A straightforward post this week, and one shared in the spirit that readers love lists of books. This list is not Australian (despite my posting it in my Monday Musings series) but it was shared in multiple Australian newspapers in 1910 which makes it part of Australia's literary history, don't you think? The list was … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Masterpieces of fiction, 1910-style
Month: August 2023
J.D. Vance, Hillbilly elegy (#BookReview)
I did something recently that I haven't done for a long time. I picked up a book from a remainder table. It was at the National Library bookshop, and I was waiting to meet a friend for lunch. The book was J.D. Vance's memoir Hillbilly elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis, … Continue reading J.D. Vance, Hillbilly elegy (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Thoughts on literature’s moral purpose
I struggled with titling this post because I don't want it to sound like a thoroughly thought through treatise on the topic. However, I jettisoned my original plan for today's post to respond to Angela Savage's question on my CWF post on the Robbie Arnott interview because it seemed worth exploring. If you haven't read … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Thoughts on literature’s moral purpose
Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 4, Into the Wild
How good was it that my two sessions today involved books my reading group has done this year, Debra Dank's We come with this place, and, in this session, Robbie Arnott's Limberlost. The session, subtitled "Robbie Arnott in conversation with Astrid Edwards", sounded broader in ambit: Robbie Arnott’s fiction is steeped in the wild: women … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 4, Into the Wild
Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 3, A Jewel of a Book
Which book you are presumably wondering? The session's subtitle will give you a hint: Debra Dank in Conversation with Evelyn Araluen. The book, then, is Debra Dank's We come with this place, which won a record four prizes in this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards (as I described in my post). The session description commenced … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 3, A Jewel of a Book
Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 2, Celebrating the classics
When I saw the line-up for this session - Debra Dank, Evelyn Araluen, Ellen Van Neerven and Yasmin Smith - I was in. I have read and admired writing by three of these writers and was keen to attend that rare thing, an all First Nations panel. Its topic was described as follows: A new … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 2, Celebrating the classics
Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 1, Canberra’s Biggest Book Club
A preamble The Canberra Writers Festival is back in 2023, with a new Artistic Director, the writer and critic Beejay Silcox. The Festival's theme continues to be "Power Politics Passion", which, for this year's Festival organisers, begs big questions: What do we value? Whose stories are heard? How do we reckon with the past and … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2023: 1, Canberra’s Biggest Book Club
Jane Austen’s The Watsons in Trove: Finishing the unfinished
While searching Trove recently for my Monday Musings 1923 sub-series, I came across some articles on Jane Austen's unfinished novel, The Watsons, and can't resist sharing them with you. I have written about unfinished books before, including on Jane Austen's unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon. Unfinished books aren't to everyone's taste but, if you … Continue reading Jane Austen’s The Watsons in Trove: Finishing the unfinished
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian literary biographies (2, poets)
Eight years ago, I wrote a Monday Musings on Australian literary biographies, but the main focus there was on novelists. With this month being National Poetry Month and with, coincidentally, this year's National Biography Award going to a biography of a poet, it seemed a match made in heaven. In other words, it seemed appropriate … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian literary biographies (2, poets)
Rayna Green, High cotton (#Review)
With Rayna Green's short story, "High cotton", we pass the halfway mark in that anthology I've been posting on over the last few months, Great short stories by contemporary Native American writers. We are also getting closer to the anthology's publication date of 2014, so these chronologically listed stories are starting to bunch up in … Continue reading Rayna Green, High cotton (#Review)
Whispering Gums 