audience that „story‟ in French is histoire, thereby
establishing the strong link between historical
fiction and history. The social part of the evening
was closed by the launch of Felicity Pulman‟s
Unholy Murder: The Janna Chronicles 3 by
Gillian Polack.
the very popular Tudors. Super sessions dealt with
the nuts and bolts of writing and the publishing
industry, with workshops on historical writing and
research, establishing an author platform through
social media, and manuscript assessments.
On the Saturday evening a dinner was held at
the nearby Royal Oak Hotel, a great opportunity
for people to interact in a more informal setting.
During the evening, Goldie Alexander launched
Sherryl Clark‟s Do You Dare – Jimmy’s War.
Kate Forsyth delivered another of her imaginative
speeches with a rendition of the „Man in the Oak
Tree‟, a re-telling of the story of the King Charles II
fleeing across England after his defeat at the Battle
of Worcester in 1651.
Two of the most popular sessions at the
conference were “At First Glance”, where the
opening sections of works-in-progress were read to
the attendees and judged by a panel of publishers
and agents. The prize for the best piece was
awarded to talented aspiring author Lauren
Chater. “In Bed with History”, the last session of
the conference, involved a „romp‟ in which a
sizzling bedroom scene from Kate Forsyth‟s novel
Bitter Greens, was staged by Kate, Jesse
Blackadder and Colin Falconer - a very memorable
turn.
Address by Sophie Masson
A round table discussion followed the cocktail
party chaired by Kelly Gardiner with Deborah
Challinor, Gillian Polack, Jesse Blackadder, and
Rachel Le Rossignol. The question, “What can
historical novelists and historians learn from each
other?” brought out some lively and disparate
opinions.
On the Saturday morning, the conference
opened at the historic Balmain Town Hall. Patron
Kate Forsyth delivered a pithy welcome followed
by keynote speaker Colin Falconer. Centred on the
conference‟s theme, “The Historical Novel in
Peace and War”, Colin spoke of the ANZAC
tradition as the inspiration not just for Australians in
war but Australians in their everyday lives. After
taking the audience on a journey into the mind of a
young soldier to better understand the ANZAC
story from the perspective of an individual, Colin
reflected on how (modern heightened fears about
terrorism notwithstanding) ordinary Australians will
always stand up for someone in the street who is
being vilified for cultural differences.
The weekend contained eleven sessions over
the two days. These included conversations with
Peter Corris, Sulari Gentill, Toni Jordan and
Posie Graeme-Evans; explorations of history
subgenres, and an incredibly dynamic discussion of
Planning is already underway for the next
biennial Historical Novel Society Australasia
conference to be held in 2017 in Melbourne. No
dates or venues have yet been fixed but, to stay in
touch, either register for the newsletter via the
website www.hnsa.org.au or join the ever-growing
HNSA Facebook group:
www.facebook.com/groups/hnssydney/