Australian Crime Fiction Snapshots

Short interviews with a range of Australian crime fiction writers are being published throughout this month on the Crime Down Under, Australian Crime Fiction and Matilda weblogs.

I was thrilled to be invited to participate in this Australian Crime Fiction Snapshots series, although I’m humbled to be in the company of so many of the featured writers. I’ll add a link once my interview is published. In the meantime, here are links to a few of the interviews I’ve enjoyed so far.

Peter Temple : “…what we need is a national festival of crime writing and a major sponsor for the Ned Kelly Awards. (Why doesn’t WestPac put up $50,000? They have a close link with Ned Kelly. A branch of the bank from which they are descended was held up by the Kelly Gang.)”

Adrian Hyland on Australian crime fiction: “I read it all the time. Do we count Dorothy Porter as a crime writer? Admire her work immensely. Thoroughly enjoy my Text stablemates, Kel Robertson, Angela Savage and Gary Disher. Love Leigh Redhead books: the world needs more sexy, eccentric detectives with a taste for Alt Country.”

Sydney Bauer on promoting Australian crime fiction: “If anything I still believe that ‘word of mouth’ is incredibly important – overall I think it takes patience and persistence and a determination to establish yourself.”

Kerry Greenwood on which fictional character she’d like her fictional character to meet and why: “Corinna would love to meet Sweeney Todd if he looks anything Johnny Depp. She could teach him a pie recipe which does not include human.”

Lindy Cameron on her latest novel Redback: “I also wanted to write the kind of book that would enable me to kidnap, assassinate, or at least comment on, our own politicians.”

Shane Maloney on what could be done to better promote Australian authors at home and abroad: “Perhaps Peter Temple could strangle Dan Brown with a typewriter ribbon at the top of the Eiffel Tower.”