It feels a bit like there are a million billion trillion writing events on this weekend. And I’m going to one of them.
This time last year I attended the Brisbane Writers’ Festival. I was enroute to Italy and fortuitously stopped-over for the weekend to attend a few activities, which was excellent as one of my main reasons for going to Italy was to attend a writing retreat in Tuscany. *sigh*
The Brisbane Writers Festival is on again this coming weekend. And I understand the Melbourne Writers Festival also has a number of events scheduled.
I – however – am off to BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival.
Initially I’d been tempted by Terror Australis Murder She Wrote in Tasmania in October/November cos I love me some Agatha Christie (and Jessica Fletcher #natch) and the workshops in the lead-up to the weekend look amazing. It was more logistically challenging though and – as a number of my fave authors are attending BAD19 – I decided I’d head to Sydney for a long weekend. (I should also note I had a travel voucher I needed to use before it expired!!!)
My flights and accommodation aren’t cheap though (I did splurge a little on the accommodation as I haven’t been ‘away’ since Italy last September – October) so I had to be more frugal in my choice of sessions at BAD19 and am only going to eight.
One of those is the Ned Kelly Awards and I am sooooo excited re that evening. Of course I’m going by myself so I might be wallflowering – though another book blogger I know is going.
I’m also attending a session that day involving interviews with some of the awards finalists, a session on ‘Country Noir’ and one on ‘missing children’. And seriously… how many books do I read involving missing kids, returned kids, never-to-be-seen-again kids?! (That was rhetorical by the way, cos the answer is A LOT.)
I’m actually only going to two sessions on Saturday and Sunday so may be bored shitless miles from home given my limited interest in playing tourist and the extent to which I despise shopping. However, the two sessions on Saturday feature a couple of faves: Aussie author Sarah Bailey and Val McDermid ). And Sunday I’m off to sessions about fictional detectives and a debate – and looking forward to hearing from Michael Robotham and Candice Fox, both of whom I’ve seen and met before; and are very entertaining.
I’ve since (ie. this morning) signed up to attend a ‘B List bookclub’ event with Bri Lee and Rick Morton tonight… and thanks to the lovely Denyse Whelan for bringing it to my attention; so I will not be holed up in my hotel room with a bag of corn chips, a fistful of chocolate and bottle of wine recovering from my flights!
PS. The writers’ / writers thing kills me. I feel it should be a possessive plural. But think titles of things usually get to drop the apostrophe, so… *clutches pearls*
PPS. I think the official hashtag is #badcrimesydney. I may be forced to re-install Instagram on my phone for the weekend cos… well, does being there even count if you don’t have share the pictures to prove it?
I don’t actually know Sydney well. Any advice re inner-city eateries or cafes?
September 5, 2019
I’m looking forward to hearing about it – and if you don’t have the pics it doesn’t count #justsaying As for eateries? I don’t know inner suburbs well, but one of my current faves is Wild Sage at Barangaroo – there’s a few good ones down there.
September 5, 2019
I’m sure I’ll end up re-adding Instagram…. me being me. I’ve already shared ‘leaving Hervey Bay’ pics on Twitter.
I’m now going to something tonight, tomorrow lunch I’ll be between sessions so probably stay at the library and then tomorrow night’s the awards, so I probably won’t dine out until Saturday at this stage.
September 5, 2019
This festival sounds very interesting. I look forward to hearing all about it plus any new eateries that you discover in Sydney. #lovin’lifelinky
September 5, 2019
I’m coeliac Natalie so tend to gravitate towards places that advertise gluten-free options on their menu. At least it won’t be like Italy when I’m trying to translate menus….
September 5, 2019
Can’t wait to hear more about the Crime Writer’s Festival, Deb! Enjoy Sydney!
SSG xxx
September 6, 2019
Thanks…. so far so good. Though I did dine on chocolate in my hotel room after the bookclub event last night! (There was also champagne however!)