Trudi Canavan

Today I headed into the city to the funky studio of 3CR Community Radio where Jan Goldsmith interviewed me live for her show ‘Published or Not’.

I had a fabulous time talking with her about The Magician’s Apprentice and the world I created for The Black Magician Trilogy, and about writing. Jan picked up so many themes and details from the book beyond the simple story, and I think we could have easily talked for a full hour.

Being a live interview, there were plenty of butterflies before the show, but once we got into the swing of things I felt much more relaxed!

I got to sleep in a little on Thursday morning, then spent some time gazing at the view. Which mean I managed to catch a fairly rare occurrence: the opening of the Pyrmont Bridge. 

It was opened to allow the floating stage at the left of this photo to pass through. Not long after I walked across the bridge (closed again) to get a bite to eat, do a bit of shopping and visit the Orbit office. 

Then Amy, the Syndey accounts manager, and I headed off for an afternoon of bookshop visits. First stop was Infinitas Books in Paramatta:

Then on to Dymocks Penrith, and the lovely Lizzie:

And a well attended signing at Gaslight Books, where I had some great conversations with fans, thanks to Mark:

And finally we popped into Kinokuniya where Helene helped me sign a nice big pile of books. 

So there are now signed copies in all these shops for Sydneysiders who might fancy one. 

On Wednesday I flew to Syndey, where Nicola met me at the airport. I’d told her on Monday that I’ve aways wanted to be greeted on arrival at an airport by someone holding up a sign with my name on it, and she obliged. 

I’ve had a busy week touring in Canberra and Sydney, and there are going to be a few new posts appearing here over the next few days as I catch up on reporting. 

The big news I’ve been waiting for the right moment to post about is that I’m going to be a Guest of Honour at Contact: Swancon 2009, a convention running over the coming Easter weekend in Perth.

I’ll be doing the full range of guesty duties, including signings, speaking on panels, a guest speech/presentation, participating in ceremonies, partying at the Masquerade and more! You can buy a pass for the day, or come join us for the whole convention. For more information check out the Contact website linked above.  

Next week I’m heading north to Canberra and then Sydney, for more bookstore visits and bookseller dinners – and two signings. I don’t yet have a full confirmed list of bookshops I’ll be visiting to sign stock, but it does include Dymocks in Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Sydney. But I do have times for the signings:

5-6pm Tuesday 3rd March
Gaslight Books
Unit 10, 83 Wollongong Street
Fyshwick, ACT 2609

and

5:30pm Thursday 5th March
Galaxy Bookshop
143 York Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

So come along and get your books signed. If you can’t make it, I’ll be posting about the bookshop visits and letting you know where you can pick up signed copies.

What a week! I’m all worn out! First there was the bookseller dinner, then the Summer Reading panel, then signing books at Dymocks Southland, and today a journalist is coming to interview me.

First: the Summer Reading panel. Since the library is just down the road from me I had invited the other panelists over for dinner, but poor Adam got caught in traffic and had to go direct to the library. That was okay - I invited him and Jack back to our place afterwards and made sure he had a late dinner.

The panel went well. We talked about how we came to be writing and how our careers unfolded, then of our stories in the Dreaming Again anthology, and finished by answering some great questions from a very patient and attentive audience. Myself and my fellow authors were very happy with how it went and we’ve received some enthusiastic feedback.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos as I hadn’t arranged a camera buddy for the event. But I do for the signing at Southland. How could I not record this wonderful window display?

The lovely staff at Dymocks set me up at the front of the shop and made sure I was comfortable.

And then a steady stream of customers and fan came by to have their books signed. Enough that I was busy most of the hour, but not so many that I couldn’t take the time to write something and to chat. Two customers saw me there and decided to give my books a try – one even bought my entire seven books!

A few friends who live nearby dropped in, too. During one of the breaks Emily asked if I’d sign anything. I said anything except a cheque, then jokingly lamented that I’d never been asked to sign a boob. Her eyes lit up. “Sign mine! Sign mine!” she pleaded. So here it is: 

At the end of the session I signed lots os stock, then we dragged Chuck McKenzie, the store manager, out for a photo.

So thank you to Chuck, everyone at Dymocks Southland, and all the people who came to have their books signed. And to those who left comments that they hadn’t arrived in time - sorry to have missed you but thanks for making the effort to come!

There are lots of signed copies in the store now, for anyone who wants to grab one. The store owner told me that they usually sell pretty fast, too.