The inaugural conference of the
Historical Novel Society Australasia
Written by Greg Johnston
Over the weekend of 20-22 March, 2015,
the Historical Novel Society Australasia held its
inaugural conference in Sydney. Years in the
making, the conference unfurled seamlessly and to
great aplomb, exploring many ideas about historical
fiction, and attended by over 160 people.
The conference marked the formal
establishment of Historical Novel Society
Australasia (HNSA) as the third arm of the
international Historical Novel Society which holds
conferences in the United Kingdom and the United
States.
On the Friday evening the weekend kicked off
with a cocktail party, fittingly held amongst the
records of the past at the State Library of NSW.
The event attracted a mix of authors, aspiring
writers, readers, publishers, agents, and
representatives of the State Library.
The conference patron, internationally
renowned Kate Forsyth, spoke of a string of
significant historical events that occurred on that
day, linking the successive events to the conference.
Sophie Masson then presented the welcome
address, sharing her childhood memories in France
of castles and family story-telling, reminding the