BAD: Sydney Crime Writers Festival
The festival is over for 2019 but the memories linger on. Watch Val McDermid sing in Sydney on 6 September backed by a band including BAD founder Denis Tracey and crime writers Peter Doyle and Michael Duffy.
You don’t have to wait for September 2020 for your next crime fix. See below for information about BAD all year events around Sydney. We’ll also keep you updated here about BAD Sydney in September 2020.
BAD is an annual event held to explore what crime can tell us about humanity, both contemporary and historical. The speakers include writers, reporters and film-makers, and professionals from the justice system such as detectives, judges and psychologists.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
BAD19 Gallery
PROGRAM
| # | Session | Speaker(s) | Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BLOOD AND BLOWFLIES: FORENSICS 101 What exactly is forensic science and how does it help solve crimes? Journalist Ava Benny-Morisson, ex police detective Duncan McNab, forensic anthropologist and criminologist Xanthe Mallett talk to Denis Tracey. | Denis Tracey, Duncan McNab, Xanthé Mallett, Ava Benny-Morrison | 10.00AM -10.55AM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 2 | COUNTRY NOIR Why does rural Australia make such a perfect setting for crime? Emily Maguire, Richard Anderson and Aoife Clifford who have set novels in country towns talk to Catherine du Peloux Menagé. | Catherine du Peloux Menagé, Emily Maguire, Aoife Clifford, Richard Anderson | 10AM - 10.55AM | Macquarie Room |
| 3 | WHO'S ON TRIAL HERE? JUSTICE AND PROSECUTIONS FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT Does the court system treat complainants of sexual assault in the right way? Lawyers and writers Bri Lee, Suzie Miller and Hilary Bonney talk to Nicole Abadee about what needs to change. | Suzie Miller, Bri Lee, Hilary Bonney, Nicole Abadee | 11.15AM - 12.10AM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 4 | FRESH BLOOD: NEW WRITING An art historian, a medical researcher and a journalist with established careers turn to crime writing. They talk to Sue Turnbull about why, how and what their other lives contribute to their books. | Sue Turnbull, Katherine Kovacic, Susan Hurley, Tim Ayliffe | 11.15AM - 12.10PM | Macquarie Room |
| 5 | FOR AND AGAINST: JUDGING THE TRUE CRIME PODCAST Since Serial broke the internet in 2014, true crime podcasts have boomed internationally. What makes them so compelling? Do they advance or impede the pursuit of justice? And what are the ethics of turning real life drama into storytelling entertainment? This panel features award-winning producers of acclaimed Australian true crime podcasts, including Richard Baker, host of Wrong Skin and Phoebe's Fall, Gina McKeon, host and reporter of season three, Last Seen Katoomba and Greg Bearup from Who the hell is Hamish? | Greg Bearup, Siobhan McHugh, Gina McKeon, Richard Baker | 12.30PM - 1.25PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 6 | MISSING Why do missing children recur so often in Australian writing, whether true crime or fiction?Three novelists with a missing child at the heart of their books talk to Suzanne Leal. | Christian White, Caroline Overington, Felicity McLean, Suzanne Leal | 12.30PM - 1.25PM | Macquarie Room |
| 7 | INTERNET SCAMMING: AN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS We hear of internet scams and think it could never be us. But thousands of Australians lose money and more every year. Cyber security specialist David Lacey barrister David Barrow, cyber psychologist Moica Whitty and ABC journalist Sean Rubinzstein-Dunlop discuss the global industry of internet scams. | David Barrow, Monica Whitty, Sean Rubinsztein Dunlop, David Lacey | 2.15PM - 3.10PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 8 | SISTERS IN CRIME Sisters Jaclyn and Nicola Moriarty have written across several genres and have recently turned to crime and mystery. Why the move to crime? They explain all to Suzanne Leal. | Jaclyn Moriarty, Nicola Moriarty, Suzanne Leal | 2.15PM - 3.10PM | Macquarie Room |
| 9 | WHO WILL WIN THE NED KELLY AWARDS? Just before the evening announcement of Ned Kelly awards winners for 2019, Andy Muir talks to three of the fabulous women shortlisted. Come and hear Candice Fox (best fiction shortlist) Katherine Kovacic and Dervla McTiernan (best first fiction shortlist) and Bri Lee (true crime shortlist) about their work. | Andy Muir, Dervla McTiernan, Bri Lee, Katherine Kovacic, Candice Fox | 3.30PM - 4.25PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 10 | NOW DO IT AGAIN: WRITING THE SECOND NOVEL After a successful first book, do most writers get second novel syndrome? How do they get through it? Or can writing the second novel be easier? Sue Turnbull discusses this with three second (and third) time novelists. | Christian White, Sue Turnbull, Aoife Clifford, Sarah Bailey | 3.30PM - 4.25PM | Macquarie Room |
| 11 | AWARDS NIGHT: NED KELLY AWARDS, DANGER PRIZE, DANGER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Crime publishing’s night of nights. | Laurie Oakes, Val McDermid, Sarah Bailey | 6.30PM - 8.30 PM | The Tramsheds, Forest Lodge |
| # | Session | Speaker(s) | Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WHAT MAKES A CRIMINAL? Most serious crime is committed by a tiny percentage of the population who often had traumatic childhoods. What can be done? Wendy Field (The Smith Family), Sarah Hopkins, lawyer, author of The Subjects, Tanya Bretherton, author of The Suicide Bride and psychologist Gabrielle Duffy discuss the making of criminals. | Gabrielle Duffy, Tanya Bretherton, Sarah Hopkins, Wendy Field | 10.00AM - 10.55AM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 2 | ANGEL OF DEATH: THE STORY OF DULCIE MARKHAM Who was Dulcie Markham? Did she deserve her sobriquets The Angel of Death and The Black Widow? Sunil Badami talks to Leigh Straw about this key figure and other women in the Australian underworld from the 1920s to the 1950s. | Leigh Straw, Sunil Badami | 10.00AM - 10.55AM | Macquarie Room |
| 3 | SPOTLIGHT ON KATE MCCLYMONT Tenacious investigative reporter Kate McClymont who has won many awards and survived threats on her life reflects on her long career in crime with Judith Whelan. | Judith Whelan, Kate McClymont | 11.15AM - 12.20PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 4 | SPOTLIGHT ON BARRY MAITLAND One of Australia’s favourite crime writers talks to Sue Turnbull about his long writing career, including the return of detectives Brock and Kolla who have returned in his latest book The Promised Land. | Sue Turnbull, Barry Maitland | 11.15AM - 12.10PM | Macquarie Room |
| 5 | SPOTLIGHT ON MICHAEL ROBOTHAM One of Australia’s best-loved and bestselling crime writers gives us his own perspective on his many books, including his latest Good Girl, Bad Girl. | Michael Robotham | 12.30PM - 1.25PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 6 | HOW JOURNALISTS CAN CHANGE HISTORY Chris Masters will talk with Michael Sexton, Solicitor General for New South Wales, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, which was prompted by his Four Corners program The Moonlight State. | Michael Sexton, Chris Masters | 12.30PM - 1.25PM | Macquarie Room |
| 7 | WRITING CRIME IN THE #ME TOO ERA Has the way women write and are written changed in the #Me too era? Sue Turnbull discusses this with three women writers of crime fiction and true crime. | Sue Turnbull, Leigh Straw, Katherine Kovacic, Sarah Bailey | 2.15PM - 3.10PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 8 | THE CRIMINAL JOURNALIST Bernie Matthews, bank robber, author, and fresh out after his second 11-year prison sentence, reflects on a life of crime and journalism with criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro. | Tim Watson-Munro, Bernie Matthews | 2.15PM - 3.10PM | Macquarie Room |
| 9 | THE THREAT FROM WITHIN: HOW CAN WE FIGHT TERRORISM How do we fight terrorism? The Australian's Paul Maley talks to Levi West, Director of Terrorism Studies at Charles Sturt University and Rodger Shanahan from the Lowy Institute about the complex causes which lead to extremist action and whether extremists can be deradicalised. | Rodger Shanahan, Levi West, Paul Maley | 3.30PM - 4.25PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 10 | VAL MCDERMID IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL ROBOTHAM Val McDermid and Michael Robotham are both international stars with massive sales figures, shelves of awards and backgrounds as journalists. They both write series with recurring characters but also break out with standalone books. The international queen of crime and the man who composes his novels in the cabana of cruelty come face to face in the Pitt Street Uniting Church to talk books, ideas and crime. * This venue is about 20 minutes' walk from the State Library. Michael Duffy will lead a group walk leaving from the Macquarie Street entrance to the State Library identifying various crime locations along the way. | Michael Robotham, Val McDermid | 4.00PM - 5.00PM | Pitt Street Uniting Church |
| # | Session | Speaker(s) | Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WHO REMEMBERS THE VICTIMS? Ivan Milat. Martin Bryant. Roger Rogerson. David and Catherine Birnie. We remember their names but who were their victims? Criminal psychologist Tim Watson Munro, ex-NSW police detective Duncan McNab and criminologist Xanthé Mallett unpick our fascination with those who commit violent serial crimes and the anonymisation of their victims. | Tim Watson-Munro, Duncan McNab, Xanthé Mallett | 10.00AM - 10.55AM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 2 | MINOTAUR: THE CRIMES OF PETER GOLDSWORTHY Peter Goldsworthy is the award-winning writer of short stories, plays, novels, and more. Now blind Detective Sergeant Rick Zadow enters his work with his guide dog Scout. RN’s Kate Evans talks to Peter Goldsworthy about this new direction. This session will be recorded by ABC Radio National for The Bookshelf. | Peter Goldsworthy, Kate Evans | 10:00AM - 10.55AM | 10.00AM - 10.55AM |
| 3 | THE VICTIM'S DETECTIVE NSW's most famous living homicide detective, Gary Jubelin, worked on very high-profile cases like the Bowraville murders and the death of Matthew Leveson, before he quit this year in contentious circumstances. He talks to Jana Wendt. | Jana Wendt, Gary Jubelin | 11.15AM - 12.10PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 4 | MYSTERIES IN HISTORY Why read history when you can find out how it really felt it in historical crime fiction? Take a trip with Sulari Gentill’s hero Roland Sinclair into the Sydney of the 1930s, follow Robert Gotts’ Joe Sable into wartime Melbourne and Peter Doyle’s Glasheen into Australia in the late 1960s. Find out the plusses and pitfalls of setting crime novels in the past as the three writers reveal all to Rachel Franks. | Robert Gott, Sulari Gentill, Rachel Franks, Peter Doyle | 11.15AM - 12.10AM | Macquarie Room |
| 5 | MY FAVOURITE FICTIONAL DETECTIVE Hercule Poirot or Harry Bosch? V I Warshawksi or Miss Marple? Closer to home, Cliff Hardy or Jack Irish? Three crime fiction lovers reveal (and argue over?) their favourite literary detectives with RN’s Kate Evans. This session will be recorded by ABC Radio National for The Bookshelf. | Laurie Oakes, Sulari Gentill, Candice Fox, Kate Evans | 12.30AM - 1.25PM | Metcalfe Auditorium |
| 6 | SEX AND DRUGS AND PARCEL BOMBS Ex-Penthouse Pet Simone Starr and Mark Morri discuss her depiction in his new book Hate Mail with Michael Duffy. Just out after seven years in prison, Simone talks about drug importation, the parcel-bombing of her boyfriend, and her plans for the future. | Simone Starr, Mark Morri, Michael Duffy | 12.30PM - 1.25PM | Macquarie Room |
| 7 | THE GREAT CRIME DEBATE. IS FACT STRANGER THAN FICTION? In this no-holds-barred debate between fiction writers, an ex-police detective and a forensic psychologist, the debaters may not take the sides you expect. Michael Robotham, one of our best-know crime fiction writers, and Xanthé Mallett argue for fact, while Duncan McNab and Candice Fox defend fiction in a fight to the literary death. Refereed by crime fan Laurie Oakes in the grand finale to a perfect three days of crime. *This venue is about 20 minutes’ walk from the State Library. | Michael Robotham, Laurie Oakes, Duncan McNab, Xanthé Mallett, Candice Fox | 2.30PM - 4PM | Pitt Street Uniting Church |
SPEAKERS
SPONSORS
