ASHLEY Kalagian Blunt will be one of the featured writers at the Mount Beauty Writers Festival on October 7.
Currently living in Sydney and growing up in Canada, she has always had a keen interest in reading and writing.
She kept writing throughout her childhood and while studying in university.
Ashley decided to take writing seriously in her mid-20s when she began to write her first book, ‘My Name Is Revenge’, a novella and collection of essays about the Armenian genocide and its connections to Australia.
The book took her nine years to publish as Ashley found the transition from being a reader to a writer.
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“I did a lot of research, I interviewed 140 people across three continents to write that first book,” she said.
“But what I discovered was even though I was a passionate reader, I didn’t know how to actually write so, becoming a writer is a long process of learning the industry and how to put a story on the page.”
Since then, she has published two more books, ‘How to be Australian’, a memoir about her transition from living in Canada to living in Australia and her latest novel, ‘Dark Mode', which was released this year.
Dark Mode explores the horrifying reality of the dark web as it follows Reagan Carsen, who has kept her life offline with no internet presence until she stumbles across a shocking murder where the victim looks just like her.
As there are more murders, Reagan is drawn out of hiding to confront her greatest fear of being found.
Ashley’s passion for writing thrillers comes from her interest in learning what drives people to commit crime, how crime is investigated and how it affects people's lives and said she enjoyed writing Dark Mode.
“I really wanted to give readers a book that would hook them from the first page and pull them through the story at a fast pace,” she said.
“I love that feeling when a book has its own momentum, Dark Mode was a lot of fun to write.”
Ashley said she is looking forward to being a featured writer at the Mount Beauty Writers Festival as she knows of many of the featured authors and because of her love for small town writers festivals.
“Small town writers festivals are the best writers festivals, there's just this lovely atmosphere and just a great vibe and I know some of the writers on the program, so I know its going to be an interesting day,” she said.
She is also looking forward to exploring regional Victoria while she is here.
“I’m very appreciative for the opportunity to come to a small town I might otherwise never get to and connect with readers,” she said.
“I’ve never been to that part of regional Victoria, so I am very excited.”
For more information on the Mount Beauty Writers Festival visit https://www.mountbeautywritersfestival.com/.
