Award-winning author and journalist Mark Dapin would only be "pathetically grateful" if people were to ask him to sign a copy of his novel King of the Cross.

He received the 2010 Ned Kelly Award for best first crime novel just days ago for the book, a vivid account of a notorious crime figure who, at 81, employs a hapless reporter to write his memoir.

"I feel vindicated," he said. "I got two bad reviews and about 13 good reviews for the book. The two bad ones I remember word by word!"

Dapin's own word usage is deliberately inventive, a mixture of "ockerisms, underworld slang and yiddish" that leaps off the page.

The book parallels the life of crime legend Abe Saffron in parts, something Underbelly author Andrew Rule dubbed "a cunning stunt" that could get Dapin knee-capped.

But those who attend the author's talk at Vinegar Hill Memorial Library, Rouse Hill, on Thursday night won't need to worry about getting caught in the crossfire. "I was a bit worried to start with but I haven't had any underworld figures come forward and threaten me, despite Andrew Rule's attempts to put the idea into their minds," Dapin said.

Despite a busy schedule that has included 22 public speaking engagements in just two weeks, Dapin said he was not in danger of developing repetitive strain injury from signing copies of books.

He is also at the tail-end of his second novel for the two-book deal that produced King of the Cross and said he enjoyed the process.

Dapin said he drew on the idea that a biography could be so self-serving as to be almost pure fiction to complete the novel. "I put 'based on an untrue story' because there are a couple of books about his life, one especially, that appears to be endorsed by Saffron and it's obviously complete garbage," he said.

"I'm interested in the way people tell their stories.

"Everybody is a hero in the centre of their own narrative."

King of the Cross has also made it onto the annual list of "50 books you can't put down" that is part of the federal government's "Get reading" initiative.

"Yeah, I covered it in velcro," Dapin said. "I don't know how it got on that list but it's given the second edition a whole new life."

The talk is on September 23, at 7.30pm, at Vinegar Hill Memorial Library, 29 Main Street, Rouse Hill Town Centre. Tickets: $7.

Details, bookings (essential): 8889 5200.