And so we come to December and the last Six Degrees of Separation for the year. For newbies to blogging - because the rest of you surely know by now - this is a meme currently hosted by Kate (booksaremyfavouriteandbest). For information about how the meme works, please click the link on her blog-name. It's fascinating to … Continue reading Six degrees of separation, FROM It TO …
Author: Whispering Gums
Unbreakable: Conversation with Jelena Dokic
If you are a fan of professional tennis you will probably have heard of Jelena Dokic who hit the world stage during the 1999 Wimbledon Championships. She was just 16 years old, and, as Wikipedia writes, "achieved one of the biggest upsets in tennis history, beating Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-0. This remains the only time … Continue reading Unbreakable: Conversation with Jelena Dokic
Caroline Moorehead, Dancing to the precipice (#BookReview)
Unusually, my reading group read two biographies about non-Austrian women this year, Jane Fletcher Geniesse's book on Freya Stark (my review) in January and now, this month, Caroline Moorehead's book Dancing to the precipice: Lucie de la Tour du Pin and the French Revolution on the French aristocrat Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de La Tour-du-Pin-Gouvernet. Interestingly, Moorehead has … Continue reading Caroline Moorehead, Dancing to the precipice (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Teaching indigenous texts
This post was inspired by an email I received from Reading Australia announcing a partnership with the Broome-based indigenous publisher Magabala Books for a project that was inspired by the many teachers who reached out to Reading Australia to ask for more resources on works by Indigenous creators, and particularly units that showed non-Indigenous teachers … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Teaching indigenous texts
Non-fiction November 2017, Weeks 4 and 5
In my last My Literary Week post, I took part (sort of) in the Non-Fiction November meme, giving my responses for the first three weeks. Because the last two weeks ask some questions, I'd like to answer, I've decided to combine them is a second post. It's probably cheating, but ... Week 4, Nov. 20 to … Continue reading Non-fiction November 2017, Weeks 4 and 5
Stephanie Buckle, Habits of silence (#BookReview)
I have been champing at the bit to read local author Stephanie Buckle's debut short story collection, Habits of silence, ever since I attended its launch in August by John Clanchy at the Canberra Writers Festival. The readings that both Clanchy and Buckle herself gave from the book grabbed my attention and convinced me that … Continue reading Stephanie Buckle, Habits of silence (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Genre Worlds
While reading the GenreCon 2017 twitter feed, which resulted in last week's Monday Musings, I came across the twitter handle @PopFicDoctors. Intrigued, I checked them out and discovered they are behind a research project and manage the website Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction in the Twenty-first Century. The project is being funded by an ARC … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Genre Worlds
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The sympathizer (#BookReview)
A cover blurb on my edition of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Sympathizer, captures the novel perfectly when it calls it "intelligent, relentlessly paced, and savagely funny" (Wall Street Journal). I loved reading it. It's quite coincidental that I read this straight after Hoa Pham's Lady of the realm (my review) but they … Continue reading Viet Thanh Nguyen, The sympathizer (#BookReview)
Tony Birch wins the 2017 Patrick White Award
The Patrick White Award is one of Australia's very special literary awards, and one that I posted in detail about last year when Carmel Bird was the winner. It's special for a number of reasons. It is named for Patrick White who is, to date, Australia's only Nobel Laureate in Literature. But, as I wrote last year, … Continue reading Tony Birch wins the 2017 Patrick White Award
Monday musings on Australian literature: GenreCon 2017 by Tweet (#gcoz)
First off, no, I didn't attend this year's GenreCon which took place this weekend past in Brisbane, Queensland. However, I did see many of the tweets that emanated from attendees (using hashtag #GCoz) and found many of them extending beyond the genre focus. So, I thought I'd pass some on. Not all tweeters identified the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: GenreCon 2017 by Tweet (#gcoz)
Whispering Gums 