Chris Hammer's The Seven wins the ACT Book of the Year for 2024
Hammer says he is a "a panster". He doesn't start with a plot but just an idea and a location and then "writes by the seat of my pants".
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00:00It's a wonderful honour, I think. It's a great shortlist and I imagine all the other entries were of a high level too.
00:08I'm really grateful for the judges. It's difficult awards to judge. I know because I did it one year.
00:14So it's a variety of books and I think it really demonstrates the strength of the writing community
00:22and the talent to be found in the ACT and the surrounding regions.
00:26The Seven is actually my sixth novel. I wrote two non-fiction books as well.
00:32And it's part of a series of crime fiction with a couple of detectives, Ivan Lukits and Nell Buchanan.
00:39It's set not that far from Canberra. It's set in a kind of fictionalised version of the Murrumbidgee irrigation area.
00:48So towns like Griffith and Leeton. And I'm what you'd call a pantser. I don't plot my books. I write by the seat of my pants.
01:00I start with an idea, a location, possibly a crime, and off I go.
01:06And this book, The Seven, is really about the power and privilege of seven powerful families in a rural region not too far from Canberra.
01:17I always liked writing. I tried writing some non-fiction books which I loved but couldn't make a living on.
01:26So I thought I'll try and just make some stuff up. And it was the best decision I ever made I think.
01:34I just love writing books. I've done a book a year now for the last five or six years and I've got no intention of stopping.
01:43It's the most wonderful and privileged way to make a living.