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Johanna has always worked with words — professionally as a media officer and journalist, and writing creatively and blogging for fun at johannabd.com. Published works include the crowd-funded book Business & Baby on Board, fiction published online by Transportation Press and Forty South Magazine and memoir pieces in Love Alters: A Love for All Seasons and Unfinished Chapters. Johanna recently completed a PhD at University of Tasmania, investigating how journalists use social media texts when reporting on crises and exploring themes of speed, ethics and veracity in news reporting. 1. What are you working on? I'm in the final stages of editing a short story, written slowly over the course of 2021 as part of a self-paced short story writing course through the Australian Writers' Centre. As someone who is more familiar with writing news and feature articles or speeches, fiction is new to me so I'm taking my time to get it right. Now I've finished my PhD I'm giving myself some space to decide which big writing project to tackle next. I've got a few ideas for novels and some creative non-fiction works swimming around in my head. 2. How does the Tamar Valley influence your writing? I frequently find the Tamar Valley and its surrounds cropping up in my fiction writing as a character, because I often come up with ideas for stories while walking my dog Bastille. There is nothing quite like watching the sun rise over the river or that gorgeous light reflecting off an autumnal vineyard in the afternoon golden hour for setting my creativity in motion. However, when I worked as a journalist I covered stories with this beautiful valley at their heart. The Tamar Valley was the inspiration for, or location of, businesses and events I wrote about and presented the backdrop to important issues impacting the region and its residents. 3. What themes are you exploring? The short story I'm working on now deals with love, betrayal and independence. The other ideas I mentioned span themes of resilience, fear, crime, love and death. 4. Describe for us where you write. Most of my writing happens in two places: at the messy dining room table or while sitting on the lounge with a view of the garden while life goes on around me. But I do have plans for a writing studio/granny flat in my backyard someday... 5. Finish this sentence, "I want my writing to..." I want my writing to stay with my reader long after they've finished the story. 6. What's your favourite read so far this year? My friend Jodi Gibson recently launched her rom com The Five Year Plan, which was delightfully fun to read but also made me think of how much I miss travelling and exploring other cultures. Jodi's characters felt like people I knew well, struggling with issues I found familiar. Plus it had the added appeal of being set in Italian cafes and restaurants! Another favourite was Phosphorescence by Julia Baird, which I found both inspiring and instructive to read in the early stages of my recovery from a horrific ankle injury. Like Julia, I find a calmness and healing quality around water, so I appreciated how she used it while undergoing and recovering from cancer treatment.

The Tamar Valley Writers Festival is excited to share news that it is one of 14 events and organisers to receive a total of $1.5 million through the State Government's Regional Event Recovery funding scheme. The Fund supports organisers to undertake activities that contribute to the sustainability of events in regional areas, and encourage interstate and intrastate visitation. This is a welcome boost and will support all that we strive to achieve and present as a not-for-profit, volunteer committee.

Julian Burgess is the author of nine non-fiction books including Holyman's Of Bass Strait: Shipping and Aviation Pioneers of Australia; Home of Peace, The Eskleigh Story; The Tamar Yacht Club, a history of sailing in Launceston from 1837; A Woman Of Charity, the biography of Launceston philanthropist Mrs W. D. Booth; Duck Reach And Launceston’s Electric Light; William Gow’s Anzac Diary; The Outcome Of Enterprise, Launceston’s Waverley Woollen Mills; and Cruel Wind (with Robert Matthews) on the 1998 Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race Disaster. Julian is a former Associate Editor of the Launceston Examiner newspaper where he edited and wrote many of The Examiner’s annual historical supplements between 2006 and 2014. He has written hundreds of articles on Tasmanian history and contributed to a number of local historical publications. You can find out more at www.julianburgess.com.au. 1. What are you working on? I’m currently editing and preparing for publishing a history of a Launceston business which will celebrate its 130th anniversary next year. The survival of this business has been closely tied to the fluctuating economic fortunes of industry in Launceston. The manuscript combines photos and recollections from several generations of the family involved in the business and tells the story of important industrial developments in the Tamar Valley and further afield. I also like to write articles on topical subjects for the Launceston Historical Society’s OUR HISTORY series that runs in the Sunday Examiner. 2. How does the Tamar Valley influence your writing? My family had a small orchard on the edge of the Tamar River at Kayena in the 1950s and that’s where I lived as a young child. My earliest memories are of ships passing our house, our neighbour Cliff Brown’s cod boat moored off our jetty and apples and pears being picked and packed for shipment to interstate and overseas markets. I’ve lived most of my life in Launceston and the Tamar Valley and love telling the stories of the people and activities that have shaped our region. 3. What themes are you exploring? Local history is what interests me. As one of the earliest European settlements in Australia our region was highly influential in national affairs in the 19th century and into the 20th century. I like telling the stories from this period of our history. 4. Describe for us where you write. The advent of the laptop computer has meant I can work anywhere but my favourite places are the kitchen table and the family room couch. I do get into trouble when the kitchen table and couch become crowded with reference books and papers! I do have a study with all my books arranged in bookcases and a big desktop Apple computer with printers etc where I can scan documents and photos and work on graphics but I prefer working on a laptop. 5. Finish this sentence, "I want my writing to..." I want my writing to tell stories that recognise significant local events and people. My favourite saying comes from Richard Flanagan’s novel Gould’s Book of Fish and is attributed to William Bulow Gould:  "You don't know who you are if you don't know where you come from." I think that the more we know about our past the more we understand our present. 6. What's your favourite read so far this year? Well, apart from my current addiction to Jack Reacher I think Tongerlongeter: First Nations Leader and Tasmanian War Hero by Henry Reynolds and Nicholas Clements would be my favourite closely followed by The Little Skipper: Sir John Evans by Nigel Burch.

Ian Kennedy Williams is the author of three novels and four collections of short stories. He has also written for the stage and worked on film and TV initiatives for Screen Australia and Screen Queensland. His work has garnered numerous awards and he is a recipient of an Australian Film Institute nomination for screenwriting. Born in the UK, he has lived most of his adult life in Australia. In 2009 he and his wife Liz left steamy Brisbane for the more salubrious climate of Tasmania. 1. What are you working on? I’m currently revisiting a longish story I included in my last collection Leaving the Comfort Zone. It’s about a rookie police detective’s obsession with a young woman’s suicide, the woman’s relationship to the household where she was employed and the property’s connection to a double suicide that occurred there in the 1930s. The story, even at around 11,000 words, always seemed ripe for development, so I’m seeing if it has the scope to work as a short novel. I’ve introduced a backstory for the detective, which will play into the main narrative, and a subplot that at the moment could go anywhere. Or nowhere. The narrative crosses genres, drawing on gothic and supernatural tropes as well as from the detective story. There are narrative and time shifts and differing points of view, though the focus is primarily on the detective — the more deeply she delves into the story the more she becomes a part of it. Whether it all comes together is another matter. It’s early days. 2. How does the Tamar Valley influence your writing? For the migrant, the question of home can be a point of contention. Is ‘home’ forever rooted in the place of birth and childhood, or is it the adopted place, the place of settlement? For the rootless, I guess, it’s a perennial search for a sense of belonging. I’ve lived, at various times, in five different Australian states, which implies a degree of rootlessness. Even a long sojourn in the one place can seem, in retrospect, as if it were simply a stopping off point on the journey to somewhere else. All the places I’ve lived have had some influence on my writing, though mostly from a geographical perspective. Which is to say I set my stories locally and draw on a particular sense of place to shape the narrative. This, I note, often involves characters wrangling a sense of restlessness. After thirty years living in the subtropics, moving to the Tamar Valley felt a bit like coming home. The landscape resembles my native West Country and Launceston (named after the Cornish town) has much in common with Bristol, another old seaport. My recent writing has diverse settings, but it occurs to me that there has been a subtle shift from stories about leaving to ones of arrival. 3. What themes are you exploring? I’m not an ideas or issues writer though, as noted above, the social setting or a particular environment can influence the stories I write. My novel Regret was about the fallout from a pig shoot, a character drama set against racial tensions in a declining mill town on the NSW north coast. My writing process is to start with a character or situation and work outwards from there. Patricia Highsmith is said to have resented being referred to as a crime writer; she was, she said, interested in guilt and how people dealt with it. Transgression is something that has always interested me, the way otherwise good people are drawn to or manipulated into doing bad things. I’m also interested in the outsider’s perspective, the role of the disinterested bystander, the recorder rather than the participator. Sometimes this means playing the unreliable narrator, which opens up all sorts of narrative possibilities. Generally, though, I’m mostly interested in exploring character pathology, what makes people tick. Someone once described my stories as miniaturist (approvingly, I think, though you can’t always tell). Some writers like to record the big picture. I like to focus on the moment. 4. Describe for us where you write. A three bedroom house inhabited by two adults and a cat means I have a room in which to write. It’s a small room with a long desk to one side supporting two aging computers, a printer, paper trays, and, tucked in the corner, my father’s war service medals. Bookshelves hold mostly reference works, which sadly, if inevitably, the internet has made largely redundant. The shelves also hold various knickknacks collected over the years, family pics, postcards and a ship in a bottle (actually a bulbous clear glass cider flagon, the sailing clipper set into the bottom of the bottle not the side as is usual). Across from the desk are two small filing cabinets, a shredder and a cd player sitting on a sewing cabinet that still contains thread, chalk, scissors etc from my late father-in-law’s tailoring days. On the wall are five framed certificates for writing awards, my wife’s Sao Award (Senior Admin Officer), two of my grandfather’s paintings, a pair of antiquarian prints depicting the Americas and two prints of Weston-super-Mare (where I grew up) circa 1851. The solitary window overlooks a hedge-rimmed garden and a main arterial road, generally quiet except for twice a day when kids are being ferried to and from school. Across the road, a little to the left and behind a stand of towering pine trees is Carr Villa cemetery, home to the dead, dog-walkers and the occasional hoon on a trail bike. 5. Finish this sentence, "I want my writing to..." Engage. Writing that doesn’t engage doesn’t go anywhere. Subvert expectations. Which is not to suggest implausible resolutions, rather that stories exploring the lives of complex characters should never be predictable. Be authentic. The stories and characters depicted should ring true, which means engaging different literary forms as the narrative demands. And finally, dare I say, appear easy. Yeats, in his poem Adam’s Curse put it best. ‘A line will take us hours maybe;/Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,/Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.’ 6. What's your favourite read so far this year? I read recently that men generally don’t read fiction written by women. That was something of a revelation to me as probably 90% of the novels I’ve read over the last few years are by female authors. I did revisit William Trevor, an early favourite, catching up with his later novels that had passed me by, but for me the standout authors of recently reading are Elizabeth Strout and Anne Enright. Both are very good at families, particularly the fractious relationships between siblings. Strout particularly has the gift of drawing you into the story as if she were telling it to you personally. I’ve just finished Enright’s The Green Road, which is probably my most enjoyable read this year. Both writers have a light, wry touch, but Enright has the comic edge with the sort of lines that make you think, ‘I wish I’d written that…’ I also read Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz, an interesting take on the traditional murder mystery, one that gives the victim agency over her life and demise. Not so much a crime story as a meditation on death, loss and healing, it is, for the most part, a rewarding read. Currently I am reading Broken Spear: the untold story of Black Tom Birch, the man who sparked Australia’s bloodiest war by Hobart writer Robert Cox. Meticulously researched and written with the novelist’s flair for narrative, it’s a thoroughly absorbing biography of one of the most significant Indigenous Australians in Tasmania’s colonial history.

The Tamar Valley Writers Festival is delighted to present these exclusive conversations with Dr Norman Swan in Launceston and Hobart to talk about his latest book: “SO YOU WANT TO LIVE YOUNGER LONGER?” (Hachette Australia). Our 2022 Festival theme is ‘The Good Life’ and who better to kick off these conversations than Dr Norman Swan: Australia’s trusted, straight-talking doctor and broadcaster, and now author of his second book on how to live your healthiest, youngest life. After all, many of us dream of staying as young as possible for as long as possible, and there's a growing conga line of products and people offering you just that dream. The dilemma is: which of the pills, mental and physical exercise programs, diets, and superfoods actually work? Some of them do help to keep us younger, healthier and living longer, others are a downright waste of money. So, how do you know what and who to trust? Enter Dr Swan with his trademark wit, common sense, and accessible style with his new book “So You Want To Live Younger Longer?” in conversation with brilliant, Tasmanian authors and lifestyle connoisseurs. LAUNCESTON: Dr Swan will be in conversation with Tasmanian leadership coach, author, and therapist, Dr Polly McGee to talk about lifestyle in what is sure to be an enjoyable evening of information, empathy, and humour. Tuesday, August 30, 5:30pm Tramsheds Function Centre, Launceston Drnormanswanlaunceston.eventbrite.com.au HOBART: Norman Swan will discuss all things sustainable and healthy with landscape designer and educator Hannah Moloney, of Good Life Permaculture. Hannah is a regular guest presenter with ABC Gardening Australia, and is the author of “The Good Life”, released to much acclaim in 2021. Wednesday, August 31, 5:30PM Ian Potter Recital Hall, Hobart Drnormanswanhobart.eventbrite.com.au These conversations are a fantastic beginning to thinking about ‘The Good Life’ ahead of the Tamar Valley Writers Festival, October 13 - 17, 2022. Our festival is about stories, words, and ideas, and it’s our pleasure to bring them to life in conjunction with Dr Norman Swan in August.

That's right, our program is now LIVE and limited earlybird tickets are on sale until August 29 - get in quick to save. We have 40 speakers, thinkers, writers, and storytellers taking part in over 25 events across four days. Head to our EVENTS tab to download the program and find out how to buy tickets. Our theme, The Good Life, is felt throughout with thoughtful panels that will enrich and inspire, never losing sight of our mission to celebrate stories, words, and ideas. Head to the WRITERS tab to see our 2022 speakers and panelists - it's a diverse group and we're so looking forward to hosting individuals of such a high caliber. What's on your not-to-be-missed list?

You’ve probably admired and respected Indira Naidoo as a news journalist and broadcaster, and more recently as a best-selling author. Now you can see and hear Indira at a gala lunch in Launceston, where she will give a key address about her latest book, The Space Between the Stars. In this book she writes about the tragic loss of her younger sister, the magical power of nature to heal, and shares her wonderful school-age memories growing up in Tasmania. Indira is a Launceston Church Grammar School alumni. Indira will be in conversation with Stephen Brown, CEO of Launceston City Mission for a decade and committed to community, healing, and creating safe spaces for the people of northern Tasmania. Indira’s books will be available for purchase and she will be available for book signings and conversation at the conclusion of the event. The ticket price includes complimentary sparkling wine on arrival and a two-course lunch as well as a $5 donation to Launceston City Mission. BOOK NOW! About Indira Naidoo: Food sustainability advocate, garden designer, author & speaker. During her 25-year journalistic career, Indira Naidoo became one of Australia’s most popular broadcasters, winning many awards. She hosted and reported for some of the country’s most distinguished news and current affair programs including ABC’s nightly Late Edition and SBS TV’s World News Tonight. Since leaving full-time news broadcasting in 2000, Indira’s journalistic interest has not only shifted to the role global environmental issues play in conflict, poverty and food security, but she has also developed a food-gardening obsession. This obsession has led to Indira winning more awards – as a food garden designer – as well as accolades as a best-selling author. It all began when Indira, a passionate foodie, decided to try growing her own food on the balcony of her 13th floor apartment in Potts Point, Sydney. This act transformed her balcony into an abundant kitchen garden and sparked her quest for self-sufficiency, a deeper awareness of the issues of climate change and a desire to reduce her carbon footprint – as well as providing her with great pleasure and enjoyment. Her first book, the best-selling The Edible Balcony, is about growing food in small spaces, and her follow-up second book The Edible City is about community gardening. She designed two award-winning food gardens for the Australian Garden Show Sydney, in Centennial Park, and through her garden company helps community group build their own food gardens. Indira is an ambassador for Sydney’s homeless crisis centre, the Wayside Chapel, and conducts weekly gardening classes on its rooftop vegetable garden for its homeless visitors. The Tamar Valley Writers Festival is proud to present this event in recognition of Launceston having been designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy; in support of 24 Carrot Gardens; and celebration of sustainable permaculture advocate Hannah Moloney coming aboard TVWF as our inaugural ambassador and writer-in -residence for 2022. It is anticipated Hannah will attend this event.

On Tuesday September 6, the Tamar Valley Writer's Festival had the pleasure of presenting admired and acclaimed journalist Indira Naidoo to talk about her latest book The Space Between the Stars with Stephen Brown, CEO of Launceston City Mission. It was an intimate affair that touched not just on the loss of Indira's sister, Stargirl, but on the joy and nostalgia of childhood, of running wild, puddle jumping, and kite flying. It was a testament to the healing power of nature and the hope we can find by choosing to truly live. Indira Naidoo quoted David Whyte during the session, 'life is a conversation between loss and celebration'. The conversation between these two caring and thoughtful individuals echoed that beautifully. One of the questions Stephen asked Indira was about how writing the book helped her process the grief of losing her youngest sister despite the isolation she found herself in during COVID-19 lockdowns. She spoke out against the taboo of grief and described the book was kind of an extended eulogy and allowed Indira to celebrate her sister in ways she might not have without it. She was surprised by the joys that she found it and how if you listen, the universe will always send you signs to let you know you're not alone. We're incredibly grateful for RANT Arts for the grant that allowed us to bring Indira to Tasmania for this special appearance. TVWF gratefully acknowledges a $10,000 Quick Response grant through RANT for making it possible to attract such a high-profile media personality to be a key guest speaker. This gala lunch will be marketed as a special precursor to TVWF 2022 in October.

Mary Machen, our 2022 Festival Director and recently retired Committee President, has worked tirelessly to make Tamar Valley Writers Festival a success, including seeing us through COVID-19 interruptions, keeping community engagements, and staying on past her retirement. Her contribution was noted as significant, not just by the Tamar Valley Writers Festival committee, but by a recent article in the Tasmanian Times celebrating 'Literary Launceston' by Anne Layton-Bennett. Mary is quoted as saying: “I feel proud of how my committee members and supporters have got to this stage, and I’m confident in handing over the baton. I’ve given it my all but it’s time for someone with new ideas and energy to take over an event that I believe is special for northern Tasmania, and that’s offered the cultural scene something exciting which is now recognised across Australia. We wouldn’t otherwise have these authors clamouring to come!” Mary Machen, Tamar Valley Writers Festival Director 2022 While we're sad to see Mary Machen and Marj Covill leave the committee after their vital and delightful contributions, we're thrilled to have a new committee established with new co-presidents Lyndon Riggall (author of Tamar the Thief) and Georgie Todman (local playwright) taking the lead. https://tasmaniantimes.com/2022/09/literary-launceston-part-2/

The Tamar Valley Writers Festival invites you to a Live and Local streaming of the 2023 Sydney Writers Festival, here in Launceston on May 27. Please join us at the new UTAS Inveresk Library to participate in sessions with literary greats ranging from Maggie Beer to Pip Williams, on topics from crime to food to history to activism. We are thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity for Tasmanian readers, writers and thinkers. Single session and day passes are available. Sydney Writers Festival tickets THE PROGRAM Saturday May 27 10:00 - 11:00am - A LIFE IN FOOD: STEPHANIE ALEXANDER AND MAGGIE BEER Culinary icons Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer have inspired generations of home cooks and fundamentally transformed how we think about food. They reflect on their decades-long friendship, and their partnership in running a cooking school for Australians in a medieval villa in Italy. They also talk about their influential books on preparing, cooking and savouring delicious food, including their co-authored Tuscan Cookbook, which was recently optioned to be made into a feature film. They are joined on stage by cook, writer and presenter Adam Liaw. 12:00 - 1:00 - CRIME AND JUSTICE We are fascinated by stories of crime and how they unfold. There are no finer narrators of such stories than legendary author Helen Garner and The Teacher’s Pet podcaster Hedley Thomas, whose work explores the link between confronting terrible things that happen and the people who are involved. They sit down with Sarah Krasnostein to explore the compelling nature of crime and the pressing question of what happens when justice takes a lifetime – or if it never comes at all? Helen Garner appears thanks to the support of Kathy. 2:00pm – 3:00pm GREAT ADAPTATIONS Four favourite writers come together to give the lowdown on having their works adapted into TV shows and movies and adapting the work of others. Hear from Eleanor Catton, whose novels The Rehearsal and The Luminaries have made their way to the screen; Holly Ringland, whose bestseller The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is being turned into a series starring Sigourney Weaver; and Tom Rob Smith, whose novel Child 44 became a movie with Tom Hardy and whose adaptations for the screen The Assassination of Gianni Versace have won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe. They chat with Benjamin Law. 4:00pm – 5:00pm - PIP WILLIAMS: THE BOOKBINDER OF JERICHO Australian novelist Pip Williams drew wide acclaim for her bestselling debut, The Dictionary of Lost Words, “a marvellous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress” (Geraldine Brooks). Her new novel, The Bookbinder of Jericho, covers similar terrain, with the story of a young British woman working in a book bindery who gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life. Pip is in conversation with Cassie McCullagh. 6:00-7:00pm STATE OF THE ART How is fiction evolving with our times? Is the novel a vulnerable art or more vital than ever? Could AI one day pen a masterpiece or do our storytellers guard an inimitable craft? Join some of the leading names in literature today – Eleanor Catton, Richard Flanagan, Tracey Lien and Colson Whitehead – for a lively discussion about the state of the novel and the future of fiction. They are joined in conversation by ABC RN’s The Bookshelf’s Kate Evans. 7:30pm – 8:30pm REAL SELVES Women and girls have long been pressured to conform to written and unwritten rules about how to think, act, look and feel. But a new generation of writers and activists are breaking down barriers to allow women and girls to show their real selves. Hear from Heartbreak High actress, advocate and Different, Not Less author Chloé Hayden, Wadjanbarra Yidinji, Jirrbal and African-American filmmaker and Gigorou author Sasha Kutabah Sarago, and activist for sexual assault survivors and The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner author Grace Tame in conversation with disability and women’s rights advocate Hannah Diviney about their pathbreaking work.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a book reviewer on social media? We all know that the world of social media is where it's AT when it comes to marketing brands, fashion, technology, travel, ideas, food... and books! Yep, books. Increasingly, publishers are relying on 'bookstagrammers' to promote new release reads to their burgeoning audiences. (For those unfamiliar with the term, a bookstagrammer is someone whose Instagram account is focused solely on books and reading.) So, we've tracked down a Tasmanian-based bookstagrammer to find out just how it all works. Introducing Kate Jackson (@kate_thebooklover)... 1. Tell us about yourself. I’m a mum to a five-year-old daughter, and a wife. These two are my world. I am currently living a pretty stress free life after having had the opportunity to take time away from the busy 9-5 office job and instead I’m enjoying a sea/tree change for a couple of years on the rugged West Coast of Tasmania. I live opposite the beach and love to go out on the water paddle boarding. Over the last year I have spotted dolphins in the harbour and on Sunday morning back in January was even able to get up close to a pod as they cruised in the harbour. That was a pretty magical experience and one I shared with my daughter as she rode on the front of my paddle board. I am a drinker of tea, and thankfully my friends and family no longer look at me weirdly when they go to make me one and ask, 'How many sugars?' and I reply 'Four please!' Tassie has always been my home growing up on the North West Coast in the beautiful town of Penguin before heading south for Uni where I studied at the Art School in Hobart majoring in photography in the late '90s. 2. How did you start in the #bookstagrammer space? I’d never really been a reader at all, probably only reading one or two books a year. I preferred to watch reruns of A Country Practice and other '80s Australian TV shows as a way to unwind. It wasn’t until my daughter was born that I started listening to audiobooks as I walked her in the pram, and then for my first Mother’s Day my husband bought me a couple of books and that got me started. I was then looking for a way to track my reading. I started just popping it on my Facebook under the locked settings. At the time I’d been listening to a lot of audiobooks and when I googled pictures of them I discovered people were doing the same sort of thing but on Instagram. So in November 2019 I began @kate_thebooklover Initially and still at times I feel like a fraud as I am not a writer and have no real desire to be one, so my Bookstagram account is purely from a reader's perspective and it was always designed as an account where I could share the books I really like. By the middle of 2020 Bookstagram was growing in popularity, mostly due to covid lockdowns. It was during this time that I was first contacted by a publicist about sending me a copy of a book which I had commented about on another bookstagrammer's account. Initially, I was a bit sceptical, but that began my journey reviewing new and upcoming releases. Since joining Bookstagram I have really enjoyed the connections I have with authors. I will often be having chats about day-to-day stuff with them and I am excited that one quirk I shared with an author once is even making its way into an upcoming novel! I've had an author arrive on my doorstep with a signed copy of his debut novel, and my husband has assisted an author with police procedural questions she had. Sadly for me, he has had his name in a book before I have! Haha! 3. How does it work? After that first contact I received through my IG account I was able to establish a connection with other publishers and get added to their blogger list. At that time, publishers were looking for established accounts having posted for at least six months and with at least 2000 followers. Now that I'm on the blogger list I receive emails about books coming out, giving me the option to request the ones I’d like to read and review. I also jump on the publishers' websites and look at the upcoming releases and if there is a book that has interested me, I will send an email to express an interest in the book months in advance. Advance Readers Copies (ARCs) can also be requested in digital form through Netgalley. Publishers will put upcoming releases on that site a month or two prior to release. There are also times when I receive a book in the mail unsolicited from a publisher, this is often referred to on Bookstagram as 'surprise book mail'. It is always exciting getting book mail of any kind. When I started receiving books it was such a buzz to get home from work and find packages on my doorstep. Even now, four years down the track, it still brings me the same joy. There have been happy dances and tears of pure joy when a book I have been anticipating has arrived in my post box. I will also buy new releases and books by self published authors. I have filled my house with books, more than what can fit on the bookshelves I have. I wouldn't call myself a hoarder but more a collector and I have a dream of converting the attic in our Hobart home into a cute and cosy little reading room. I’m not a writer and sometimes I do find it hard to express my thoughts, which can lead to procrastination when it comes to posting a review. It ebbs and flows. But as it's just a hobby, I don't put pressure on myself to have weekly posting targets. I can go through times when reviews flow easily and I smash out several in one go, and other times I just can't find the words. Generally I try to post a review within a month of reading the book, and once I post my review on my Bookstagram account I then add it to my Goodreads account. 4. What's your favourite genre? Before starting my Bookstagram account I didn’t really know what books were out there, so I just stuck to what I knew, that being the Jack Reacher Series (Lee Child) and celebrity memoirs/biographies. Bookstagram opened a whole new world for me, and I fell in love with many different genres. Now I really enjoy historical fiction, rural romance, romcoms and crime thrillers. The only genre I struggle with is fantasy. There are times when I will read books that aren’t usually what I would pick up. I will always give a book a go but if it isn’t for me I feel bad, especially as I know how much work goes into writing a book. 5. What if you don't like a book you've been asked to review? Early on I used to push through and finish a book, but now if I find I am not enjoying a book I will often put it down, start something else and then come back to it. If, on the second attempt, I am still not enjoying it I will DNF (did not finish). This is about the only time I will ever go looking at reviews on Goodreads and Bookstagram before I have finished a book, mainly to see if it is a common theme that others couldn't relate or if it is just a case of the book not being for me. I am less inclined to post a negative review on my account, opting to maybe feature the book in my grid as I still like to promote Australian authors where I can. I am a strong believer that not all books are for everyone so, just because I didn’t like it, doesn't mean someone else would. 6. What do you think makes a great read? A great connection with the main character/s and/or the location. When I look at the books on my favourites shelf I can straight away say, 'Oh I loved that one because it was set in Tasmania and the main character was…' or 'I really enjoyed this one as I learnt about a historical event and it was written in such an engaging way...' or 'Oh gosh I loved this one as the main character was such a hoot and I loved a particular part when they did...' I have read so many books in the last five years (around 500!) and not all of them are going to stick in my memory, but when they do, I know they were a winner. 7. Your fav read so far this year? The One and Only Dolly Jamieson (Penguin Random House) by Lisa Ireland closely followed by The Redgum River Retreat by Sandie Docker (Penguin Random House) and Duck à L’Orange for Breakfast (Pan Macmillan) by Karina May. Dolly Jamieson was such a beautiful character I couldn’t help but fall in love with her and the strong friendship she made. She was an older character and had plenty of stories to tell of the life she lived. I have always enjoyed Sandie Docker’s books. The first book of her's I read had me crying big fat ugly tears as I really connected with the character and the storyline… and her subsequent books have been absolute joys to read, thankfully without the tears. Duck a L’Orange was one of those books I just didn't want to end! I got anxious as I neared the end and would often read only a few pages before putting it down to draw it out. 8. Your fav Tasmanian author? I would probably have to say Meg Bignell and Minnie Darke, though there are plenty more out there and others I am yet to discover. Welcome to Nowhere River (Penguin Random House) by Meg Bignell was the first book I ever requested from a publisher and I was so excited when I received a finished copy a month prior to release. I also really enjoyed Jo Dixon’s debut novel The House of Now and Then (HarperCollins), and I am excited for her future novels. Have you bought your tickets to the Sydney Writers Festival Live & Local livestreaming event in Launceston on Saturday May 27? Book now to avoid disappointment! Sydney Writers Festival info and tickets

Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here: A Memoir of Loss and Discovery, by Heather Rose (Reviewed by Johanna Baker-Dowdell) It seems fitting that the first review I write for the Tamar Valley Writers Festival is for Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here: A Memoir of Loss and Discovery (Allen & Unwin, 2022) by Heather Rose because my introduction to Rose was at the event’s first iteration: The Festival of Golden Words. As an eager festival attendee and aspiring author, I was lapping up every session I could, but the one I remember most clearly was the panel featuring Heather Rose, speaking about The River Wife. As Rose described the Tasmanian setting for The River Wife it occurred to me that a place can be a character as much as a person. I was captivated by Rose’s powerful words then, and continue to be now, with Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here. Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is a collection of personal essays, thoughts and insights spanning Rose’s life from childhood to the present day. Rose contemplates some of the bigger questions we all wrestle with: what do I believe, what does love look like, how do you parent, what does grief look like and how do you carry on when everything feels like it is imploding? I was fascinated to read Rose’s take on these – and many other – questions and her deeply honest response to everything life has thrown her. However, I was equally fascinated to read about her extraordinary life, from early memories of herself asking the big questions, to the horrific tragedy that clearly reshaped Rose’s entire family, through her courageous globetrotting, her relationships and, finally, how she deals with chronic pain. There were many times I found myself nodding along with Rose’s insights about herself and relating them back to myself as a fellow parent, a writer, a woman and somebody who also has learned to live with chronic pain. I interviewed Rose when Bruny was released in 2019 and it was a conversation I have cherished ever since because it covered so much ground and left me inspired. I hung up the phone feeling like I’d had a nourishing chat with an old friend. Reading Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here left me with the same feeling afterwards ­­­– like we’d had another long conversation, but she had summoned up the courage to finally share a long-held secret. I felt an almost voyeuristic pull to keep diving into Rose’s words because this memoir contains such deep and compelling insights into her life, thoughts and beliefs. Something Rose and I discussed during that 2019 interview was my own writing. I still think about the ideas she had for my works then and have kept them filed away for a future novel. Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here inspires me to keep feeding my creativity and be a better writer but, more importantly, Rose’s struggle with illness and pain reminded me to be gentler on myself, and those around me. I appreciated the reminder. Johanna Baker-Dowdell is a communications specialist and author. She is also the Vice-President of the Tamar Valley Writers Festival committee.