On Friday I appeared in a panel session at the 2012 CBCA conference in Adelaide. My fellow panelists were Rosanne Hawke whose new YA novel Wolf Mountain was launched at the conference by Ruth Starke. Ruth was another panelist along with Sally Heinrich. Rosanne’s novel is set in Pakistan and looks to be a great read.

One of the highlights of my stay in Adelaide was a dinner with my Penguin Publishing Director Laura Harris, author Penny Matthews, Penguin Marketing Manager Tye Cattanach and the wonderful and very funny Eion Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series. Eion is on tour in Australia from Ireland. It was an evening filled with much laughter. Those who heard Eion speak at the conference the following day were treated to a wonderfully humorous session.

‘Do Irish have a funny gene?’ I asked Eion over dinner. I was thinking about my niece’s Irish husband, Denis who always makes me laugh.

‘Humour is cultivated in Ireland’, he replied. At the dinner table he and his four brothers would spar with their wit, each trying to outdo the other by being the smartest and funniest. And if they were in trouble with their parents, they would be let off if they made a funny remark.

My next festival will be the Abbotsleigh Literary Festival on August 15th and 16th.