Anna Campbell: Literati Was Lovely!

by Anna Campbell

One of the really fun parts of being a writer is getting out and about to meet readers and other writers. On the weekend of the 17th and 18th May, I headed a couple of hours south to the Literati Festival which is put on every year by the wonderful folk at Gold Coast Libraries.


In 2013, there was a huge romance presence at Literati which was held at the brand new Upper Coomera Library. Apart from me, we had queen of romantic suspense Helene Young, New York Times Bestseller Keri Arthur, and author of clever, funny contemporary women's fiction Lisa Walker. There were 14 authors altogether, including thriller writer L.A. Larkin and Y.A. writer Paula Weston.

I was invited to take part in two panels. The first was called A Recipe for Romance and was designed for people writing romance (or at least contemplating it!).  Here's a photo of me with the moderator Louise Pieper of Gold Coast Libraries and Helene Young who looks elegant as always! We had a small but very enthusiastic group of participants, including Destiny author Jennifer St. George who added the perspective of someone published in category romance. There's a photo of Helene and me with Jen below the dawn shot.

The kind folk at Literati had put all the authors up at the very swish Watermark Hotel in roadwork-plagued Surfers Paradise and we all congregated there for a wonderful dinner. It was lovely to have a chance to catch up with everyone in such an informal setting - although my attention focused mostly on the spectacular dessert buffet!

Slightly the worse for wear, I was up early the next morning and managed to walk the couple of blocks to the beach. Isn't this shot of dawn at Surfers Paradise gorgeous? It was a perfect, although chilly day to come.

Following a very giggly breakfast with two lovely people I don't see nearly enough of, Keri Arthur and Helene Young, we all trundled off for the 9am panel at Upper Coomera Library. To my surprise at such an hour on such a cold morning, we had a room full of people there to hear about the Course of True Love.

Moderator Louise Pieper ran a really fun session with me, Helene, Keri and Australian women's fiction author Lisa Walker whose books include the wonderfully named LIAR BIRD. This panel was mainly designed for readers, so we covered things like our writing journey, our daily lives, and where we get our inspiration.

My last photo is from this panel. From left to right, Keri Arthur, Anna Campbell, Helene Young and Lisa Walker. Don't we all look jolly?

As you can probably tell from the photos, Literati was huge fun. I think it's such a great thing that Gold Coast Libraries make such events available to their locals - not to mention everything was free!

So have you ever met one of your favorite authors? If so, please tell us about what happened. If not, who would you like to meet? And why?

Home - Helene Young

The word hums in my mind like a familiar hug. Once I’m on the highway heading out of Cairns, I feel the tension drain from my shoulders. Twenty minutes and I’ll be home. Bliss!

Maybe because of this strong homebody gene the settings for my stories are very important. I need to know the environment where my hero and heroine live. I need to see clearly where the action takes place and, once I do that, the landscape muscles in to become a character in its own right.


Wings of Fear (Border Watch in its first edition) and Shattered Sky are both set in North Queensland, Australia where I live. It’s a beautiful, exotic part of the world where things are a little different. We call one hundred millimeters (or four inches) of rain in an hour a summer shower and wave our umbrellas in flippant disdain. Humidity sits above ninety percent for a large portion of summer. We almost take for granted the stunning beauty of the Great Barrier Reef and the ancient life of the Daintree Rainforest. The wonderful rich reds of towering gingers, the bright orange of heliconias, and the dark green of the native trees provide dramatic color.

Every day when I fly, I look down on the gorgeous deep blue of the Coral Sea and marvel at the Great Dividing Range as it stretches its ridgelines down to the pristine sands of the coast.

We have some interesting wildlife - prehistoric crocodiles and agile kangaroos, curlews and stingrays, snakes and frogs. It’s all good material for a vibrant backdrop for Romantic Suspense.

Right now, sitting at my table typing this, I’m being bombarded with a dozen different birdsongs after this morning’s heavy rain. Sunbirds are washing themselves outside my window and there’s a slightly confused frog giving out its mating call (that should only happen after dark… perhaps he didn’t get lucky last night…)

Later, as the sun edges the hills behind in brilliant gold, the crickets will sing in a rolling wave of sound before the silence of the night settles down around us. I’ll curl up on my couch with my laptop and set about creating the perfect home for my new heroine, Kaitlyn, weaving some of what’s around me into her private sanctuary.

What do you love most about where you live? Is it your wonderful neighbors or perhaps it’s the frantic pace of a busy city apartment? I’d love to hear what you look forward to most when you come home at the end of the day.

As a young child Helene thought everyone read books and invented stories. Starting school and discovering this was not the case for most children was a bit of a shock. However, she did soon discovered that English was her favorite subject and Enid Blyton her favorite author.


While she’s moved on from the Five Find-Outers and Dog, but she hasn’t lost her love of suspense and intrigue. It was partly that passion for all things adventurous that saw her take to the air as a pilot in 1989. Twenty-two years later she’s now a senior Check and Training Captain with Australia’s largest regional airline.

Her second novel Shattered Sky was released in Australia on the 1st February 2011.