Dirt Town has been nominated for a Danger Award! As if that wasn’t good enough news, the 2023 BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival Program is now live, and I can reveal an event I am very much looking forward to!
Genre Benders
SPEAKERS: Dennis Altman, RWR (Rob) McDonald and Hayley Scrivenor
FACILITATOR: Michael Burge
Date: Friday 3 November, 2023
Time: 12.00 to 1.00pm
Venue: Metcalfe Auditorium
From Dorian Gray to Tom Ripley, there was a time when if LGBTIQA+ characters appeared in crime stories at all, it was invariably as the first body, the villain, the ‘morally dubious’ suspect or the heavily coded ‘queer’. Recent decades have seen a more diverse cast in crime fiction created by LGBTIQA+ authors, but when gay American crime writer Rob Osler coined the term ‘Quozy Mystery’ in 2022, it heralded the possibility that commercial queer crime fiction has arrived. BAD Sydney hears from queer writers working during this tipping point, discussing how far representation has come, whether Australian publishers are leading or following reader demand, and to what extent crime fiction is a place to explore sexual and gender identities.
Rush to the website now to secure your tickets for the Festival and the Danger Awards Night. And here comes the most thrilling part: You have the power to crown the winner of the People’s Choice Award! Cast your vote for your personal favourite and be a part of the magic that is the Danger Awards!
I am very grateful to the organisers, who really had an embarrassment of riches to choose from this year in Australian crime writing. It’s lovely to have my Dirt Town acknowledged in this way!
Hayley Scrivenor 