A NOVELIST is looking to reach out to budding crime writers with a ‘how to’ session at a fringe festival.

Anya Lipska has lived in Aldersbrook for 15 years and decided to delve into crime fiction after a career in TV production and journalism.

Taking inspiration from her Polish husband Tomasz’ cultural influences, her three books focus on the lives of east London Poles and the crime lurking in their communities.

She said: “Like most people in my field of work I kept saying to myself that I must write a book someday.

“And around six years ago I finally got round to doing it.

“My main inspiration comes from my husband, who came to England during the solidarity era when Poland was fighting communism.

“But there are a lot of Poles in east London and I grew up watching their history unfold on T.V., so I thought this would be an interesting spin on the classic detective novel.”

After two and a half years, Anya had her first book published, entitled Where the Devil Can’t Go, and has been writing a book a year since then.

Her east London characters frequent lots of familiar places in Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Newham.

She said: “Wanstead High Street gets a mention and there are quite a few dead bodies found in the Hollow Ponds.

“There’s also a Polish café in Stratford that my characters often go to as well.”

As part of the Wanstead Fringe, which runs from September 10 to September 17, Anya has organised an ‘Introduction to crime writing’ session for aspiring novelists in the area.

She said: “I speak about my books at lots of events around the country and I always get someone asking me ‘How do you do it?’

“This is a session is for those kind of people.

“Crime writing is slightly easier to get into than other literary genres as there’s a certain formula to it.

“And I’ll talk a bit about finding an agent and getting published as well.”

She added that she thinks the Wanstead Fringe is one of the area's “changes for the better.”

She said: “When the whole community come together over a love of arts and culture, it can only be a good thing.”

The session will take place at The Cherry Tree Café in Woodbine Place, Wanstead from 10.30am to 12.30pm on September 10.

For tickets and more information see the Wanstead Fringe website.