In conversation with Chris Hammer

ANU/CANBERRA TIMES MEET THE AUTHOR

Chris Hammer will be in conversation with Mike Bowers on Chris’s enthralling and compelling new crime novel Silver, which sees journalist Martin Scarsden return in the follow-up to Chris’s bestselling, and critically acclaimed novel, Scrublands.

For half a lifetime, Martin Scarsden has run from his past, He'd vowed never to return to his hometown, Port Silver, and its traumatic memories. But now his new partner, Mandy Blonde, has inherited an old house in the seaside town and Martin knows their chance of a new life together won't come again.

Martin arrives to find his best friend from school days has been brutally murdered, and Mandy is the chief suspect. With the police curiously reluctant to pursue other suspects, Martin goes searching for the killer. And finds the past waiting for him.

Canberra-based, Chris Hammer has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master's degree in international relations from the ANU. Chris was a journalist for more than 30 years. For many years, he was a roving foreign correspondent for SBS TV's flagship current affairs program Dateline. In Canberra, his roles included chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, current affairs correspondent for SBS TV and a senior political journalist for The Age.

Chris’s first book, The River, published in 2010, won the ACT Book of the Year Award. Scrublands, his debut novel, published in 2018, was shortlisted for the ABIA, Indie and NSW Premier’s awards, and is currently shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers Association New Blood Dagger.

Mike Bowers is the Guardian Australia's photographer-at-large, a regular commentator on ABC Radio and host of Talking Pictures on Insiders on ABC1.

The vote of thanks will be given by Sally Pryor, the Features Editor of the Canberra Times.

Pre-event book signings will be available from 5:30pm and again after the event. This event is in association with Harry Hartog Bookshop and books will be available to purchase.