THE multi-talented Judy Nunn is making her way to the Muswellbrook Library next month.
The former Home and Away star, and highly-regarded author, will discuss her latest book, Khaki Town, on Tuesday, November 12, from 11.30am.
"We're very excited by Judy's upcoming visit," library branch officer Angelynn Gill said.
"To mark the occasion, we're also hosting a dress-up contest.
"We're asking people to don 1940's style and fashion - and the best dressed will win a surprise gift, courtesy of Penguin Random House Australia.
"However, bookings are essential on 6543 1913 or by emailing library@muswellbrook.nsw.gov.au.
"Refreshments will be provided on the day, too."
Nunn's 15th novel is set in Townsville at a pivotal moment in Australia's history.
It's 1942. Singapore has fallen, and it looks like Australia will be next.
To combat this, Townsville is flooded with American soldiers, overnight becoming a Khaki Town.
"I enjoyed writing this book," Nunn said.
"It gave me an opportunity to mix historical facts and figures with well-drawn characters.
"The local inhabitants welcome the Americans with open arms and the black GIs revel in a brief period of integration, denied to them in their homeland.
"They mix with the locals with gusto but soon tensions arise not only between the Australian and American soldiers ("the Yanks are over-sexed, over-paid and over here") but between the black and white GIs.
"Tensions reach a flashpoint and fights break out as racism raises its ugly head.
"At first, the federal government had refused to accept African American soldiers on Australian soil, until Franklin D. Roosevelt said 'if no Negroes, then no Americans, period!'
"Real violence becomes inevitable, and reaches a peak on May 22, 1942, in a place called Kelso Field on the Ross River, just outside Townsville.
"A young United States Congressman, Lyndon Baines Johnson, is sent to Townsville by his president to investigate the horrific events of that night."
Nunn's career has been long, illustrious and multi-faceted.
After combining her internationally-successful acting profession with scriptwriting for television and radio, she decided in the 1990s to turn her hand to prose.
In 2015, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her "significant service to the performing arts as a scriptwriter and actor of stage and screen, and to literature as an author".
