Event: ‘Small towns, Big skies: Regional crime writing under the spotlight in Ouyen’
Crime novelists Garry Disher, Katherine Kovacic and Shelley Burr will discuss writing genre fiction, character, crime, and place at the Roxy Theatre, Ouyen, on Thursday 29 June hosted by Angela Savage, crime writer and CEO of Public Libraries Victoria.
Between them, the panellists (and their host), have published more than 70 crime novels. The event Small towns, Big skies: Regional crime writing will offer audiences an opportunity to hear about the craft of writing crime fiction and how regional settings – the experience and particularities of rural life and landscape – shape storytelling.
Brigid Magner, event co-ordinator says “We’re delighted to bring Small towns, Big skies: Regional crime writing to Ouyen as smaller towns often miss out on events such as these. When talking about books with people around the Mallee, we have found that the crime genre really resonates there. We encourage everyone to come along to the Roxy, whether they read crime fiction or not.
The free event is hosted by ‘Reading in the Mallee’, an ARC-funded project led by Emily Potter, Brigid Magner and Torika Bolatagici, exploring the literary history of the Mallee region in collaboration with Mallee readers. The Mallee has captured the imaginations of scores of writers and storytellers, yet this rich and diverse literary heritage is little known both outside and within the region itself.
A major aspect of the project is its encouragement of local communities to add to the project’s findings through reading events with Mallee residents, including book groups, shared reading events, literary walks and community reading spaces.
The project coordinators understand ‘the Mallee’ in an expansive sense, not limited by local government boundaries. While the focus is the Victorian Mallee, the many histories that have fed into the making of this region extend it imaginatively beyond this and connect it to many places elsewhere.
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Author bios:
Shelley Burr is the winner of the CWA Debut Dagger award with Wake, an alumnus of the ACT Writer's Centre Hardcopy program (2018) and a Varuna fellow. She works at the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment when not writing. Shelley lives in Canberra but grew up splitting her time between Newcastle and Glenrowan, where her father's family are all sheep farmers. Wake is Shelley's first novel.
Garry Disher has published over 50 highly praised, prize-winning and widely translated books in a range of genres: crime thrillers, literary/general novels, short-story collections, YA/children’s fiction, and writers’ handbooks. His latest titles include a literary novel, Her, the ninth Wyatt thriller, Kill Shot, the stand-alone crime novel, The Way it is Now, and Day’s End, the fourth in his best-selling and prize-winning Hirsch series. His work has been recognised nationally and internationally winning awards, including: Ned Kelly Award for Crime Fiction, 2021; Crime Novel of the Year, Germany, 2020; Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018; German Crime Fiction Award, 2016; Ned Kelly Award for Crime Fiction, 2010; NSW Premiers Award,1999.
Katherine Kovacic was a veterinarian but preferred training and having fun with dogs to taking their temperatures. She seized the chance to return to study and earned an MA, followed by a PhD in Art History. Katherine spends her spare time writing, dancing and teaching other people’s dogs to ride skateboards. A research geek, Katherine is currently fired up by the history of human relationships with animals, particularly as they appear in art. Her first book, The Portrait of Molly Dean, was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award for best first fiction, The Shifting Landscape, The Seven Sisters, Painting in the Shadows, The School Girl Strangler, and Just Murdered. Katherine lives in suburban Melbourne.
Angela Savage is an award-winning Melbourne writer. Her debut novel, Behind the Night Bazaar, won the 2004 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. All three of her Jayne Keeney PI novels were shortlisted for Ned Kelly Awards. The Dying Beach was also shortlisted for the 2014 Davitt Award. She has taught writing throughout Australia and overseas. Angela holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Monash University and is currently CEO of Public Libraries Victoria. Her latest novel, Mother of Pearl, is published by Transit Lounge.
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Date and time: Thursday 29 June 2023. Doors at 6 pm, for 6.30 pm start.
Location: Roxy Theatre, 19 Oke St, Ouyen VIC, 3490
Cost: Free, but booking essential via Eventbrite.
We will have soup and rolls available for refreshments.
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For images and interview requests please contact Brigid Magner:
ph: 0410355213 e: brigid.magner@rmit.edu.au