain amount of felony, but concentrating more on the facts of species extinction and the contemplation of the future of the planet. In 2022 the University of Tasmania awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Letters, and in 2016 she received the Patrick White Award for Literature.
Elizabeth Coleman’s debut crime novel, A Routine Infidelity (Pantera Press) introduces commitment-phobe thirty-five-year-old Edwina (Ted) Bristol who runs EBI, a private investigation agency. Her latest case is to conduct routine surveillance on a couple suspected of having an illicit affair. She also discovers her sister Bob has fallen prey to an internet catfishing scam. With some help from her acutely intelligent miniature schnauzer, Miss Marple, they set out to find the scammer, who has already fleeced Bob of $500 . . .
Elizabeth is a Ballarat-based screenwriter and playwright (Secret Bridesmaids’ Business), turned novelist. She’s written for countless television dramas, including every season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries.
Castlemaine author, Susan Green, has published twelve books for children and young adults since 1987 – including teenage romances, picture storybooks, and junior novels – but it is her gifted Confidential Inquiry Agent, Verity Sparks, who has brought her the most success.
The Truth About Verity Sparks was both an Honour Book in the CBCA awards and a White Raven selection in 2012. It was released in the UK as Diamonds and Deception in 2016. The sequels are Verity Sparks Lost and Found and the Davitt Highly Commended Verity Sparks and the Scarlet Hand. In 2017 her first adult novel, How Bright Are All Things Here, was published by Pan Macmillan.
In 2021, after intending to submit a story to the Scarlet Stiletto Awards for over two decades, she finally did – and won an award. Her story “Creativity Now!” was a runner-up in the ‘Body in the Library’ section (prize $750). Susan inherited her love of mystery and detection from her mother Helen, whose crime library numbered into the thousands.
Host Janice Simpson’s debut crime novel, Murder in Mt Martha, came out in 2016. Since then, she has published A Body of Work and has finished her PhD in creative practice. She took on the voluntary position of Words in Winter director for the Maryborough area last year as a favour. There is no funding and it has been a huge labour of love. Janice would welcome volunteers.
Author books will be on sale.
Free but please book here.
Donations at the door would be welcomed.
Maryborough Library, cnr Alma & Nolan Streets, Maryborough
For the calendar of events from 5 August-20 August, go to https://wiwcg.com.au/program.
More info about Words in Winter: Janice Simpson, director 0459 479 576; janicesimpson@hotmail.com
More info about Sisters in Crime: Carmel Shute, National Co-convenor 0412 569 356; admin@sistersincrime.org.au