‘Writing fiction means imagining yourself into the shoes of your characters. In those deep places you find very personal stuff, confronting and meaningful and enlightening.’

‘Reading YA as a young person empowered me with the language to talk about things that I didn’t know how to talk about. I found a library of reference for my many emotions and experiences.’

‘Research has given me characters and their stories and if the synopsis is the bones of my novel, research helps me put flesh on those bones.’

“The historical novel isn’t only retelling an old story. It’s a way to challenge ideas about truth, memory, history, and fiction.”
We interviewed author Jesse Blackadder in the lead-up to her workshop Going Down in History: Writing Historical Fiction. Join her on Saturday 22 September to learn how to research and write history to make it come alive.

Sulari Gentill is the author of ten published novels, including the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, a series of historical crime novels chronicling the life and adventures of her 1930s Australian gentleman artist, and the Hero Trilogy, based on the myths and epics of the ancient world. Sulari’s first novel was shortlisted for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize […]