Adelaide Writers Week 2013 - March 2 - 7

Adelaide Writers Week March 2 - 7 is a highlight of the Adelaide Festival of Arts for readers, and it is mostly FREE.

This year, I am glad to report, crime fiction readers look pretty well served, with 6 writers, among them a couple of long standing favourites:
Kerry Greenwood (Thurs 7 Mar 10.45 am), Zane Lovitt, Jamal Mahjoub, Michael Robotham (Wed 6 March 10.45 am), Emily St. John Mandel, and Adrian McKinty (Sat 2 Mar 5 pm)

http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/2013/writers_week/adelaide_writers_week
Program available in hard copy for $10 from book shops.

However online you can find.....
Full schedule: http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/wp-content/uploads/AF_Writers_Week_Schedule.pdf
Daily schedule : http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/2013/writers_week/days
Authors http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/2013/writers_week/authors

March 2-7, 2013

Adelaide Writers Week 3 - 8 March 2012

Adelaide Writers Week, 3-8 March 2012, is a biennial event that is part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts (2-18 March in 2012).

Because for the most part events are free, AWW really allows writers and their reading public to come together in a unique way. It also raises our expectations of what literary events should be like.


AWW is easy to get to. Any visitor staying within the immediate city will be able to walk there. The venue is very close to the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Adelaide Writers Week has been taking place for over 40 years, making it the oldest literary event in Australia. It is a free writer's festival traditionally held adjacent to the memorial in the Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens. The event features national and international significant writers on two stages within the gardens. The event offers a blend of readings, panel discussions and 'meet the author' sessions. A comprehensive children's program is also proposed for this event.
The events are mainly held outside under shade. In the past this has been in marquees. In 2012 these will be replaced with temporary shade sails.

In the past there have been a number of events to delight the crime fiction reader, with a great mixture of international and Australian writers.There will be two night events, usually held at Bonython Hall in the University of Adelaide. In the past these have featured panels of writers, many of them crime fiction.

There is no sign of a program yet but here are some sites to visit for more information:

• Adelaide Festival of Arts 
• Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature
• Adelaide City Council Forum

If you are a crime fiction writer or reader and intend to be in Adelaide for all or part of AWW do let me know. I would love to meet up!

Adelaide Writers Week 28 Feb - 5 March 2010 + Big Book Club

Adelaide Writers Week 2010

Have you caught up with the online programme? 28 Feb-5 March

http://yooyahcloud.com/ADELAIDE_FESTIVAL_OF_ARTS/JGicKb/calendar.pdf

This is probably not enough to persuade you to come to Adelaide for a week, but usually coming here for AWW means at least the overseas writers are touring some states.  I've marked the Australian authors with *

There are some good crime fiction events/authors

* Peter Temple

Sarah Dunant

* Kathryn Fox

Audrey Niffenegger

Sarah Waters

* Markus Zusak

* Kel Robertson

Philip Kerr

* Barry Maitland

* John Clanchy

There is another page that takes you to lists of the authors attending

http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/servlet/Web?s=2290869&p=AF_Events_Writers

Australia's Big Book Club

http://www.thebigbookclub.com.au/region.php

It appears that both February and March book choices are crime fiction

February is THE BLACK RUSSIAN  by Lenny Bartulin
and there is a comp to enter to win a copy

March is COLD JUSTICE by Katherine Howell

It is usually the same in all states, but you might want to check yours to see if there is an event you can go to

http://www.thebigbookclub.com.au

Adelaide Writers Week 28 Feb - 5 March 2010

I've noticed a number of people arriving at my website after searching for the 2010 Programme for Adelaide Writers Week, so thought I'd better have a post directing them to where to locate details.
(I have had it in my headlines for a week or so now)

Check the details here.
Lists of the attending authors, both Australian and international .
The calendar is online here.

Weekly Geeks: 2009-18, Home Town tour

This week's Weekly Geek Challenge is to take a home town literary tour.

Paradise is a suburb of Adelaide, the home of , so let me begin there.
AWW happens every second year, and the next one is in 2010, 28 Feb - 5 March. Most of the sessions in Writers' Week, which is held outside in 2 large marquees, are free.
AWW usually caters very well for crime fiction readers too.

Last year I attended sessions by the following writers: and Peter Corris.

I've blogged before about what a good place Adelaide is to live, home of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide Fringe Festival, and even the Tour Down Under.

Adelaide has had a crop of crime writers too, some well known, others not.
Adelaide's Wakefield Press has printed a series called Wakefield Crime Classics which reprinted the work of authors such Patricia Carlon (The Whispering Wall), A.E. Martin, and Charlotte Jay.

Other writers to look for

• Garry Disher was South Australian born and bred although he is now a Victorian (sadly). South Australia gets an occasional reference in the Challis and Destry books. There's a good list of his books and a bit of biography here. Recently Lesa Holstene recommended his most recent Hal Challis book BLOOD MOON.
• Kirsty Brooks is a successful young writer. Her website is a bit out of date. Her first book was published in 1995. She has a blog but not much reference to her books there. Aust Crime Fiction lists 4 books in the Cassidy Blair series. They are just a bit too chick-lit for me.
• Nobel prize winner John Coetzee now lives in Adelaide.
• Nicholas Jose, author of ORIGINAL FACE, is a lecturer at Adelaide University. That seems to be his one journey into crime fiction, although he has written 7 books and been listed for a number of awards.
• most recently Fiona McIntosh, known internationally for her fantasy novels, ventured into crime fiction with BYE BYE BABY (written under the pseudonym of Lauren Crow) and now I believe a new crime fiction title will be published later this year.
• and of course Adelaide has had it's fair share of true crime with the unsolved case of the Beaumont Children, and the "bodies in the barrels" case just to name a couple. In recent years we have become a bit notorious too with child abduction cases, serial murders, including recently the "body in the barrels" case. I reviewed Debbie Marshall's book KILLING FOR PLEASURE.
  In KILLING FOR PLEASURE Australian journalist Debi Marshall tells the stories behind the grisly Snowtown "bodies-in-the barrels" serial killings, carried out over seven years in South Australia by three killers and their accomplices. KILLING FOR PLEASURE took Marshall five years to write, synthesising thousands of hours of interviews with the families of the victims, with neighbours, and with close members of the families of the murderers. What she describes pushes the boundaries of credibility, both in relation to the nature of the murders, and in the slowness of the South Australian police system to begin investigations.
  
  Alan J Whiticker wrote in IN SEARCH OF THE BEAUMONT CHILDREN, about our most notorious child abduction/disappearance case, one which successful Australian author Kathryn Fox says has a big impact on her upbringing.
  

Need some more reasons to visit Adelaide?
Well, there's the Christmas Pageant, various Christmas lights, the Schutzenfest, The Barossa Band Festival, the Old Gum Tree, and the O'Bahn, just to name a few attractions.
And of course you could meet me or Bernadette!

Adelaide Writers' Week, Day 3

A marathon day today- 6 sessions!
Not only hot today (35 c) but even bigger crowds than yesterday. Breaks between sessions were characterised by people hurrying from one place to another (never in the right place for the next session) only to find that not all the lemmings are migrating! Some have just gone for coffee, or a "wee" break, leaving chairs "bagged" with hats, clothing and programmes.

It's hot, William McInnes arrives for his session (more later) attired in ancient red board shorts and thongs. (You can almost hear his father saying "Typical!")
If you don't get a seat in a tent, then outside in the shade is a possibility, but outside in the sun - well you know what Noel Coward said about mad dogs and Englishmen..

My purchase for the day : HEARTBREAK HILL by Thomas H. Cook - signed too.

Session #1 - Meet the author: Siri Hustvedt, chaired by John Coetzee

Biographical details here.
A very nervous Siri compared books to echo chambers, full of themes, and ideas, like halls of mirrors. John Coetzee asked Siri to comment on the after effects of 9/11 on the inner lives of New Yorkers. She said that many people have flashbacks well after a traumatic event particularly on anniversaries.
She is particularly interested by the idea of family secrets. There are many things that we don't know about that remain as secrets in previous generations. She likened a family secret to a bulging pocket - we know there is something there, but we don't know what it is.

Session #2 - Sports - a panel session with Gideon Haigh, John Harms, and William McInnes, chaired by Bernard Whimpress.
This was a very entertaining session - the chance to hear McInnes do impersonations should not be missed!

Panel conversation centred around the cultural importance of sport, and the real importance that sports writing be done well, but so much of what appears in the papers is mechanical. John Harms talked about the role that newspapers play, as stakeholders, in determining the quality of what is published. They build individual players up as super heroes, for the pure pleasure of knocking them down when they fall.
William McInnes talked about the social importance of cricket, and Gideon Haigh about sport as a forum for building of social capital in Australia.

Session #3 Book Launch - Peter Carey HIS ILLEGAL SELF

The guest "launcher" was Ian McEwan.
He spoke of how difficult it is to get into the mind of a child, and how well Peter Carey does it.
He too referred to James Wood's review and in the process of looking I found a useful collection of reviews. McEwan says Carey is a "writer of world rank at the top of his game."

Hearing McEwan speak here was a little compensation for the very disappointing cancellation of the "public audience part" of the scheduled recording of the First Tuesday Book Club at the Adelaide ABC Studio tomorrow afternoon.

Session #4: Meet the Author: Thomas H. Cook

My crime fiction treat for the day. I heard Cook speak the other day on a panel, and I have read a number of his novels including THE CHATHAM SCHOOL AFFAIR, RED LEAVES and THE MURMUR OF STONES.

Cook sees himself as writing in the William Faulkner tradition. He writes about ordinary people whose lives spiral down to black.

Session #5 - Double Exposure - a panel session

3 authors: Georgia Blain, Patrick McGrath, and Melina Marchetta have all had books turned into films, and what a long and agonising process it seems to have been. Georgia Blain tried to distance herself from the process as much as possible. Patrick McGarth revelled in it, and Melina Marchetta, who wrote LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI, got drawn into it despite feeling that she was not qualified to write film script. It seems that anywhere 6-10 years is not uncommon for a film to go from options to actual filming.

Session #6 - Meet the Author - Richard Holmes

Energy very definitely waning at this stage.
Holmes is a very successful historian who specialises in things military. We went mainly because husband Bob has two of his books, but he was an interesting speaker, and sparked a lot of questions from the audience.

Tomorrow I'm having a rest day!
The temperatures for the rest of the week will be 35-37 c, so I'm staying home, although on Friday I will go in to hear Gabrielle Lord, Marshall Browne, and Garry Disher.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to an International Women's Day breakfast to hear Margaret Pomeranz speak.

Adelaide Writers' Week, Day 2, Part 2

Really wasn't a crime genre day today, so you might want to stop reading here.
I should explain that there are 2 sessions happening simultaneously throughout each day, and what I am describing here are the sessions that I attended.

Session 1- In Conversation, Peter Carey with Matthew Condon

The focus of this conversation was really on Peter Carey's latest novel HIS ILLEGAL SELF. Condon began by reading the first paragraph of a complimentary New York Times Review (which I have not been able to find - it certainly wasn't this one)
Carey admitted that some of the novel is based on his own experiences of living on a commune in Queensland 30 years ago.
This is the first of his novels with American characters and that worried him at first. Eventually in the process of writing, he forgot to worry.
Carey believes that readers plug their own imagination into a book, and experience things that the writer never envisaged. He says the glory of writing fiction is to enter worlds you did not know. Writers are magicians - we don't always know where things have come from. The reader's disappointment may be the author's moment of blinding triumph. (referring to the ending of OSCAR & LUCINDA)

Other sites to look at

• Blog posting over on Matilda
• Sydney Morning Herald review
• On The Age
• Katharine England's review
• Deborah Bogle's review
  
• Random House Promo of HIS ILLEGAL SELF

Session 2 - Window on Scotland with James Meek, Denise Mina and Graham Tulloch.

Graham Tulloch is professor of English at Flinders University and a specialist on Sir Walter Scott, James Hogg and Robert Louis Stevenson. In the 19th century, Graham's specialist area, Scottish writing had its own voice, which included dialect and dialogue, and references to Scottish history.
Denise Mina told us that crime writing is enormous in Scotland with many female writers.
James Meek said that Scottish writing in recent decades has been characterised by wave after wave of new writers who have re-defined the genres.

Session 3 - Book Launch - THE DRESSMAKER'S DAUGHTER by Kate Llewellyn
See News Review
Kate Llewellyn's #19 book, a memoir, but not a conventional success story, rather an illustration of an uneven movement through life, full of arresting images. Tumby Bay girl, poet, one woman's story, in many ways the story of many South Australian women.

Session 4 - Meet the author: Barry Jones

The Hon. Dr Barry Jones is a writer, broadcaster and former Labor member of both the State and Federal parliaments. He was Australia’s longest serving Science Minister (1983–90) and served as National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1992 to 2000 and again in 2005– 06. He is a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at Melbourne University and serves on six medical research boards. His biography A Thinking Reed was published in 2006.

As always Barry was entertaining. National Living Treasure, ex-quiz champion, ex-president of the Australian Labor Party, Barry believes his politics came from his childhood in post-depression Australia. Writing his autobiography A THINKING REED was most difficult and most painful. He strongly believes in the importance of seeking knowledge, internalising it, and then disseminating it.

Barry believes (like Peter Carey) that no two people read a book the same way. Some tell him that they have found A THINKING REED hilarious, and some have found it "anguish from beginning to end."

Barry was never exactly sure who the target of his book was - not sure that the primary audience wasn't himself. He thinks he was too political to be an intellectual, and too intellectual to be accepted as a politician.
His talk ended with an affirmation that he is after all a political person, and demonstrated why he is still a national living treasure.

Adelaide Writers' Week, Day 2, part 1

First of all, purchases & freebies.
I got on the bus only to find I had left my current reading (FAN MAIL by P.D. Martin) at home, so had to resort to the book tent on arrival. There I bought A MAN'S GOT TO HAVE A HOBBY by William McInnes. In her review my friend Sunnie described it as a "feel-good" book, and 45 pages in, I can affirm that. It's sub-title is Long summers with my dad and it is a collection of anecdotes from William's childhood about his family and his father in particular. I grew up in a country town and can easily visualise the incidents he describes. No wonder it has been a hit. It's a cross between Nino Culotta's THEY'RE A WEIRD MOB, and Alan Marshall's I CAN JUMP PUDDLES, and soemthing that is quite uniquely William McInnes. Give it to your Dad for his next birthday, borrow it from your library, or, best of all, read it yourself.

The freeby that attended my purchase of A MAN'S GOT TO HAVE A HOBBY was two-fold. First of all book bag (hessian with shoulder straps to put my purchase in), and then a copy of TALES FROM THE LOWLANDS, edited by Joed Elich and Malou Nozeman, an anthology of Dutch Writers who have appeared at Adelaide Writers Week 1988-2008. It contains 11 stories selected by the Dirk Hartog Foundation, and distributed free due to the "generous support of the Dutch embassy in Canberra." The cover appears to be a photo of the Australian Bight. The writers include Cees Nooteboom, Arnon Grunberg, Adriaan van Dis, Tessa de Loo, Margriet de Moor, Helga Ruebsamen, Lolo Houbein, Tim Krabbé, Moses Isegawa, Stefan Hertmans and Marcel Möring.

For those who don't know of the Dutch connection with Australia, Terra Australis was on the route of Dutch merchant ships on their way to the East Indies from the late 1500s. The idea was to come around the Cape of Good Hope, strike out to the east, and then carefully judge when to turn north. Sometimes they made a mistake, came too far east, went too far south, or simply managed to scrape along the coast of Western Australia. On their maps Terra Australis Incognita, was a coastline being filled in, and became known as New Holland. When Dirk Hartog's ship was stranded on Houtmann's Abrolhos in 1616 he left behind, nailed to a tree, a pewter plate with an inscription.
South Australia's first encounter with the Dutch appears to have been explorer Pieter Nuyts, who came about 1500km too far east in search of Batavia, turning around about Streaky Bay. Dutch names serve as reminders on our coastline.
It is generally agreed that Gulliver's land of Lilliput is actually this area, that Jonathon Swift based his choice of location on Nuyts' map of 1627.

General observations
AWW takes place in 2 very large and open tents, with seats also outdoors under shady trees, and I estimate there was probably in excess of 3,000 people there today. The temperature was promised to be 34C and while we came home before it reached that, it was warm enough.

The audience today were really roughly the retired, ex-teachers, intellectuals, writers, readers, and a sprinkling of university students. Most people my age are now retired, so that is probably the category I am in, but some like me (still working) will have taken holidays to coincide with the week.
The mild-mannered jostling for seats in between sessions is amusing to watch, unless of course you are one of those looking for one. Once you have found one, you might, like me, you may find that the white plastic chairs do not allow for much overhang...

Article on opening day in Sydney Morning Herald.
Writer's Week News - Adelaide Advertiser

Awards
Short List for AWW awards
Award winners

$15,000 Award for Children's Literature
Don't Call Me Ishmael (Michael Gerard Bauer, Omnibus)

$15,000 Award for Fiction
The Ballad of Desmond Kale (Roger McDonald, Vintage)

$10,000 Award for Innovation
Someone Else: Fictional Essays (John Hughes, Giramondo)

$15,000 Award for Nonfiction
Sunrise West (Jacob G Rosenberg, Brandl & Schlesinger)

$15,000 John Bray Poetry Award
Urban Myths: 210 Poems (John Tranter, UQP)

$10,000 Jill Blewett Playwright's Award for the Creative
Merger – art, life and the other thing (Duncan Graham)

$10,000 Award for an Unpublished Manuscript by a SA Emerging Writer
The Second Fouling Mark (Stephen Orr)

In addition, John Tranter won the South Australian Premier's Award for his poetry collection, Urban Myths: 210 Poems.

Adelaide Writers' Week, Day 1

I attended 3 sessions today - would have been to 4 if one advertised session had happened, but more about that later.

Opening session: Brian Matthews
Professor Brian Matthews from Flinders University, delivered his 3rd session in as many decades, and opened the week with aplomb and humour. He had the audience in his hand as he told us of his first experience as a session "chair" in 1978 when he upstaged Professor Manning Clark by falling off the back of the stage, chair and all. On his 2nd appearance in 1988 he was part of a panel. It was 44 C outside and about 10 degrees hotter in the tent, when a huge fan grabbed his paper notes and blew them out into the gardens. His panel contribution did not go well. Today was his 3rd appearance and he amused us with cunning word pictures and made us feel glad that we'd come.

Session One: a non-event
According to the printed programme at 12 pm, immediately after the opening, there was to be a dedication to Colin Thiele, the Australian author that I mentioned in yesterday's blog. After Brian had finished talking, Writers' week chair Richard Hosking announced that the next session would not be for another hour. At very least I had expected that someone would talk about Thiele's contribution to education, children's literature, reminding us all of his Barossa Deutsch heritage. Very strange. Didn't they remember to get someone to do this?

Session Two: William McInnes

William McInnes is one of Australia’s most popular stage and screen actors, and in 2005 published his memoir A Man’s Got to Have a Hobby. He was named the Australian Newcomer of the Year (debut writer) 2006 for A Man’s Got to Have a Hobby at the Australian Book Industry Awards. His roles in Sea Change and Blue Heelers have made him a household name, and in 2005 he received critical acclaim for his leading role in the film Look Both Ways, written and directed by his wife Sarah Watt.

William has been nominated for numerous stage and screen awards, and has won a Variety Club Drama Award in 1997 and two Logie awards for Most Outstanding Actor in 2000 and 2004. William grew up in Queensland, studied acting in Perth, and now lives in Melbourne with Sarah Watt and their two children. He plays cricket on the weekend and is a cricket fan(atic). His first novel, Cricket Kings, was released in 2006, and he is now working on his third book.

Until this session I had not given McInnes' s writings serious thought. Now I think I have seriously misjudged him. He is an entertaining speaker and I'm sure he didn't just read us the best bits from his books. He has an occasional blog at http://williamwatch.blogspot.com/

Session Three: Sunday Crime:
Thomas H. Cook, Peter Corris, and Denise Mina.

This panel session addressed the issue of what makes crime fiction such a popular genre. All writers seemed to think that the diversity within the genre, in terms of a remarkable number of sub-genres was something to do with it. Cook said he didn't really think of himself as writing crime or mystery fiction although all his stories have an element of mystery within them He likened what happens in his novels to the peeling of an onion. Corris revealed that while his Cliff Hardy series have accounted for his success, he originally wanted to write historical fiction, but just couldn't get off the ground. He thought the question today was how long crime fiction will be popular. Mina was engaging, saying that mostly her stories were based on tales she had heard, and that therefore what keeps crime fiction going is that it reflects what happens in real life.

I've read very little Corris, but he is now up to #34 in the Cliff Hardy series. Check the list at Aust Crime Fiction. UNDERTOW was short listed for the Ned Kelly Award for best fiction in 2007. In 1999 he was awarded a Life Time achievement (Ned Kelly) award by the Crime Writers Association of Australia.

I have read THE CHATHAM SCHOOL HOUSE AFFAIR, THE INTERROGATION (4.6), RED LEAVES (4.8), and THE MURMUR OF STONES (4.7) by Thomas H. Cook and can thoroughly recommend each.

I must confess it is a long time since I have read anything by Denise Mina, although I currently have DECEPTION (aka SANCTUM) out from the library. Her website is at http://www.denisemina.com In 2007 THE DEAD HOUR was an Edgar Award nominee.

Talking Books

Once in a while my sister in law and I run a book stall at a "car boot sale" at her church. The church asks for a donation and we put up a couple of card tables and peddle books that we've recently read and are just taking up room on our shelves.

The books are sold for ridiculously low prices like $4 for the larger format or even hard backs, and $2 for the small paperback size. The books are all in excellent condition because invariably only she and I have handled them. We have probably about 150 books on our stall, all crime fiction, and today we sold about 40 in 4 hours. So we don't make our fortune, but we tell people that we are selling them to "finance our habit".

What I love about doing this in particular, is not just that it gives Claire and I a chance to catch up, but that I get to talk about books with the "customers". And a knowledgeable lot they are too. So the conversations today were about Kathy Reichs, Alexander McCall-Smith, Ruth Rendell, Peter Robinson, Reginald Hill, Donna Leon, Thomas H. Cook, and offerings on TV like Lewis, Unit One, and Dalziel & Pascoe. Time just flies. Spent doing something I love. Maybe I should work in a book shop, but I'd be hopeless at selling anything but crime fiction.

The other day when I was in a book shop buying my father a book for his birthday, I noticed the woman in the queue ahead of me was buying a crime fiction title. Can't think what it was now, perhaps the latest Denise Mina, but I startled her by asking her if she was going to Adelaide Writer's Week which of course starts tomorrow. I pointed her to the printed timetable on the counter, but I don't think she really understood the great opportunity it is, particularly since most of the events are free.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to spending the next 6 days at AWW, listening to people like Denise Mina, Thomas H. Cook, Gabrielle Lord, Marshall Browne, Peter Corris, Ian McEwan, Geraldine Brooks and Garry Disher. Here's a complete list of who is coming.

The week starts tomorrow with a dedication to Colin Thiele, the South Australian educator, author, poet who wrote BLUE FIN and STORM BOY, among other books, and immortalised Mr. Percival for a whole generation of Australian kids.

I am going to try to write every day about the sessions I go to, but we'll see.
If you are going, look for me.
The photo below gives you an inkling of what I look like. Come up to me - I'll be thrilled if you've read my blog.

Or ask me about oz_mystery_readers too.

Adelaide - a good place to live

Adelaide is known by various monikers - driest capital in the driest state in the driest continent, city of churches, city of pubs, Festival state, centre of the Tour Down Under, home of Womadelaide, also of the Clipsal 500, and the prettiest cricket ground in the world: Adelaide Oval. The climate is surprisingly mild, given the fact that today 36 C is promised.

CLIMATE

Average Temperature (C)	Min	Max
Summer (Dec/Feb) Autumn (Mar/May) Winter (Jun/Aug) Spring (Sept/Nov)	16 13 7 11	29 23 15 22

The above is from http://www.aussie-info.com/places/sa/adelaide/

It is a lovely place to be this time of the year with lots of local events such as Adelaide Writers Week, part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, about to happen. Preceding that is the Fringe Festival, full of quirky shows.

I say local, but they are really the sort of things that happen in most largish cities. It is just that with a population of just over 1 million, including its suburbs, Adelaide is small enough for everything to be within easy reach, and for everything to feel as it is happening right on our door step. We are really just a largish town - despite the fact that we now have some really tall buildings and various megamillion industries, when we travel to other cities like Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and Brisbane, you can't help being struck by their size.

In recent years we have become a bit notorious too with child abduction cases, serial murders, including recently the "body in the barrels" case. I reviewed Debbie Marshall's book KILLING FOR PLEASURE.
In KILLING FOR PLEASURE Australian journalist Debi Marshall tells the stories behind the grisly Snowtown "bodies-in-the barrels" serial killings, carried out over seven years in South Australia by three killers and their accomplices. KILLING FOR PLEASURE took Marshall five years to write, synthesising thousands of hours of interviews with the families of the victims, with neighbours, and with close members of the families of the murderers. What she describes pushes the boundaries of credibility, both in relation to the nature of the murders, and in the slowness of the South Australian police system to begin investigations.

Alan J Whiticker wrote in IN SEARCH OF THE BEAUMONT CHILDREN, about our most notorious child abduction/disappearance case, one which successful Australian author Kathryn Fox says has a big impact on her upbringing.

Adelaide has had a crop of budding crime writers too, some well known, others not.
Adelaide's Wakefield Press has printed a series called Wakefield Crime Classics which reprinted the work of authors such Patricia Carlon (The Whispering Wall), A.E. Martin, and Charlotte Jay.

Other writers to look for

• Garry Disher was South Australian born and bred although he is now a Victorian (sadly). South Australia gets an occasional reference in the Challis and Destry books. There's a good list of his books and a bit of biography here. And he will be at Adelaide Writers Week.
• Kirsty Brooks is a successful young writer. Her website is a bit out of date. Her first book was published in 1995. She has a blog but not much reference to her books there. Aust Crime Fiction lists 4 books in the Cassidy Blair series. They are just a bit too chick-lit for me.
• Nobel prize winner John Coetzee now lives in Adelaide.
• Nicholas Jose, author of ORIGINAL FACE, is a lecturer at Adelaide University. That seems to be his one journey into crime fiction, although he has written 7 books and been listed for a number of awards.
  

Other nice links

• University of Adelaide page for International students
• People and places - kidcyber.com
• Aussie-info
• About.com
• Hotbed of attractions
  

Adelaide Writers Week program available online

See 2012 information

The program for Adelaide writers Week 2-7 March 2008 is available online at http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/library/WWTimetable.pdf

You'll need Adobe Acrobat reader 8 to read it - if opening the pdf stalls on your computer then the likely answer is that you need to update your Acrobat Reader.
You can do that easily by going to http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/reader/ and choosing the Download option.

So what do I think of the program?
On the first day, 2 March, Sunday Crimes - a 90 minute session with Thomas Cook, Peter Corris, and Denise Mina looks right up my alley.

But on the next day, 3 March, I have to make a choice between Dorothy Porter and Peter Carey (the latter will probably win)
There's a session called Window on Scotland with James Meek and Denise Mina.
And then a couple of sessions in the afternoon including Peter Corris.

Day 3
A book launch with Peter Carey
But who set Thomas Cook and Denise Mina on at the same time? grrr..........
Not really much more on that day for this little duck.

Day 4
A session with Ian McEwan at the beginning of the day.
And later in the day a session that includes Geraldine Brooks looks good.

Day 5
All looks a bit cultural for me - maybe I'll have a day home just reading

Day 6, last day, 7 March
Meet the author Marshall Browne looks good
But what klutz makes me choose between Gabrielle Lord and Garry Disher??
But then at the end of the day we get all 3 in a panel session, so I guess I'll be happy.

However with 2 timetable clashes of crime genre writers, can't help feeling it could have been done better.

Just need nice weather now - not a lot of hope of rain so we should be ok there. It can be hot in March though.