Melbourne-based writer, Sarah Epstein, dives deep with Sisters in Crime convenor, Karina Kilmore, for this week’s Murder Mondays’ interview on the craft of crime writing.
(Click on the image below to go to the YouTube recording.)
Sarah spent her childhood drawing, daydreaming and cobbling together picture books at the kitchen table. By her teens she was also writing short stories and angsty poetry, and starting novels that never saw the light of day.
Sarah then embarked on a 25 year career in graphic design before returning to writing after having a baby. The wait was worthwhile it seems! Her first YA novel, Small Spaces, was a huge success when it came out in 2018 – It was a CBCA Honour Book and won Sisters in Crime Davitt YA Award and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature YA Fiction Award. And it was shortlisted for another six awards including the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards and the Australian Book Industry Awards.
Her latest YA novel, Deep Water (Allen & Unwin) centres on the disappearance of a thirteen-year-old boy from The Shallows during a violent storm.
Click HERE for Sarah’s Q&A with Robyn Walton about her motives in writing Small Spaces.
Murders Mondays are available on Sisters in Crime YouTube channel at 6pm on Mondays. Previous guests include Mirandi Riwoe, Kerry McGinnis, Kathy Reichs, Ellie Marney, Katherine Kovacic, Candice Fox, Anne Buist, Val McDermid and Dervla McTiernan