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Writers Festivals - ever been to one? In Australia, we love ‘em! Yes, we have readings at bookstores and libraries, too, but there's a party atmosphere at a writers festival, a buzz, that's kind of intoxicating. Between sessions - panels, group readings, an on-stage interview with a single featured writer - audiences compare notes, talk and laugh and argue over a coffee or a glass of wine. The big festivals go for ten days, and are packed from morn till night.The character of the fest varies from city to city: in Adelaide, for instance, the capital of South Australia, where the festival is held in open-sided marquees in the Botanical Gardens during summer, you will find anything up to 5000 people sitting in whatever shade they can find or manufacture, listening in rapt attention to their favourite authors, whether local or from overseas. Melbourne's festival is held during winter, in a theatre complex converted from a former brewery. Coats and scarves abound, and the throng is dense. In 2006, when my first novel had just been published in Australia, my younger brother and I had the great fun of interviewing each other on stage. Michael's first book had come out just a month before, you see - non-fiction, a book of interviews with men who flew during WW2 - and he is quite a famous TV actor there, so I was able to ride shamelessly on his coat-tails. Or was that him riding on mine? Anyway, we had a ball! You can see a photo of us together, and read an interview, here.
The most recent Writers Festival in which I took part was Sydney's, in May. The venue is right on Sydney Harbour, and at any one session time, day or night, there will usually be nine different events to choose between. Yes, it can be overwhelming! I participated in a group reading (I chose to read one of the racier sections of Trust: always a crowd pleaser!), and a panel session on writing about families with three other women novelists, and, the only one that I was nervous about, a solo session where I was interviewed by the chair of the festival, Sandra Yates. I needn't have been nervous: Sandra was warm and welcoming, and the audience was terrific, laughing at my jokes and queuing up for the book signing afterward. Then I went to dinner with my "boy fan club". You can see them in the photo: my partner 
Phillip is the handsome one with the silver hair, with his son on the other end, film producer David Elfick (Rabbit Proof Fence) smiling away, and an old journo pal named Alistair Jones with the cap on. Just behind Alistair, you can make out the distinctive spars of the Sydney Harbour Bridge - so you know it's true!
When I go back to Australia in early August, I'll be appearing at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, a three-day event that punches well above its weight. One of the panels I'm doing is titled "Love and Other Bruises: writing about love", with crime fiction heavyweight Michael Robotham. Guess I better practice my fancy footwork, huh?
