Book launches are the best fun! After months, and sometimes years of writing, re-writing, editing and refining your story, there it is with its beautiful cover on the bookshop shelf.

That’s when around 60 of your friends and family gather to help you celebrate too! What a great excuse for a party. My launch for Charlie and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper was on Friday evening at Black Cat Books and Cafe, Paddington, Brisbane. What a great place to have a launch! If you ever go there, check out the beautiful back decks that lead down a terraced hill under the Jacaranda trees.

It was a privilege to have award-winning author, Michael Bauer on hand as guest speaker to help launch Charlie and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper. Michael is a man of wit, charm, good humour and a fellow-traveller in the magical mine-field world of being an author. I’m pleased to call him friend.

In his speech, Michael brought up the topic of how he’d never been involved in a protest rally until he met me. And recounted the stirring day of our protest rally I’d organised here in Brisbane, out the front of the city Dymocks store in last year’s battle against lifting the Restrictions against Parallel Importation of Books. Michaelproved to be  the perfect person to have at your side in those moments – calm, clear-thinking and an award-winning, established Australian author. He was also at my side when we lobbied local Federal politicians in their offices.

Michael’s hilarious descriptions had the book launch audience in fits of laughter. And his lovely words and his warmth towards me and about my writing, and the new book were most appreciated.

It was also great to have family, friends from all walks of my life, including many of my friends from the world of writing at the launch. I’ll let these pictures do the talking.
Sheryl