Body in the Garden Festival Announces Full Program, Now thru 10/27

The full program for The Body in the Garden, Australia's first crime and garden writers festival, was announced today. The program is available on the festival's website thebodyinthegarden.com.au.

The organisers of the festival, Penelope Curtin and Rose Wight, OAM, today explained that the programming for the festival had been relatively straightforward, with the differences between the two genres not as marked as might have been expected.

'Surprisingly', said Ms Curtin, 'there are many theme crossovers in crime and gardening, the most obvious being that compost is dead matter, which made programming fun and at times challenging'.

Ms Wight noted that the crossover sessions accentuated the quirky nature of the festival. 'Take, for example, the session On edge', she said. 'Here we have two garden writers (Damon Young and Myles Baldwin) and two crime writers (Håkan Nesser and Barry Maitland) discussing whether we confront our modern world on the city streets, or retreat to safety and security in our gardens? '

In another crossover session, Dark earth, Michael Robotham, Shane Maloney, Trisha Dixon and Holly Kerr Forsyth debate the various national clichés and stereotypes underpinning the idea of 'the spirit of place' - in terms of gardens and crimes. And, in an all-female panel, five writers consider what motivates them to choose women as the focus of their writing - The female of the species: is she more dangerous (Ann Cleeves, Trisha Dixon, Holly Kerr Forsyth, Gabrielle Lord and Poppy Gee).

Over the weekend twenty-five sessions, all free to the public, will be held in the Adelaide Botanic Garden. Some of the panel sessions are devoted entirely to crime and others entirely to garden topics. In The philosophy of mud, Toby Musgrave, Charles Elliott, Trevor Nottle and Damon Young discuss whether there is a philosophy underpinning gardens and gardening, while in Seven deadly sins, Derek Pedley, Ann Cleeves, Rebecca James and Barry Maitland discuss what motivates their protagonists to commit crimes.

The audience will also have a chance to hear their favourite writers - and those new to them - discuss their work in solo sessions. Among those featured in solos are the four international writers, Ann Cleeves (UK), Toby Musgrave (UK), Charles Elliott (UK) and Håken Nesser (Sweden), and Australians Shane Maloney, Michael Robotham, Tony Cavanaugh, Gabrielle Lord, Richard Aitken, Myles Baldwin and Barry Maitland.

Audiences will also be able to hear noted Australian garden designer Paul Bangay in conversation with Michael Keelan, while those with burning garden questions have a chance to put them to Fabian Capomolla, Angus Stewart and Trevor Nottle at the Q&A chaired by Adelaide identity Amanda Blair.

South Australian poets Miriel Lenore and Kate Llewellyn will offer some lyrical insights into gardens when they read from their poetry on Sunday.

The opening event of the festival will be held in Elder Hall tonight 25 October at 7.30 pm. Entitled Burying the dead: compost or a crime?, this session will showcase the festival's international guests. Tickets for this session available from BASS.

Printed programs will be available from selected outlets and bookshops from the beginning of October although the full program is now available online at www.thebodyinthegarden.com.au

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