Reading the Rooms

Richard Neville, a graduate of the University of Sydney, is the Mitchell Librarian and Director, Engagement at the State Library of New South Wales. With a research background in 19th-century Australian art and culture, he has curated numerous exhibitions and published widely on colonial art and society. He has also been extensively involved in the acquisition, arrangement, description and promotion of the Library's renowned Australian research collections. He is the author of Mr JW Lewin: Painter and Naturalist (2012). Rachel Franks is the coordinator of scholarship at the State Library of New South Wales. She holds PhDs in Australian crime fiction (Central Queensland University) and in true crime texts (University of Sydney). A qualified educator and librarian, her extensive work on crime fiction, true crime, popular culture and information science has been presented at numerous conferences, as well as on radio and television. An award-winning writer, her research can be found in a wide variety of books, journals, magazines and online resources. She is the author of An Uncommon Hangman: The Life and Deaths of Robert 'Nosey Bob' Howard (2022).