WHO doesn’t love a good ‘who dunnit’?
Crime novels are the biggest genre worldwide and they do not seem to be losing their appeal among readers.
The Whitsundays Writers Festival will present a full day of exciting events for readers, emerging writers, and true crime lovers, on Friday, September 12, at the Whitsunday Sailing Club.
The evening event will include a panel discussion with guest authors Hedley Thomas (known for his global smash hit podcast The Teacher’s Pet, among other achievements), and Matt Condon (a prize-winning novelist and host of two true-crime podcasts).
The evening event will also include Love Letter to Queensland and the “From the Heart” keynote address with Dr. Anita Heiss.
Our guest writers and Minister Amanda Camm will share their Love Letters to Queensland, followed by a musical performance by award winning local songwriter, performer and the original voice of Australian Siri in a billion iphones, Karen Jacobsen.
Mayor Ry Collins will read the winning entries to the Love Letter local writing competition with a top prize of $1,000 voucher to Daydream Island Resort.
Closing date for entries is August 31, 2025.
Books will be available for purchase with signings by our guest authors.
Hedley Thomas was the Australian’s national chief correspondent and an investigative journalist, author and true-crime podcaster winning eight Walkley Awards.
Hedley’s podcasts have achieved 100 million+ downloads, topping charts in Australia, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
For his reporting through 2022, he received the Graham Perkin Award as Australia’s Journalist of the Year.
Starting as a copyboy on the Gold Coast Bulletin, in 1984, Hedley then worked as a journalist covering tumultuous news events in London, Europe and Hong Kong for eight years.
His investigations since 2017 have focused on solving cold case murders of Australian women.
Hedley pursued Chris Dawson for the 2018 global smash hit podcast, The Teacher’s Pet, leading to the former star footballer being found guilty 40 years after the 1982 murder of his wife, Lyn.
His other podcasts include Shandee’s Story, importantly highlighting the issues of the original investigation into the murder of Shandee Blackburn in Mackay in 2013, Shandee’s Legacy, The Night Driver, The Teacher’s Trial and The Teacher’s Accuser.
His first published book was Sick to Death in 2007 and in 2023 he published The Teacher’s Pet.
Matthew Condon is an award-winning journalist, a senior writer and podcaster for The Australian and a prize-winning novelist of more than 18 works of both fiction and non-fiction.
The host of two true crime podcasts – Ghost Gate Road and Dig: Sirens Are Coming, in 2019 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the community.
Matthew began his journalism career with the Gold Coast Bulletin in 1984 and subsequently worked for leading newspapers and journals including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, Melbourne’s Sunday Age and The Courier-Mail.
He is author of The Trout Opera and the bestselling true-crime trilogy about Queensland crime and corruption – Three Crooked Kings (2013), Jacks and Jokers (2014), All Fall Down (2015) and Little Fish are Sweet (2016) about police and political corruption in Queensland.
All volumes have been nominated for a wide range of awards, and the third volume won the Australian Book Industry Award for Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year.
Matthew is the host of two true crime podcasts – Ghost Gate Road and Dig: Sirens Are Coming.
The Love Letter to Queensland event on 12 September will be a memorable night with our authors sharing stories about writing in a lively panel discussion and then reading their love letter delving into their personal relationship to our state.
On Friday, during the day prior to the Love Letter event, there will be morning and afternoon sessions of ‘Writing a Memoir Workshop’ with widely recognised lecturer and author Lindsay Simpson.
For further information about the day’s events and to purchase tickets go to www.whitsundayswriters.com.
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