SHELLEY BURR’S debut, WAKE, exploded onto the crime fiction scene winning the CWA 2019 Debut Dagger Award . We caught up with the author on the eve of the release of her highly anticipated new book, RIPPER.
Street name where you grew up and favourite memories there?
Pennylan Street. We had a twin-trunked jacaranda tree, the perfect size to press your back against one trunk, feet against the other, and sit in it like a hammock.
What was your first pet and its name?
A very cranky brown tabby cat named Tiger.
What was your first job?
I worked at a relative’s outdoor wedding venue, filling baskets with rose petals for guests to throw instead of confetti.
How has your work life changed since you published your debut, Wake?
For the time being, I’m a full-time writer. I had a job I really loved when Wake was published, working in the public service in environmental policy. That job was lovely and supportive, with the flexibility I needed to take an hour off here and there to do an interview, record a podcast, or take a few days off when edits were due. But the juggling got too much.
Another passion that you have apart from writing?
I’m (very slowly) working my way through an Agriculture course at the University of New England, with a focus on soil science. I’m passionate about preventing and reversing topsoil loss, which is a global issue that needs more attention.
We have a little block of land, where we are working on growing vegetables, fruit and nut trees. We have a pair of goats, who distract me from writing whenever they can, as well as flocks of chickens and quails.
Read a review of Wake by Shelley Burr
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shelley Burr grew up on Newcastle’s beaches and her grandparents’ property in Glenrowan, and on the road between the two. When not writing, Shelley is working to establish a small permaculture farm and is studying agriculture at the University of New England, with a focus on soil science. She is an alumnus of the ACT Writers’ Hardcopy program (2018) and a Varuna fellow.
WAKE was a Top Five bestseller, won the CWA Debut Dagger Award in 2019, was shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards Debut Novel Award, the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award and the Bath Novel Award. Shelley also won the ABIA’s 2023 Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year for WAKE.
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