About the Event
Join us for a fabulous day of all things Crime, from cosy crime to contemporary thriller with panel discussions and a session on Forensics 101.
What to Expect:
9.30am: Coffee and Danish
10.00am: Cosy crime with Kate Emery and Alexander Thorpe
12noon: Forensics 101 with the Australian Stem Project (including a Fingerprint workshop) - Light lunch served
2.00pm: Contemporary crime with Karen Herbert and David Whish-Wilson
Ticket prices:
- Day Ticket: All three events $10.00 (non-refundable) Book Now!
- Individual events: $5.00 each (non-refundable)
Authors & Presenter
Kate Emery
Kate Emery is a Perth-based author and journalist. Her urban fantasy book The Not So Chosen One, was shortlisted for the Text Prize and the Aurealis Award, and her cosy crime novel My Family and Other Suspects, won the 2025 Indie Book Award for YA and the John Marsden Book of the Year for Older Children at the 2025 ABIA awards. Kate’s new murder mystery A Murder is Going Down is out in November and features a lot of people getting stuck in lifts.
Karen Herbert
Karen Herbert is the author of the crime novels The River Mouth, The Castaways of Harewood Hall, and Vertigo, all published through Fremantle Press. The River Mouth is currently under option for film and television. Karen has been a writer in residence at Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre and All Saints College in Perth and is the convenor of the long-running Book Length Project Group at the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA.
Karen holds a Master of Science in Applied Psychology, is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Deputy Chair of Writing WA and a Board Member of The Literature Centre. Her fourth book, The Ghost Walk, will be released in August 2025.
Lilijana Nicholls
Lilijana holds a Masters in Forensic Biology and is pursuing her PhD at Murdoch University. As a member of the Ministerial Youth Advisory Council and student representative of the ANZFSS, she actively contributes to youth and science policy. Passionate about science communication, Lilijana has led STEM outreach initiatives, environmental campaigns, and mentorship programs to inspire the next generation of scientists into STEM careers. Lilijana has also presented a TEDx talk on her educational journey, inspiring people to discover their passions and not allow others to “put them in a box”.
Alexander Thorpe
Alexander Thorpe is pretty bad at crime (he’s never managed to commit a good one) but not all that bad at crime writing. He is the author of historical murder mysteries Death Leaves the Station and Death Holds the Key, both published by Fremantle Press, and his first non-fiction story recently appeared in the Night Parrot Press anthology Ourselves. Born in WA on Whadjuk Noongar country, he has also lived and worked in Mexico, China and the republic of Georgia. Death Holds the Key was shortlisted for Fiction Book of the Year in the 2025 Premier’s Book Awards.
David Whish-Wilson
David Whish-Wilson is the author of eleven novels and three creative non-fiction books. He was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, but raised in Singapore, Victoria and Western Australia. At eighteen, he left Australia to live for a decade in Europe, Africa and Asia, where he worked as a barman, actor, street seller, petty criminal, labourer, exterminator, factory worker, gardener, clerk, travel agent, teacher and drug trial guinea pig.
David is the author of four novels in the Frank Swann crime series and two in the Lee Southern series, two of which have been shortlisted for Ned Kelly Awards. David wrote the Perth book in the New South Books city series, which was shortlisted for a Western Australian Premier’s Book Award. His latest novel Cutler has been shortlisted for the 2025 Premier’s Book Award for Fiction Book of the Year.
He currently lives in Fremantle, Western Australia, with his partner and three kids, and teaches creative writing at Curtin University.
Spaces are limited. Bookings essential.
