SET TO INSPIRE

Book one up for Boonah. The farming town with its wineries and bed-and-breakfast tourism industry, comfortably nestled within the Scenic Rim, is adding another string to its bow this month – its inaugural Boonah Writers Festival, which will run April 29-30. Doctor-turnedwriter Nick Earls headlines the event, injecting a healthy dose of humour into the keynote address he’ll give at the writers’ dinner on the Saturday night.

Earls has written 26 books. Writing is something he always wanted to do but when he left school he accepted the overwhelming reality that few can walk straight into being an author and make a living, so he studied medicine and did the huge hours demanded of a young doctor in the hospital system before going into parttime practice as a GP. That gave him time to hit the keyboard. The result is all those books, including five for young adults, some awards in Australia and the UK, five books adapted for stage plays and two books – 48 Shades of Brown, and Perfect Skin – being turned into feature films. Other authors include romance writer Amy Andrews, Brisbane author Mary-Rose MacColl, dark fantasy and horror writer Angela Slatter, playwright Nigel MunroWallis, and children’s author and illustrator Angela Sunde. boonahculturalfoundation.com