I must be about the last person on earth to read Barack Obama's autobiography, Dreams from my father. However, that's not going to stop me adding my voice to the accolades heaped on the book! When it was originally published in 1995, it was subtitled "A story of race and inheritance". This does not appear on … Continue reading Barack Obama, Dreams from my father
Author: Whispering Gums
Australian Classics Library
Am I the last to know? I have just discovered that Sydney University Press is publishing a new set of Australian Classics, using a grant from the CAL Cultural Fund. Each title has a newly written critical introduction and, in a nice bit of collaboration, some biographical and bibliographical information from AustLit. The titles - … Continue reading Australian Classics Library
Aboriginal women – sacred and profane
A regular column in The ABC Weekly, about which I have blogged a couple of times in recent days, was written by Australian writer Vance Palmer. I have only read one novel by Palmer - The passage - and have been feeling recently that I'd like to read it again partly, but not only, because … Continue reading Aboriginal women – sacred and profane
Florence James and journalism, 1940
Florence James, with Dymphna Cusack, wrote one of Australia's most successful novels set in World War 2, Come In Spinner. She was also a literary agent and journalist - and wrote regularly for The ABC Weekly which I referred to in a post a few days ago. In the 23 March 1940 issue was her article … Continue reading Florence James and journalism, 1940
Beautiful Kate?
[WARNING: SPOILERS, PROBABLY] Well, I haven't read the 1982 book by American novelist Newton Thornburg - in fact I hadn't heard of it - but Rachel Ward has managed to produce out of it a stylish and engrossing film, aided by an excellent cast and gorgeous, often eerie, cinematography. It helps too that the film … Continue reading Beautiful Kate?
Advice to would-be women journalists, 1930s style
While I was researching something completely different today, I came across a wonderful - you'll see why soon - article titled "Not much fun in being a woman journalist - or is there?" in the second issue of The ABC Weekly published on 9 December 1939 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The article was written by … Continue reading Advice to would-be women journalists, 1930s style
Kath Walker aka Oodgeroo Noonuccal
I fell in love with Kath Walker, as she was known then, in my teens and bought her book of poems, My people. I loved her passion for her people and the intensity but accessibility of her poems. Every now and then I look at them again. Today, however, my mum gave me a dear … Continue reading Kath Walker aka Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Breakfast with David, Malouf that is
"Exploring in the dark" is how David Malouf frames the process of writing. In other words, writing, he says, brings out what is within the writer but is not fully understood until the writing starts. Furthering this notion, he quoted Herman Hesse as saying that a writer needs to be "a sleepwalker with the absolute … Continue reading Breakfast with David, Malouf that is
You know you are hooked
...on blogging when you start writing your blog in your head while you are out and about enjoying something. This is what happened to me last night (and it's not the first time) when I was at a Kate Ceberano concert (sorry Kate - but I did pull myself up quickly and start concentrating again). … Continue reading You know you are hooked
What do I mean by spare?
If you asked my kids what my favourite mantras are, they would probably include "less is more" as one of them. This is not to say that I don't enjoy flamboyance and "over-the-topness", because I most certainly do, but it is true that I am more often drawn to what I would call "the spare". … Continue reading What do I mean by spare?
Whispering Gums 