Derek Pedley was a young newspaper journalist in the 1990s when bank robber Brenden Abbott became well known throughout Australia as escaped prisoner ‘The Postcard Bandit’. One capture, break out and recapture later, Derek gained exclusive access to Abbott and wrote an account of his story. Now, 20 years later – with Abbott still in prison – a Warner Brothers documentary and six-part drama series have put the story back into the spotlight, and Derek has released an updated version of his book, The Postcard Bandit. In this episode, Derek shares the timeline and why it made sense to update the story now.
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Links mentioned in this episode
- WIN Iluka by Cassie Stroud
- Buy So You Want to be a Writer – the book!
- Facebook group for So You Want to be a Writer
Writer in residence: Derek Pedley
Derek Pedley is a journalist with 30 years' experience at The West Australian in Perth and The Advertiser in Adelaide, where he works as a news editor. He is also the author of three true-crime books.
Pedley's career began early, writing football reports for his hometown Manjimup newspaper as a teenager before being recruited by The West Australian at 17. He went on to win the SA Young Journalist of the Year award in 1996 for his crime reporting at The Advertiser.
His best-known work centres on fugitive bank robber Brenden Abbott, the “Postcard Bandit.” His two books on Abbott, including the bestselling Australian Outlaw (2006), shortlisted for the Ned Kelly awards and republished internationally, were adapted into a 2003 telemovie. A third book, Dead By Friday (2013), was used as source material for five television true-crime documentaries.
After stepping away from books to focus on family, Pedley's plans changed when he received a letter written by his birth mother in a Perth hospital in May 1972, agonising over surrendering him for adoption and vowing one day to find him.
That letter is now the catalyst for a new book, part personal memoir, part broader social history, tracing his search for his birth parents while weaving his story through the experiences of generations of Australian adoptees, from the stigma of the forced adoption era to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's National Apology in 2013.
Follow Derek on Instagram.
This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre and our course Creative Writing Stage 1.
Find out more about your host, Valerie Khoo (@valeriekhoo on Twitter and @valeriekhoo on Instagram).
