Natalie Conyer – How to become a writer

Two things happened to me in 2019. My first novel, Present Tense, was published, and I turned 70.[1] So, when Sisters in Crime suggested I blog about becoming a late-onset writer, I thought I should share lessons learned along the way. Based on limited experience (one book does not an expert make), here are ten …

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The past is never dead: mysteries that challenge history

Sulari Gentill, Kirsten Alexander and Kirsty Manning dissect their most recent historical mysteries with Dr Kelly Gardiner and detail what light these books shed on concerns of the present and of earlier eras at 8pm Friday 21 February at South Melbourne’s Rising Sun Hotel  Sulari Gentill is the award-winning author of 14 books including the Rowland Sinclair series set …

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Forensic examination of a country town?* Q&A with Carmel Bird

Robyn Walton, the Vice-President of Sisters in Crime Australia, spoke to Carmel Bird , about her latest novel, Field of Poppies (Transit Lounge, 2019). Carmel was the 2016 winner of the Patrick White Literary Award and is the author of an unconventional crime story merging fictionalised and real-life anxieties. First, Carmel, I’m going to ask …

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Sins of the past: Q&A with Ashley Kalagian Blunt

Robyn Walton, Sisters in Crime’s Vice-President, spoke to Sydney author Ashley Kalagian Blunt, about her book My Name is Revenge (Spineless Wonders). Welcome to our Q&A, Ashley, and belated congratulations: your novella My Name is Revenge) was one of two runners-up in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 …

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Bloody Scotland – A great place for Sisters

Sisters in Crime Melbourne member, journalist Jacquie Byron, reports on Bloody Scotland, not an insult conjured up by the Sassenachs but a crime writing festival in Stirling north-east of Glasgow. For writers and readers alike, Bloody Scotland, the international crime writing festival in the Scottish city of Stirling, is well worth a visit. Founded fairly …

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Is crime Melbourne’s hottest export?

Sisters in Crime  member Jacquie Byron has just returned from the Bloody Scotland crime convention in Stirling and has concluded that crime (fiction) is one’s of Melbourne’s top exports. (Her feature published in The Sunday Age M Magazine on 20 October follows.) Crime sells, just ask authors such as Lee Child, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid …

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