One of the exciting aspects of being a writer is meeting other writers and hearing about their experiences. I was

Poppy Gee at Fullers Bookshop, Launceston, Tasmania

fortunate to be in Launceston, Tasmania, when Poppy Gee gave a talk last Friday evening about her new crime novel, Bay of Fires. I met Poppy a few weeks back at the Hachette bowls night in Brisbane (see my blog, ‘A question of bias’). Poppy is originally from Launceston and she attracted a good-size, appreciative audience to her talk at Fullers Bookshop. The book is set in Tasmania – Bay of Fires is a world-renowned natural recreational area.

As a writer, I was particularly interested to hear how Bay of Fires had developed and how it came to be published. While, as she said on the night, Poppy has friends who are good writers but can’t get their novels published, her own success shows that it is not impossible. Her book is currently available in bookshops in Australia, and very soon will be published in the US and the UK. I have started reading my (signed) copy and am enjoying getting to know the characters and the build up of ‘who done it?’