Breaking out her writing instincts: Tess Gerritsen

Last month, bestselling international crime writer Tess Gerritsen visited New Zealand, attending events at the Women's Bookshop (pictured right), the Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference, and "Setting the Stage for Murder" (the Ngaio Marsh Award event). It was great to meet Tess, who came across as a very down-to-earth, intelligent, interesting, and fun person.

Prior to her visit, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tess for an article in the Weekend Herald, New Zealand's biggest-circulation newspaper. This morning, that article was finally put online - so all of you, wherever you are in the world, can now read it.

Breaking out her writing instincts
Doctor-turned-suspense novelist Tess Gerritsen talks to Craig Sisterson about embracing her heritage and seeing her heroines come alive onscreen.

After 22 successful novels, ranging from romantic suspense to New York Times best-selling medical and crime thrillers, Tess Gerritsen says she realised it had become time to truly embrace her own ethnicity in her work.

While she has drawn on some of her experiences as a physician in her previous books, which have sold more than 20 million copies, it wasn't until The Silent Girl, just released in New Zealand, that she strongly incorporated another important part of herself - her Chinese-American heritage.

"With my mother's health fading, I thought it was time to explore who I am and where I come from," she says. "If not now, then when?"

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ONLINE AT THE NZ HERALD WEBSITE HERE.

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