Romantic weekend a hit

Dozens of avid readers sat down with a copy of short-story anthology Rocky Romance at the weekend, after the book's successful launch as part of the inaugural Rockingham Writers Centre Book Fair.

Centre convenor Mike Murphy said local contributors were delighted with the interest in the collection of short romance stories, which were all set in Rockingham.

Mr Murphy said novels from writers Claire Boston and Shona Husk also sold very well at the weekend-long event at Rockingham Arts Centre.

Mr Murphy said author talks from writers including Anna Jacobs, children's writer Teena Raffa-Mulligan, biographer Dianne Johnson and historical romance writer Beryl Cloverdale were also well received.

"We sold thousands of dollars worth of books over the weekend, which was much better than anyone expected," he said.

"Rocky Romance was definitely the biggest single seller - in some cases, people were buying two or three copies to put away for Christmas."

Himself a contributor to Rocky Romance, Mr Murphy said his story told the tale of two people who meet in their senior years.

He said the story examined whether the different baggage they each brought to the relationship really got in the way.

For those who missed out, Rocky Romance is available at Rockingham Books at Rockingham Shopping Centre.