Kimberley Writers’ Festival
September 2018
After appearing at the Melbourne Writers Festival in 2014 and Bendigo Writers Festival in 2015, I was thrilled to be included in the Kimberley Writers Festival. What an amazing festival it was! Friendly, fun and intimate, it was held in locations from the Kununurra Community Library to a cruise on the Ord River and featured a diverse range of authors; comics writer Shane McCarthy, rur rom (that’s rural romance) bestseller Fiona Palmer, entertaining professional story teller Glenn B Swift, Indonesian mega-selling writer Ahmad Fuadi and bush tukkka woman Samm Martin. Samm, who is in Women of Spirit and now a friend, and I spoke on local radio before the festival and appeared in a session together. The KWF was hosted by the wonderful ladies of the Kununurra Community Library, headed by dynamic duo Jo Roach and Emma Day.
Gippy Grown
August 2018
A proud moment as I discovered by chance that my local library in Wonthaggi has claimed me as their own! I’ve spoken at the library and also the one at Cowes on Phillip Island, always enjoyable times and a chance to meet and reunite with locals.
June 2018
A film option for Forged with Flames is signed! This doesn’t automatically mean it will be made into a film but fingers crossed…
September 2017
What fun! An impromptu encounter and book signing as a friend and I met the lovely ladies, Bronwyn (centre, owner) and Bri, who run Red Kangaroo Books in Alice Springs.
February 2015
Ralf, about the adorable Giant Schnauzer,came out. Ralf was already famous for his therapy dog work with owner Caroline Lovick at the Royal Children’s Hospital, where he brought joy and relief to hundreds of children and their parents as he padded the wards on his rounds each week. Ralf appeared on ABC News Breakfast after the book was launched, picked up around the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D1RubfvBU8 All royalties go to the Royal Children’s Hospital and Lort Smith animal hospital.
Women of Spirit
Women of Spirit, which was published in May 2014 and involved several wonderful outback road trips, is doing well.
‘A real page-turner’
Outback magazine
‘Women of Spirit is a testament to women who have endured personal trials, illnesses, and the extremes of Australia’s climate and landscape to do what they do. Crawford tells their stories with a sensitive touch, weaving the stories so that readers have an opportunity to know what shapes each woman, as well as what it is she has achieved.
An inspiring read.’
Aussie Reviews
‘The book will make you laugh and, perhaps, bring a tear but leave you with the greatest admiration for these country women.’
The Weekly Times
Great Australian Horse Stories
Great Australian Horse Stories was launched amid much goodwill at Helen Packer’s glorious property at Anglers Rest, in the Victorian High Country on November 10th, 2013. About 70 people came, two of them former drovers living in the Northern Territory and Queensland. Guests nibbled on home-made Angus beef sausage rolls, freshly baked bread delivered with a floral arrangement in a wheelbarrow, enjoyed some traditional fiddle tunes played by Tom Fitzgerald (otherwise a renowned composer) and Banjo Paterson’s Geebung Polo Club poem read by Dave Olsson, one of the Geebung players.
Forged with Flames
Forged with Flames was launched on February 16th, 2013 in the packed Narre Community Learning Centre to many speeches and the presentation of a framed Cliff Richard record by the CFA crew who helped save Ann Fogarty, co-author, during the Ash Wednesday bushfires. Ann departed the launch in a stretch limo to meet Sir Cliff, her idol as a teenager, who happened to be performing in Melbourne at the time.
Wirth the Wait
Doctor Hugh: My Life with Animals was launched on October 3rd, 2012 at My Bookshop by Corrie Perkin in Hawksburn, the culmination of two years work. ABC presenter and comedienne Libbi Gorr acted as MC (and pizza waitress), and Allen & Unwin publisher Tracy O’Shaughnessy spoke, as did the co-authors, in what was an all-round wonderful event.
