On the Run: Australian Crime Writers in America

ON THE RUN: AUSTRALIAN CRIME WRITERS IN AMERICA will be in Berkeley, CA, for a Literary Salon on Thursday, November 14, 7 p.m. RSVP to attend. Space Limited. 

Not in Berkeley? Check out their other appearances below.

On the Run is a group of four highly acclaimed and award-winning Australian crime writers, who have recently been awarded a grant by the Australia Council for the Arts to tour the United States.  The tour seeks to take advantage of the recent worldwide interest in Australian crime to introduce America to some of Australia’s next international bestsellers.  It is the first tour of its kind, involving four established Australian writers from four separate Australian publishers.  On the Run is comprised of:

Jock Serong is the much lauded author of QUOTA, THE RULES OF BACKYARDCRICKET, ON THE JAVA RIDGE and PRESERVATION which between them have won many awards including the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, the JCU Colin Roderick Award, the HT Priestley Medal and the Staunch Prize.

Sulari Gentill is the critically acclaimed author of the multi-award winning ROWLAND SINCLAIR MYSTERIES, which has won one Davitt Award, and been shortlisted for a further four, as well as two Ned Kelly Awards, two Australian Book Industry Awards and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize;  and CROSSING THE LINES, a postmodern psychological thriller, which won the 2018 Ned Kelly Award.

Emma Viskic’s RESURRECTION BAY won the 2016 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and an unprecedented three Davitt Awards. It was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious Gold Dagger and New Blood Awards and is currently nominated for a Barry Award. AND FIRE CAME DOWN won the 2018 Davitt Award for Best Crime Novel and was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award

Dr. Robert Gott is the author 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. 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.

The tour will take the On the Run team to New York (28 – 30 Oct), Dallas, (31Oct – 3 Nov), Phoenix (4 – 7 Nov), Los Angeles, (8 – 11 Nov) Santa Cruz (12 – 13 Nov) and San Francisco (14 – 15 Nov). 

On the Run will be featured at Bouchercon, in Dallas.  That panel will be livestreamed to the Terror Australis Festival in Tasmania. The team is already booked to appear at bookstores and literary events in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco (Poisoned Pen, Flintridges, Book Carnival, Noir at the Bar, Vromans, GGP Books). The Australian reading public will join them on tour via vlogs, blogs, and social media.  On the Run will be send back daily pieces to be published on Arts Daily and other websites. 

“We hope to meet as many Americans as possible, make friends, establish links and celebrate all the colour and complexity of the mystery genre and record the experience for posterity… and our own amusement!”