Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Wednesday 03 July
6:15 PM - 7:30 PM
It’s no mystery that Australian crime writers are on some kind of a rampage – some kind of a spree – filling bookshops, racing up bestseller lists and taking over big and small screens across the globe.
Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies has been a major TV hit. The series’ executive producer, Reese Witherspoon, is now working on a movie adaptation of Jane Harper's The Dry. Local audiences have been glued to the Jack Irish ABC TV series and to podcasts such as Trace and The Teacher’s Pet, and the last few years have seen a juggernaut of local book sales for established names and newcomers alike.
In our second Group Texts event, celebrating great Australian genre writers, we’ll hear from some of the stars of Australian crime writing; writers of thrillers, true-crime investigations and classic whodunnits. Each writer will share a short reflection or provocation on the crime genre, followed by a panel discussion. Our speakers will discuss thrilling sub-genres, ethics and aesthetics, the rise of ‘outback noir’ and more. They might even reveal how and where they’re planning to strike next.
Sun Bookshop will be our bookseller for this event.
Featuring
Emma Viskic
Emma Viskic’s critically acclaimed Caleb Zelic series has been published world-wide. Resurrection Bay won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and an unprecedented three Davitt Awards. It was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious Gold Dagger and New Blood Awards and the USA’s Barry Award. And Fire Came Down was winner of the 2018 Davitt Award for Best Novel and Darkness for Light received the 2020 Davitt Reader’s Choice Award.
Formerly a classical musician, Emma’s musical career ranged from performing with José Carreras, to playing at an engagement party that ended in a brawl. She learned Auslan in order to create the character of Caleb Zelic, who is profoundly deaf. Emma is currently working on the fourth Caleb Zelic novel, Those Who Perish.
Garry Disher
Garry Disher has published fifty titles across multiple genres. His last standalone novel, Bitter Wash Road, won the 2016 German Crime Prize, a prize he has previously won twice. He’s also the recipient of two Ned Kelly best crime novel awards and last year he received the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award. His latest novel is Consolation.
Sulari Gentill
Sulari Gentill is the award-winning author of 13 books including the Rowland Sinclair series. Her book Crossing the Lines won the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel in 2018.
Sulari was born in Sri Lanka and grew up Brisbane. She graduated in law but later left her legal career to write books. She now lives in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains of NSW where she grows French black truffles and lives with her husband, two children and a variety of animals.
Rachael Brown
Rachael Brown is an investigative journalist with the ABC. She's held several postings, including Europe Correspondent from 2010-2013. She's the creator, investigator and host of the ABC's pioneer true-crime podcast ...
Laura Elizabeth Woollett
Laura Elizabeth Woollett is a Melbourne-based author. Her short story collection The Love of a Bad Man (2016) was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction and the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction in 2017.
Her latest novel, Beautiful Revolutionary (2018), follows a young couple who join Jim Jones' Peoples Temple in late 1960s California. She is currently working on her next book, The Newcomer, a murder mystery set on a fictional island.
Mark Brandi
Mark Brandi's bestselling novel, Wimmera, won the coveted British Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger, and was named Best Debut at the 2018 Australian Indie Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Book of the Year, and the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year.
Mark's second novel, The Rip, was published to critical acclaim in 2019, and his third novel, The Others, was shortlisted for the Best Fiction prize in the 2022 Ned Kelly Awards. His fourth novel, Southern Aurora, will be published in 2023.
Mark's shorter work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Big Issue, and in journals both here and overseas. His writing is also sometimes heard on ABC Radio National.
Mark graduated with a criminal justice degree and worked in the justice system before changing direction and deciding to write. Originally from Italy, he grew up in rural Victoria. He now lives in Melbourne and is working on his next novel.
View Profile