Questions for Garry Disher

I’m delighted to have been given the task of interviewing Garry Disher at next month’s Crime and Justice Festival at the Abbotsford Convent, at 2 pm on Sat 17 July in The Refectory entitled ‘Garry Disher – A Master at Work’. To quote the Festival program (which appeared in today’s A2 section of The Age):

Garry Disher is one of Australia’s best-known novelists. He has published over forty books in a range of genres: crime thrillers, literary novels, short-story collections, novels for adolescents and children, and writers’ handbooks. His crime fiction is extraordinarily popular worldwide. At a previous Crime and Justice, Shane Maloney described the books featuring Disher’s creation Wyatt as possibly the best Australian crime fiction ever written. Today he talks to Angela Savage about his career.

I am a big fan of Garry’s work, most recently working my way through the wonderful Wyatt series. I’m currently reading The Wyatt Butterfly as a prelude to the 2010 release  Wyatt (see p.103-4 of Crime Factory Issue #3 for a great review), and I’m inclined to agree with Shane Maloney.

I’m also a fan of Disher’s Chaliss and Destry novels, with Chain of Evidence winning the 2008 Ned Kelly award for Best Crime Fiction and the follow up, Blood Moon also a great read.

I owe Garry on a a personal level as he was on the judging panel when what became my first novel won the 2004 Victorian Premier’s Award as an unpublished manuscript, and he wrote the blurb for Behind the Night Bazaar when it was published in 2006. The photo above of Adrian Hyland, myself and Garry was taken (by Carmel Shute of the Sisters in Crime) in May 2007 at the Williamstown Writers Festival when we appeared on a panel together.

It’s a privilege and a pleasure to be given the task of interviewing Garry, and one I think should be shared. So I am holding a competition on this website for fans of his writing to nominate questions you would like to ask Garry Disher — or have me ask on your behalf. I will take the best suggestions to my interview at the Crime and Justice Festival, record Garry’s responses and publish them on this site after the event.

Simply leave your questions in the comments section at the end of this post.

Prior to the interview with Garry, I’m facilitating a panel discussion on The New (Crime) Wave at 12 noon on Sat 17 July, featuring three talented writers, Felicity Young, Adrian Hyland and Sulari Gentill. I’m happy to take questions for any or all of them, too.