Jock Serong, Emma Viskic, Robert Gott and Sulari Gentill - moderator TBA
These authors are established namesin the Australian crime-writing scene, with multiple books, literary awards etc. The purpose of their speaking tour (with a stop at Flintridge Bookstore), funded by the Australia Council for the Arts, is to take what is different and unique about Australian Crime and Mystery to the US, to meet with US readers and writers, and to talk about the Australian crime-writing scene. Jock Serong was shortlisted for an Edgar regardless. Emma Viskic is currently shortlisted for a Barry Award and Sular Gentill is the current holder of the Ned Kelly Award.
Sulari Gentill: Sulari’s debut novel, A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN ( June 2010) was shortlisted for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the Best First Book category for the Pacific and South East Asian Region. Since then, Sulari has released a further 12 novels, 8 Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, the HERO TRILOGY based on the myths and legends of the ancient world and a standalone literary metafiction called CROSSING THE LINES. Sulari won the 2018 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel, 2012 Davitt Award for Crime Fiction, has been shortlisted in 2013, 2015, 2016 and the 2018 Davitt Awards, the 2015 Ned Kelly Award, the 2015 and 2016 Australian Book Industry Awards for Best Adult Book, the NSW Genre Fiction Award, commended in the FAW Jim Hamilton Award and offered a Varuna Fellowship. In 2014, Sulari collaborated with National Gallery of Victoria in the Fashion Detective Exhibition. She was an Ambassador of 2015 Emerging Writers’ Festival and the inaugural Eminent Writer in Residence at the Museum of Australian Democracy. The ROWLAND SINCLAIR MYSTERIES have been released in print in the US and Canada (Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks), the UK (Oldcastle Press) and worldwide as audiobooks. . CROSSING THE LINES was published simultaneously in Australia, NZ, Canada and the US on 1 August 2017 and won the 2018 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel. Sulari has also contributed to an anthology of award-winning and best-selling US writers to be published by Hachette in early 2020.
Jock Serong: Jock’s first novel, QUOTA (2014), won the Ned Kelly Award for First Crime Fiction. Its follow-up, THE RULES OF BACKYARD CRICKET (2016), was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award; the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award (UK); the Ned Kelly Award; the JCU Colin Roderick Award; and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. It was a finalist for the Foreword Review Indies Awards (US) and longlisted for the Indie Book Awards and ABIA Award for General Fiction. ON THE JAVA RIDGE (2017) won the JCU Colin Roderick Award and HT Priestley Medal. It was also shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards and a finalist for the Australian Surfing Awards, the Melbourne Prize for Best Writing, and longlisted for an ABIA award. Jock Serong is the inaugural winner of the Staunch Prize (UK - 2018). Jock is currently a PHd candidate in creative writing at La Trobe University, and a recipient of the RTP Scholarship and David Myers Research Scholarship as first-ranked PhD applicant.
Emma Viskic: Emma Viskic’s critically acclaimed Caleb Zelic novels have sold to multiple territories, including the US, UK, France, Germany and Poland. Her debut novel, RESURRECTION BAY, won the 2016 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, and an unprecedented three Davitt Awards: Best Adult Crime Novel, Best Debut, and Readers’ Choice. It was iBooks Australia’s Crime Novel of the year in 2015 and was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious Gold Dagger and New Blood Awards, and is currently shortlisted for a Barry Award in the US. RESURRECTION BAY was one of the UK Financial Times Crime Novel of the Year, and the UK Times crime novel of the month. Her second novel, AND FIRE CAME DOWN was written with the assistance of a grant from Creative Victoria. It won the 2018 Davitt Award and is currently longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award. Emma’s short fiction has won the Ned Kelly and Thunderbolt Awards and been published in REVIEW OF AUSTRALIAN FICTION and the European anthology, DEADLIER. She is currently writing her third novel with the help of a grant from the Australia Council.
Robert Gott: Dr. Robert Gott is the author of 95 books of non-fiction for children, and seven historical crime novels (set in Australia in the 1940s) for adults. Two of these, AMONGST THE DEAD and THE HOLIDAY MURDERS have been shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction. His character, William Power has found such a place for himself among readers that one critic wondered where Australian comic crime would be without him. Gott is a regular and experienced moderator and guest at writers’ festivals and events around Australia. He has appeared in many comedy debates and is an accomplished public speaker. Gott has been invited to write several articles for THE AGE newspaper and wrote, too, a regular column, CLASS ACT, in the education section of that newspaper. He is the creator of the cartoon THE ADVENTURES OF NAKED MAN which ran weekly for 19 years in ‘The Age’ and appeared also in three newspapers in New Zealand. His latest novel THE AUTUMN MURDERS will be published in 2019
