Saddleworth’s annual book event is back with a bang
South Australian writers are celebrating their romantic and criminal craft in the Mid North town of Saddleworth this August.
Four years on from its first appearance at the Clare Show market, Saddleworth’s 2025 annual book event will assemble authors and readers in the region around the theme “Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang!”
Event organiser and author Portia Stanton-Noble says the focus is on the romance and crime genres because of how the two intertwine and life each other.
This year’s event lineup includes 16 authors of children’s and adult fiction, exclusive presentations about their writing process, book signings, a coffee van, local artist stalls including gin from Fiction Distilling, and entertainment by opera singer Jamie Moffat.
Previous versions of the event have included sessions with publishers and poetry workshops, but Portia says the writing and readership of South Australian independent writers has always been the event’s promotional focus.
“A lot of times there aren’t enough events for them [South Australians], and I’m one of these people as well,” Portia says.
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“I just think it’s a forum for that, and for people to connect to authors that they don’t normally have a chance to connect to.
“That’s why I like the author community. We are very generous with our tips and ideas and we help each other out. It’s just another opportunity for us to do that, and to help people that are thinking about writing a book.”
Author of 25 years and historical romance specialist, Elizabeth Rolls is one of the headlining authors who’ll deliver a talk on the craft of building characters for the event.
Elizabeth is a Mills and Boons author known for titles His Lady Mistress, The Chivalrous Rake and the Lords at the Altar series.
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She tells CityMag the most important character is the one that gets in the way.
“You haven’t got any sort of plot unless you have an antagonist,” Elizabeth says.
“They have to have something that is impeding their progress of their relationship or the safety of their relationship or their safety period, which is why crime and romance, and the romantic suspense genre work so well.”
Elizabeth says inspiring more South Australian readers to pick up local works after the event is, of course, another goal of the event that spotlights stories created at home.
“That’s an important thing, we ought to be supporting our own writers and encouraging readers from our communities,” she says.
Ultimately, the event hopes to nurture a love of writing and reading within regional communities.
“I hope they’ll come away with the perspective that writing is hard work but it’s also fun,” Elizabeth says.
But it’s not all love and war. Beyond the Mills and Boon, the event is family friendly with plenty of children’s authors on the lineup, including Cristy Fopp, Lee Speed, Rosanna Hawke and Jordan Hawkey.
“There’s something for the adults, but we need to have children’s books as well,” Portia says.
“I think it’s important for kids to be reading from an early age and enjoying books and learning from them.”
The 2025 Saddleworth Book Event Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang will be held August 2 from 10am ’til 3pm at the Saddleworth Institute on Burra Road. Tickets are $5 and free for children under 12.
