Jesse Blackadder: Sixty Seconds

Award-winning Australian author Jesse Blackadder says if her new novel helps raise awareness of the risks of children drowning that will be a bonus. She speaks to Kathryn Ryan about her new novel Sixty Seconds, which is based on her two year old sister Lucie's death by drowning in the family swimming pool. Sixty Seconds is centered on a tragedy, but ultimately Jesse says it's a novel about hope and resilience. Jesse is an award winning historical novelist, with books including The Raven's Heart, about Mary Queen of Scots, based on the non-fictional Elizabethan Blackadder family (her own ancestors in fact), and Chasing the Light, about Ingrid Christensen, the first woman to arrive in Antarctica. Jesse Blackadder is a guest of the Auckland Writers Festival, which runs 15-20 May. She is also running a writing retreat from 11-14 May 2018 in Nelson.