Vanda Symon an International Guest of Honour at SheKilda

Acclaimed Dunedin crime writer and 2010 Ngaio Marsh Award finalist Vanda Symon is one of three international guests of honour appearing at the upcoming Shekilda 2011 crime writing convention in Melbourne, Australia.

Symon (author of the Sam Shephard series) joins South African Margie Orford (author of the Dr Clare Hart series) and Singapore's Shamini Flint (author of the Inspector Singh series) as an International Guest of Honour at SheKilda - the Australian Women's Crime Writers' Convention, to be held from 7-9 October. The convention is organised by the Australian arm of Sisters in Crime, an international organisation supporting and promoting female crime writers, that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The Australian arm is also celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Here's the brief rundown of SheKilda Again, the 2011 convention:

SHEKILDA Again - AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S CRIME WRITERS' CONVENTION 2011

The Plot:
To celebrate women’s crime writing on the page and screen and bring a collective critical eye to the field.

The Motive:
To mark the 20th anniversary of Sisters in Crime Australia Inc by a 500-strong gathering that brings together women writers, true crime practitioners and those who enjoy women’s crime writing.

Modus Operandi:
To hold SheKilda Again, Women’s Crime Writers' Convention 2011 (October 7-9), Rydges Hotel, 701 Swanston St, Carlton, Victoria

The convention will involve all leading Australian women crime novelists together with true-crime writers, screen-writers, producers, booksellers, publishers, lawyers, judges, police, forensic specialists, librarians, academics, critics and (mostly) readers and viewers. It will discuss and analyse books, film and television shows, law and justice issues, new trends and critical issues of the genre.

It looks like there will be many terrific events over the three days of the convention. You can read the full programme here. Symon will be appearing at several events, including:

• A World of Crime (with Orford and Flint) - Saturday 8 October, 9.30am;


• Spotlight on Vanda Symon - Saturday 8 October, 2pm; and


• Brave New World (on a panel with PD Martin and others) - Sunday 9 October, 10am.

Symon is also delivering the End Note Speech at the Closing event for the convention, on Sunday at 3.30pm.

It looks like it will be a great three days, full of terrific crime fiction authors and events.

Travel crime: reading 'local' mystery fiction while you're travelling to exotic and different locations

Well, later this week I'm off on my Christmas/summer holiday (while some of you are enjoying a traditional white Xmas, it is of course summer down in this part of the world). Early Saturday morning I hop on a flight to Bangkok, via Brunei, to start three and a bit weeks of touring around Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It should be terrific. I'd say 'all going to plan', but let's be honest, some of the very best travel memories and stories come from the off-plan moments.

Over the past couple/few years, as I've been doing lots of travel, I've started to look for crime fiction set in the locations I'm travelling - preferably written by locals, where possible. Last year I spent Christmas in Germany, and read SELF'S MURDER by Bernhard Schlink (translated from the German). While travelling through Egypt in December and January, I picked up a copy of THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS by PC Doherty, and read that. And when stopping over in the Kuala Lumpur airport on the way home, I went searching for Malaysian crime fiction. Finding none, I settled for BANGKOK EIGHT by John Burdett (I had spent about 30mins in Bangkok airport too) - a very fortuitious purchase - it was excellent.

So, with a Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam itinerary on the cards, I've been wondering about crime fiction set in Southeast Asia. Clearly Burdett is an uber-terrific option when it comes to evoking a rich sense of Bangkok and Thailand. But what about Cambodia and Vietnam? Are there any local authors with books in English translation? Are there any English-speaking authors who've set good or great crime novels there?

A quick surf of the Internet, and I haven't come up with much so far, to be honest. In terms of Cambodia, it seems one of my favourite 'new to me' authors of 2010, Shamini Flint, will set her upcoming Inspector Singh tale there (A DEADLY CAMBODIAN CRIME SPREE), but that doesn't come out until April next year - so I'll be waiting a little while.

With a bit more digging, I came across a thriller novel set in Cambodia's capital, released earlier this year: PHNOM PENH EXPRESS by Johan Smits, a Belgian author who has been living for several years in Cambodia as an ex-pat. I'm quite excited about this one, especially by some comparisons to Burdett. Apparently PHNOM PENH EXPRESS is available from Monument Books in Phnom Penh, so I'll have to see if I can arrange a little detour while we're in the city, if I can't get my hands on it beforehand. You can read more about PHNOM PENH EXPRESS here.

UPDATE: According to Smit's Facebook page for the book, it is now available in Thailand as well, including from Bangkok airport - so I will try to get my hands on a copy before I enter Cambodia. I have a few hours to kill in the airport until Helen arrives from London anyway.

When it comes to Vietnam, well, I'm not quite as sure. You'd think there'd be plenty of crime and thriller novels set there. There are certainly many crime fiction heroes with a connection to Vietnam, often as returned GIs (eg Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, who was a "tunnel rat"), but what about crime fiction actually set in Vietnam? I guess Graham Greene's THE QUIET AMERICAN is something of a possibility? Any other suggestions?