Sunday Salon: 10 April: Aussie Author's Month

Over on Fair Dinkum Crime this month we are celebrating Aussie Authors Month  with the Fair Dinkum Baker's Dozen, a series of interviews with Australian authors. We've approached the author interview a little differently, trying to offer the authors (who we thought must get asked a few standard questions fairly frequently) the opportunity to share some of their lesser known secrets. Or not, it's entirely up to them. We provide the authors with 13 beginnings and, like the creative geniuses they are, they turn them into sentences (or paragraphs, or full blown essays should the urge arise).
So far we've interviewed

• Felicity Young
• P.M. Newton 
• Sulari Gentill

Coming up:

• Brian Kavanagh
• P.D. Martin
• Leah Giarratano
• Michael Robotham

Aussie Authors Month is a cross-genre celebration of Australian writing. In addition to sharing reviews, author interviews, competitions and anything else relating to the writing and reading of works by Aussie authors the month is focused on raising awareness of the Indigenous Literacy Project (ILP). The ILP is a charity with the aim of raising literacy levels among Indigenous Australians in rural and remote communities and it works in partnership with the Australian Book Industry and the Fred Hollows Foundation.

Our first Fair Dinkum Quiz
To further help celebrate Aussie Authors Month we're offering a selection of slightly loved books (i.e. bought new, read once) from some great Australian authors as prizes for our inaugural quiz. In keeping with our baker's dozen theme there are 13 questions ranging in difficulty from 'googlable' to 'should probably have read a few posts on Fair Dinkum before attempting this quiz' to 'oh heck I hate quizzes'. Check Fair Dinkum Crime from Monday 11 April for the quiz questions.

What's been happening on MYSTERIES in PARADISE

This week's posts:

• Completed: British Books Challenge 2011
• Review: RELICS OF THE DEAD, Ariana Franklin
• Forgotten Book: DEATH IN THE BACK POCKET, Peter Fitzgerald & Barbara Wenzel
• Review: COLD JUSTICE, Katherine Howell
• Crime Fiction Alphabet - M books so far in 2011
• Review: A NEW LEASE OF DEATH, Ruth Rendell
• Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 - Letter M - week beginning April 4

News & Headlines

• Strand Magazine Critics Awards Nominees
• How well do you know your crime fiction authors?
• Ian Rankin's favourite literary crime novels
• 15 Most Interesting Killers of All Time

Currently Reading

• now: KING OF THE CROSS, Mark Dapin.
• next: A GRAVE IN THE COTSWOLDS, Rebecca Tope
• then - THE FACILITY, Simon Lelic
• next on Kindle - THE LEOPARD, Jo Nesbo
• now on audio - DEATH AT THE PRESIDENT'S LODGING, Michael Innes
• current Agatha Christie - AND THEN THERE WERE NONE