2026
Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors
Some book events are about looking for your next book, while others are about meeting the people who make those books possible. Bookmarks Festival of Books & Authors brings both together, creating a place where readers can meet writers, listen to their stories, and enjoy books with other people who love them. The festival has become the largest annual book festival in the Carolinas, welcoming more than 30,000 attendees each year and bringing together authors from different parts of the country.
The value of the festival comes from the simple connection between readers and authors. With talks, discussions, signings, and events for different ages, Bookmarks gives people a chance to experience books in a more personal way. The 2026 festival is also bringing well-known voices such as John Green for its opening keynote and Jodi Picoult for its closing keynote, giving readers even more reasons to come together around stories.
For Kravitz and Sons, being part of a celebration like this means more than simply putting books on display. It means giving our authors and their stories another chance to meet readers who may be looking for something new.
And speaking of stories worth discovering, Outback Constable Jack by Shirley Richards brings its own special idea to the festival. The book takes readers into the Australian Outback, where Constable Jack works to solve crimes, help local people, find missing loved ones, and become part of the community around him. As we take a closer look at the story, it is also the perfect time to learn about the author who used her own experience of the Australian bush to help shape Jack’s world.
A Writer Who Knows the Outback
There are some places you can only understand after spending time there. The heat, the land, the people, the quiet roads, and the way everyone depends on one another can give a person a different view of life. Shirley Richards spent years traveling through the Outback of Australia’s Barkly Region in the Northern Territory, working with local police and other agencies while learning more about the people, seasons, workers, and conditions of the bush. That experience later became part of the foundation for her first novel, Outback Constable Jack.
Richards did not only write about the Outback. Her writing has also moved through poetry and other forms of storytelling. Her collection The Best of Shirl’s Words: Poems from Life brings together poems written from 1980 to 2020. The collection is described as being drawn from her own life, using humor, sensitivity, and memories, while her other writing has included feature articles, short stories, and advertising jingles. Poetry is described as her favorite form of writing.
That mix of real experience and simple storytelling gives Richards an interesting place as an author. Outback Constable Jack was published by Dorrance Publishing in 2019 and became her first novel. The book is available in both paperback and ebook editions, with the paperback listed at 226 pages. While I could not find a reliable public record of a major literary award for the novel, its continued availability in different editions and Richards’ wider body of published writing show that the story has remained part of her work as an author.
Life in Bullocky Hole
At the center of Outback Constable Jack is Jack himself, a country police officer whose job seems simple at first. He solves crimes, helps people, settles problems, and searches for those who have gone missing around Bullocky Hole. But the longer he stays, the more he realizes that being a constable is about more than wearing the uniform. He has to understand the people around him and become part of their way of life.
Jack also finds an unexpected place at the local secondary school. His original ditties, stories, and personality help him connect with the children, giving readers another side of the character. He is not simply a police officer who shows up when something goes wrong. He becomes someone the community knows and trusts. Along the way, he helps settle local arguments and searches for lost loved ones, including some that are not even human.
But after spending so much time helping everyone else, Jack starts thinking about his own life. He wants a loyal dog and someone to share his days with. Then a new teacher arrives in town, and suddenly his search for companionship may have finally brought him somewhere. The story mixes community, justice, friendship, humor, and companionship, while showing how a person can slowly put down roots in a place they once considered only a new job. It is also a story about helping others while learning what you want for yourself.
Find Your Way to Bullocky Hole
If you enjoy stories that mix small-town life, community, humor, and a little romance, Outback Constable Jack gives you a chance to step into a very different world. Shirley Richards uses her own knowledge of the Australian Outback to create a setting where the people matter just as much as the problems Jack has to solve. It is a story about a man doing his job, finding his place, and maybe finding the people he wants beside him too.
Outback Constable Jack
A story of justice, friendship, community, and finding where you belong.
Discover Jack’s Story