Once arrested fleeing from the site of a crime, Lenny Bartulin was scared straight. Tasmanian police put the hard word on Bartulin and his mates who tried to deny their public urination but were given away by the wet patch on his mate’s crotch. Maybe it prevented a life of crime (or any future street toileting) but it hasn’t stopped Bartulin producing some compelling crime fiction. Having shared their crimes with the packed out Ferros tent at the 2013 Byron Bay Writers’ Festival, it’s doubtful that any of the panellists pull from personal misdeeds to inform their work. Marele Day once dabbled in shoplifting. Holidaying in Italy, she couldn’t find anyone to pay for the hairbrush she’d picked out. “I figured if I walked out the the shop than someone would try to stop me and then I’d know who to pay,” said Day. No one stopped her and she still has the hairbrush. The audience was in hysterics as the mild-mannered Day recounted her story. She presented the perfect persona to cover a devilish …![]()
