Nicole Alexander: A few of my favourite things...

The next guest in the ‘A few of my favourite things…’ series is Nicole Alexander. Nicole Alexander is the bestselling author of five Australian Fiction novels; The Bark Cutters, A Changing Land, Absolution Creek, Sunset Ridge and The Great Plains. The Bark Cutters remains the highest selling debut novel in the rural literature genre and was shortlisted for an Australian Book Industry Award in 2011. Absolution Creek & Sunset Ridge were both selected for the ‘50 Books You Can’t Put Down’ Get Reading campaigns, on publication.

Nicole's novels, poetry, travel, writing and genealogy articles have been published in Australia, America, Singapore, New Zealand, Germany & Canada and her novels have been praised for their rich historical detail, much of which is drawn from The Alexander Family Archives. A fourth generation grazier and business manager of her family’s rural holding, Nicole was named the 2012 Barwon Woman of the Year (NSW), for services to literature and for the promotion of outback Australia through her work.

Nicole has a Master of letters in Creative Writing & Literature and has been profiled/appeared in National and International magazines, radio and television programs including; Time International, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ABC Landline and Radio National.

You can follow Nicole on Twitter or Facebook or her blog.

Could you please share with us what is or was your favourite –

Book as a child and as a teenager? Snugglepot & Cuddlepie then it’s a tie between Seven Little Australians and Hemingway’s, The Old Man & the Sea.

Author/authors? Hemingway, Phillipa Gregory, Wilbur Smith… I have eclectic taste in books but ultimately if it sounds intriguing, I’ll read it.

Period of history? I’m fascinated by Australian history, however my most recent novel, The Great Plains, spans both Australia in the 1930s and the wild west of America (the reconstruction period after the Civil War on-) . It’s a fascinating period. Currently I’m researching 1830s Australia so my favourites change which each new world I enter.

Character in one of your own books? Scrubber in Absolution Creek, a strong yet flawed character who ultimately seeks redemption.

Scene you enjoyed writing? My fifth novel, Sunset Ridge was loosely based on my paternal grandfather’s WW1 diary, the scenes in the trenches were particularly dear to me as he passed before I was born and the research undertaken for the book helped understand a little better what he and so many others endured.

Place to write? In my study, with a jug of water and a scented candle.

Step in the process of writing? E.g. researching, drafting, editing etc Love the research, although seeing the manuscript come alive through the writing process is wonderful.

Method of writing i.e. longhand or typing? I’m a big note-taker for not only research material but also jotting down ideas, but when it comes to writing, it’s straight to the keyboard.

TV program /movie? Dare I say it… Game of Thrones.

Comfort food? Red wine. Well, grapes are a food!

Featured book:

The Great Plains by Nicole Alexander

From the American Wild West to the wilds of outback Queensland, from the Civil War to the Depression of the 1930s, The Great Plains is an epic story about two conflicting cultures and one divided family.

It is Dallas 1886, and the Wade Family is going from strength to strength: from a thriving newspaper and retail business in Texas to a sprawling sheep station half a world away in Queensland.

Yet money and power cannot compensate for the tragedy that struck twenty-three years ago, when Joseph Wade was slaughtered and his seven-year-old daughter Philomena abducted by Apache Indians.

Only her uncle, Aloysius, remains convinced that one day Philomena will return. So when news reaches him that the legendary Geronimo has been captured, and a beautiful white woman discovered with him, he believes his prayers have been answered. Little does he know that the seeds of disaster have just been sown.

Over the coming years three generations of Wade men will succumb to an obsession with three generations of mixed-blood Wade women: the courageous Philomena, her hotheaded granddaughter Serena, and her gutsy great-granddaughter Abelena – a young woman destined for freedom in a distant red land. But at what price . . . ?

Nicole Alexander will be appearing at the 2015 HNSA Conference in the following panel:

21 March 2015

 2.15-3.15 pm            Session Five

War-torn Worlds: Historical Fiction in Times of Conflict

Vashti Farrer joins Nicole Alexander, Toni Jordan, Kim Kelly and Sophie Masson in discussing why World Wars I and II inspire their fiction, and the challenge of depicting characters who must either overcome, or succumb to, the turbulence of war.

Here's your chance to sit next to Nicole at the conference dinner on the 21st March. Book your Author Dinner ticket here.

For more information on all our panels, please visit our site for programme details. And you can buy your tickets here.

You can also sign up to the mailing list to be the first to keep up to date with breaking news on the HNSA conference in 2015.  

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Here’s a tweet you might like to use:

Here’s a few favourite things for @authornicole on #HNSA2015 blog @histnovsoc #histfic http://ow.ly/JQzY2

Register now for the #HNSA2015 conference! Let’s make a noise about #historicalfiction http://ow.ly/E9RPZ

And please take a look at our FREE BOOK OFFERS!

The first 30 ticketholders to purchase a ‘Standard’ Whole Conference Ticket will receive a free copy of either The Lace Balcony by Johanna Nicholls, The King’s Shadow by Barbara Gaskell Denvil or The Island House by Posie Graeme-Evans.

All ticket holders will receive a Momentum ebook bundle in celebration of Felicity Pulman’s launch of Unholy Murder.

The first 50 fully paid ticket holders will receive a copy of Sherryl Clark’s new book Do You Dare – Jimmy’s War in celebration of her launch.