Looking forward to talking with the brilliant Dr Hilary Emmet at the Brisbane Writers Festival on Saturday along with novelists Cate Kennedy and Jon Bauer (free!), also doing a workshop on making new stories out of old ones that morning and on Sunday giving you all my expert advice on How To Get Published… take a look at the program here.

Nicki Greenberg has now made quirky, gorgeous graphic-novel-style versions of two of the best pieces of literature ever : The Great Gatsby, and most recently Hamlet. Come and listen to Nicki and I talk with Rebecca Starford about the process of adaptation at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival. It’s free! 5:30 pm at Feddish, Saturday August 28th. Click here for details.

Next week, Thursday 2nd September, I am thrilled to be talking with the delightful Caroline Baum and novelist Anson Cameron about the representation of the contemporary art world in fiction, as part of the Culture + Ideas series at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation in Paddington (6pm). Click here for info.

BookPage praises the ‘unique intellectual weight’ of The Legacy: “…seamlessly mixes intrigue with the nearly unanswerable questions of a personal narrative. Throughout The Legacy, Julia’s transformation is subtle and poetic, and Ingrid’s death becomes more than just a mystery, a conductor to Julia’s own powerful personal evolution.”

Read the whole review here.

August 10 is official release date for The Legacy in the US. Interviews, conversations, excerpts available at simon & schuster: click here.

My story in The Monthly on the bewildering success of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster is now available to view online. Click here. And subscribe or buy the June issue of the magazine to read my complaints about Sydney rental nightmares.

You can listen to an abridged version of a panel from the Sydney Writers Festival where Colm Toibin and Kirsten discuss Henry James with literary critic Geordie Williamson. Broadcast on The Book Show on ABC Radio 14 June. Click here.

Kirkus Reviews calls The Legacy a “splendid debut”: “Tranter’s writing is as rich and luxurious as heavy, expensive brocade” (July 1).

Nice!

Q&A with Melissa Mia Hall in this week’s Publisher’s Weekly: click here to read.

The Byron Bay Writers Festival Program is now up online – click here to view. I’m running a workshop on Thursday August 5th and participating in other events over the weekend of the festival.