“I was playing cops and robbers for 45 years, and they pay me for it.”
This statement from one of Australia’s best-known and longest-serving crime writers, John Silvester, sums up his passion for his career.
From writing various books and articles to narrating and co-writing various true crime documentaries, Mr Silvester is no stranger to the world of media.
Now, he’s released another book, Naked City, a collection of some of his best stories from the past years, and he’s coming to the Goulburn Valley to promote it.
In the lead-up to the event, The News chatted with Mr Silvester about Naked City, his career and what’s ahead for the crime journalist.
Known as Sly of the Underworld, Mr Silvester has reported on some of Australia’s biggest crimes over the past 45 years.
He’s narrated and co-written true crime documentaries, including the Logie-winning ABC documentary Conviction about the murder of Jill Meagher.
He’s written and co-authored over 30 books, including Chopper and the Underbelly series, which were later adapted into film and television.
He’s won various awards for his work over the years, including Walkleys, Melbourne Press Club Quills, Victorian Law Foundation Awards, the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year, a Ned Kelly Award for true crime writing and a Ned Kelly lifetime achievement award.
His work also saw him inducted into The Australia Media Hall of Fame in 2018.
Reflecting on his career, Mr Silvester said he had a strong passion for crime reporting from the moment he started.
“I was a fairly inept cadet at The Sun, and they sent me to police rounds in Russell St, and the truth of the matter is instead of doing press releases, I was out chasing real stories,” Mr Silvester said.
“Like a lot of jobs, there’s always the ‘what’s next’ mentality, but I wasn’t interested in what was next.
“I didn’t want ‘editor’ or ‘Washington correspondent’ — I had the best jobs, so why would I change?”
For Mr Silvester, his work is more than just telling a story; it’s about providing a voice to those who can’t share theirs and doing it truthfully with integrity, respecting those involved along the way.
“When you’re dealing with someone who’s lost a loved one who has been murdered, it becomes an unspoken contract to be fair and honest and hope that what you write may help rather than make it worse,” he said.
“You write one of those stories, and I always think it might be a scrapbook for that person’s life, and your story will be in that scrapbook, so it’s pretty good to get it right and be fair.
“There’s no need to publish unnecessary information that hurts rather than helps.”
Despite being on the job for 45 years, Mr Silvester said there was still an element of shock that remained when reporting on specific cases.
However, there are also cases where the nature of a crime or the lead-up to one is a narrative he knows all too well.
“Always shocked, but you think at the time, for example, we’re in the midst of a tobacco war, and we went through the Underbelly war, and that was 20 years ago,” he said.
“It’s the cycle that gangsters go through; they get full of themselves, start fighting each other, get in headlines, there’s a crackdown, and some go to jail, and some go to business making more money and egos get in the way.”
Now on his way to Shepparton, Mr Silvester is eager to share his new book and hear any questions people might have for him about his work.
Mr Silvester’s new novel, Naked City, is a collection of his best stories, mostly from his weekly Naked City columns in The Age.
Each story in the book is roughly 1500 to 2000 words, featuring heroes and villains, and as unbelievable as these stories are — they’re all true.
Mr Silvester also revealed he was planning to release another book later in the year, with more details to come in time.
Mr Silvester will be at Shepparton Library on Friday, March 15 at 7.30pm.
Confirm your attendance by visiting tinyurl.com/johnsilvesterGVlibraries