With this post, we finish the first round of this year's Tournament of Books, so here goes ... next post will look at Round 2. Match 7: Henry Lawson's "The drover's wife" defeated Cate Kennedy's "Static" Like most Australians I've read Lawson's "The drover's wife". It's probably one of Australia's most anthologised stories so it … Continue reading Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2012, Matches 7-8
Author: Whispering Gums
Fridays with Featherstone, Part 1: Thoughts on literary form
What do writer Nigel Featherstone and the now sadly defunct literary magazine Wet Ink have in common? An unpublished interview, that's what! When Nigel approached me, with the agreement of his interviewer Susan Errington, asking whether I would like to run the review on Whispering Gums, I of course said yes - for several reasons. … Continue reading Fridays with Featherstone, Part 1: Thoughts on literary form
Monday musings on Australian Literature: Social micro-story telling on Drabbl.es
Have you heard of a Drabble? Besides Margaret that is? It is, according to Wikipedia, "an extremely short [but complete] work of fiction of exactly one hundred words in length". The concept was developed in the UK science fiction and fan fiction communities in the 1980s, with the word itself coming from a Monty Python … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian Literature: Social micro-story telling on Drabbl.es
Tim Flannery, After the future: Australia’s extinction crisis (Review)
Tim Flannery is an Australian palaeontologist-cum-environmentalist who has been on the public stage for a couple of decades now. He has published several books on environmental issues, some best-sellers, including The future eaters and The weather makers. He was Australian of the Year in 2007, has starred in three television documentary series with comedian John … Continue reading Tim Flannery, After the future: Australia’s extinction crisis (Review)
Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2012, Matches 3 to 6
As I promised in my first post on this year's tournament - whether you wanted it or not - I'm back with a progress report on the tournament. And, I must say, I'm rather thrilled with the results to date. I haven't read all the contenders so my reaction is more than a little subjective … Continue reading Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2012, Matches 3 to 6
Monday musings on Australian literature: ACT Writers Showcase
It's been a good week for literature in the ACT. Not only was the UC Book Project announced but on Thursday, our centenary anthology The invisible thread was launched. The launch was a well-organised event: it found the perfect balance between formality and informality, and didn't run too long! The book was launched by writer … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: ACT Writers Showcase
Impressive reading initiative from the University of Canberra
How proud am I? Not that I had anything to do with it, but the University of Canberra, in my city, has launched an inspiring initiative which it calls the UC Book Project. This is a project whereby every student (yes every student) who commences a course (yes any course) at the University of Canberra … Continue reading Impressive reading initiative from the University of Canberra
Poor novellas?
Having just reviewed two novellas in succession - Nigel Featherstone's I'm ready now and Gerald Murnane's The plains - I was intrigued to receive an email this week from AbeBooks titled "The best novellas: Literature's middle child". It linked to an article which starts: Poor novellas. They are the middle-child, the Jan Brady of the … Continue reading Poor novellas?
Gerald Murnane, The plains (Review)
Wayne Macauley, he of the Most Underrated Book Award fame, wrote in his introduction to my edition of Gerald Murnane's The plains that "you might not know where Murnane is taking you but you can't help being taken". That's a perfect description of my experience of reading this now classic novella. It was like confronting … Continue reading Gerald Murnane, The plains (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing across the fiction-nonfiction divide
Last week, a conference called the NonfictioNow Confence 2012 was held in Melbourne. It went for four days! It sounds right up my alley but I didn't get to it. Fortunately the site says that panel discussions will be online in 2013. Anyhow, it got me thinking about writers who write both fiction and non-fiction … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing across the fiction-nonfiction divide
Whispering Gums 