Bryan Brown: I found rejection quite easy because I'd been a salesman'

"Bryan Brown gives a barely perceptible nod of welcome after I arrive by ferry at Balmain wharf, as he steps out from under the semicircular roof of the late 19th-century timber shelter here, the last of its kind on Sydney harbour. How's it going? he asks, his Australian drawl at once familiar from his roles in 80-plus films and television series. The actor wears a straw hat and sunglasses with a waist-length jacket partially zipped against a rugged late-afternoon north-westerly."

"I get the ferry from here [to Cockatoo Island] every now and again when I got nothin' to do, he says after we walk past hundreds of donated books lining the walls of the shelter, which doubles as a street library. Brown is a bit of a potterer. He will have coffee in various shops along these streets before sitting at his desk between 11am and 1pm to write daily for two hours, no more than that."

Bryan Brown meets ferry arrivals at Balmain wharf, stepping out from under the semicircular roof of a late 19th-century timber shelter. He appears in a straw hat, sunglasses and a waist-length jacket partially zipped against a north-westerly. He writes crime novels featuring bikie gangs, drug running, hidden cameras and cockfighting; his second novel is The Hidden. He keeps a modest daily routine of coffee in local shops then writing at his desk between 11am and 1pm for two hours. He describes his prose as workmanlike and staccato with a Strine vernacular. He has worked in film and television for fifty years and remains curious about people.

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