Acclaimed Hunter author Barry Maitland has been announced as the host for Cessnock’s first-ever Newcastle Writers Festival event.

Maitland will host Secret and Lies: An Evening with Michael Robotham at Cessnock Performing Arts Centre on Saturday, April 7, giving the audience an opportunity to be exposed to two fantastic authors.

Robotham’s works include thrillers The Suspect (which sold more than one million copies worldwide) and Life or Death (for which he received the UK's prestigious Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award in 2015).

Maitland wrote the acclaimed crime mystery series Brock and Kolla, the Australian mystery thriller Bright Air and the Belltree trilogy.

Cessnock mayor Bob Pynsent said it was fitting that a Hunter author will be hosting Cessnock’s first Newcastle Writers Festival event.

“Cessnock City Libraries did an exceptional job in securing the partnership with the festival, and it is great to see our region’s profile being lifted again with the inclusion of the Hunter’s very own best-selling crime novelist,” Cr Pynsent said.

Tickets for the author event are available at cessnockperformingartscentre.com.au or by calling the CPAC on 4993 4266.

The full Newcastle Writers Festival program was released on Friday and can be viewed at newcastlewritersfestival.org.au.

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