Last week, acclaimed and award-winning author of the international best-sellers, Scrublands, Silver, Trust and Treasure & Dirt came to Lismore to launch his latest book ‘The Tilt’.

The Lismore App was lucky to get an exclusive interview with Chris Hammer, and to be privy to the announcement that The Lismore Library will be back in the CBD at a new location. More details to come.

Chris told us “I’m lucky as an author currently to be writing full time. So I have been able to release a book each year for the last few years, however, there isn’t a huge amount of money for Australian authors to be able to do this, around $12-15k a year on average, so most are only able to release a book every 2-3 years, around their other jobs.”

“When I wrote this book, I wrote it without a formed plot and plan, I’m what’s known as a ‘Pantser’ author, I write this way which means that I write creatively with flow, but it does mean I often spend a lot of time re-writing parts.”

Image: Chris Hammer, author and Alison Apps from A Place to Call Home Book Club

Everyone who reads The Tilt will have a different favourite character, they are all different and resonate with different people for different reasons. The book is set across 3 timelines and comes from different characters perspectives, which made it a lot more complex to write, than one coming from a single timeline, for example.

Chris has ensured that the plot is rich with twists, turns and ample surprises, meaning that once the reader has grasped and come to terms with the location, times and characters, they are utterly engrossed by the journey, and as Chris puts it “the magic that the reader goes through, becoming a part of the story”. 

Chris has experts profiled each character and described some of the more dark and gruesome aspects, with skill that he feels can be attributed to his extensive work as a political and foreign correspondent journalist, working from many interesting and challenging parts of the globe.

Chris’ book tour will continue through October all the way to Cairns, and his latest book, as well as his previous titles can be purchased from the Book Warehouse in Lismore or borrowed from the Library.