Cairo by Chris Womersley Q&A: 23 March, 2017

"The warmth of Womersley’s writing allows for such interplay between fiction and reality: real-world references do not feel contrived; rather, they’re satisfying and authentic, bringing the reader in closer to Tom’s close-knit cohort. Cairo is smart, thrilling and extremely well written – a fantastic read." – Alan Vaarwerk

Chris Womersley is the author of the novels Cairo, Bereft and The low road, as well as numerous short stories and occasional reviews and essays. Cairo was long-listed for the Dublin/IMPAC Award. Bereft won the Indie Award for Best Fiction, the ABIA Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and The Gold Dagger Award for International Crime Fiction. The low road won the Ned Kelly Award. His fourth novel, City of crows, will be published in September 2017. Chris lives in Melbourne.

Chris will join us for a Q&A on Thursday, 23 March between 8 and 9pm. Please leave any questions you have below. (And discuss his writing at your leisure!)

Want to buy Cairo? Receive 10% off when purchasing it from Readings at State Library Victoria. To receive the discount online, enter the promo code BOOKCLUB in the promo code box during online checkout. To receive the discount at our State Library bookshop, simply mention the Thursday night book club at the counter.

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Hi Chris,

One of the real highlights of Cairo for me was just how tight the plotting was—details that seem like nice character building moments become great plot points way down the track. I distinctly remember thinking "Oh that was clever..." a few times as I approached the end of the book.

How did you go about laying out your plot and working in those points? How detailed was your planning (assuming you planned it at all)?

Hi Cory. Thanks for thinking I'm clever! The truth is that I'm a terrible plotter and often it's a matter of retro-fitting scenes and chapters to accord with the rising action of the narrative. I usually have a loose idea of the arc of the narrative but make the specifics up as I go along. Which is a shame because I suspect it would be much easier to plot in advance...