What happens at a book event doesn’t stay at the book event!

Last Thursday night I attended the Writers Reading at Electric Shadows Bookshop to hear Lucy Neave, Jane Rawson and Christie Thompson speak about their new books. This event was special as all three authors are from Canberra and the books were inspired by the awesomeness that is Canberra. I hear a few of you scoff, but you would be surprised by the creativeness that comes from Canberra’s cold winters spent indoors!

Lucy read two very descriptive sections of her novel Who We Were which had me being swept up into another time and space. Lucy’s writing style has you being able to imagine being there, watching the characters interact as the story unfolds. It took Lucy 10 years to write Who We Were and to get it to be as perfect as it is, time extremely well spent.

Jane Rawson says A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists was partly inspired by her time in the Public Service in Canberra and that is totally believable. Anyone who has had experience within with Public Service could well imagine an Office of Unmade Lists (probably an empty room as you wouldn’t need filing cabinets for paperwork that was not yet written). Jane read from her book and gave us a hint of some of the names of unmade lists; the ‘list of smells now extinct’ and the ‘list of the speed of things’. The concept of Jane’s novel was born in National Novel Writing Month which occurs worldwide every November and is an inspiration to all us ‘Nanowrimo’ enthusiasts!

Christie Thompson wrote Snake Bite over two years and was heavily influenced by a lot of reality television, growing up in Canberra and her view of modern feminism. Although ‘Snake Bite’ could be set anywhere in suburbia I think Christie has been clever in setting it in Canberra. People that don’t know us have a perception that Canberra is very straight, neat and possibly a tad boring; if Canberra were a colour people would call us Taupe. A very nice but extremely neutral and inoffensive colour which we know is not true. In Christie’s own words; ‘Snake Bite’ is smashing the stigma of growing up in Canberra!

The only problem with having three authors speaking about their new books; deciding which book to read first!

Happy reading!