Journo, author to discuss new thriller

AWARD-winning journalist and bestselling author Michael Brissenden will pay a visit to the Ballarat Library next Friday to discuss his new thriller, Dust.

It’s a haunting tale set in the drought-stricken town of Lake Herrod where secrets rise with the heat and nothing is as it seems.

When Aaron Love discovers a fresh corpse near the cracked lakebed, along with evidence his missing father is alive and linked to a web of organised crime, he is thrust into a world of deception, injustice and betrayal.

During next Friday’s free hour-long afternoon session, Brissenden will discuss his writing inspirations and the real-world issues that shape his storytelling.

Brissenden is a writer with plenty of real-life material to draw on as he was a journalist with the ABC for 35 years.

He was posted to Moscow, Brussels and Washington and worked in Canberra for many years in various roles including as a reporter for Four Corners, as the political editor for 7.30, as ABC defence and security correspondent, and presenter of the AM current affairs radio program.

Following the release of Smoke last year, Dust is Brissenden’s fifth novel, while he’s also written non-fiction.

In 2012, his American Stories: Tales of Hope and Anger, was a personal account of a country on edge that chronicled undercurrents of division and anger that surfaced during the first term of the Obama presidency, divisions later exploited to such devastating effect by Donald Trump.

For Friday’s upcoming atrium session at the Ballarat Library, Brissenden will be chatting with Ballarat journalist and writer Della Vreeland, who writes for The Guardian Australia.

He’ll also be joined by Collins Booksellers on Lydiard staff, selling copies of his books.

The 5 September session takes place at 2.30pm with bookings through the Ballarat Libraries website.