Port Macquarie-based author Hayley Lawrence will host a Q and A about writing her first book Inside The Tiger on Saturday September 8.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The event is at BookFace from 2pm.
The manuscript was a finalist for The Australian's Vogel Prize and was later contracted by Penguin Random House.
Inside The Tiger is being released into bookstores on September 3.
Before family life Ms Lawrence was a lawyer.
When she was 24-years-old she wrote to a Nigerian drug smuggler who was on death row in a Thai prison. The correspondence lasted five years.
Ms Lawrence said the prison was Bang Kwang Central Prison, nicknamed Big Tiger because it is notoriously known for its harsh conditions on the prisoners who reside there.
When she started writing to the prisoner she said she had a naive attitude.
“I thought if no one else is going to write I can,” she said.
“I don’t think I realised what I was getting into.”
I don’t think I realised what I was getting into.
- Hayley Lawrence
Eventually the pair met and her experiences are the basis for the book.
Inside the Tiger is a young adult story about a girl from an elite boarding school who writes to a death row prisoner in Thailand and falls for him, destroying them both.
The novel delves into questions about the death penalty and the nature of punitive justice.
“It explores the idea of mercy and whether it is something which should be earned or whether it's a basic human right,” Ms Lawrence said.
The author says she is fortunate to secure Penguin Random House as the publisher.
“I’ve been working with an editor there for a few years and being nominated for The Vogel Prize and securing a couple of fellowships has also helped things along," she said.
Ms Lawrence praised the Port Macquarie community for its strong support, especially BookFace and the local library.
On August 22, Ms Lawrence will give a talk about writing at Port Macquarie Library in a Soup and Stories session at 6pm.