Gearing up for the HNSA inaugural conference in just one week’s time! Here are the sessions where I’ll be appearing(from HNSA program).

20 March 6.00 pm  GUEST SPEAKER – COCKTAILS AND DEBATE

The conference opens with cocktails on Friday 20th March at the State Library of NSW where Sophie Masson is our guest speaker. Felicity Pulman will also launch her new book, Unholy Murder, before a lively round table discussion with Kelly Gardiner (Chair), Deborah Challinor, Jesse Blackadder, Rachel Le Rossignol and Gillian Polack as they ponder the question: ‘What can historical novelists and historians learn from each other?’

21 March 12.15-1.15 pm  Session Four
Can Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Compete with Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies?
In a world where the Twilight and Hunger Games series dominate the CYA shelves, how can historical novelists capture young readers’ imaginations? Sophie Masson explores the issue with Belinda Murrell, Sherryl Clark, Pamela Rushby and Goldie Alexander. 

21 March 2.15-3.15 pm    Session Five
War-torn Worlds: Historical Fiction in Times of Conflict
Vashti Farrer joins Nicole Alexander, Toni Jordan, Kim Kelly and Sophie Masson in discussing why World Wars I and II inspire their fiction, and the challenge of depicting characters who must either overcome, or succumb to, the turbulence of war.
For more information on all the Conference panels, please visit the HNSA site for program details. And you can buy your tickets here.