When this post is published Mr Gums and I will be in Germany, having just spent three days in Vienna, so I thought to write something about Australian novels set in Germany. I wrote this post before we left, because I knew I'd have little time while we're travelling. Mr Gums lived in Germany for … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian novels set in Germany
Monday musings
Monday musing on Australian literature: on People’s Choice literary awards
Nearly two weeks ago, the longlist was announced for the Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award. This is a significant award that has been going since 2002, and I have written about it before. But, I have never focused on one of its aspects, the People's Choice Award, so this is where we are … Continue reading Monday musing on Australian literature: on People’s Choice literary awards
Monday musings on Australian literature: ConSYDeration, and some poetry
Back in March, I wrote a Monday Musings on the Blake Poetry Prize, which is a poetry prize managed by the Liverpool Powerhouse in conjunction with WestWords. WestWords is one active organisation, and is clearly good at finding partners to further its aims. Based in Parramatta in Western Sydney, the WestWords Centre for Writing describes … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: ConSYDeration, and some poetry
Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1926: 1, First Nations language and literature
In 2022, I started a Monday Musings sub-series in which I shared news about Australian literature from a century ago. I wrote several posts for the sub-series in the first couple of years, but fewer in the last couple of years. This is not because I lost interest, but because the issues started to repeat … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1926: 1, First Nations language and literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: Modern social novel
In my recent post on Alan Fyfe's novel The cross thieves I described it as a modern social realist novel and tagged it as a social problem novel. Wikipedia calls these novels Social novels (defining social realism as primarily an art movement). Whatever we call them, I think you know what I mean. However, for … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Modern social novel
Monday musings on Australia literature: Audiobook reading in Australia
Early this month, the Sydney Morning Herald's Jason Steger mentioned, in his weekly email, a recent survey into Australian audiobook listeners. It was also reported by the Australia Reads* website. This survey was conducted by the Australian National University (ANU), but Australia Reads also shares the findings of a second report, Creative Australia's 2026 and … Continue reading Monday musings on Australia literature: Audiobook reading in Australia
Monday musings on Australian literature: Too many books?
Over recent months, I've been picking up little hints of concern about Australian publishing, not about its being hard to get published so much as that too many books are being published. I've done a little research and thinking, but I also want to throw it open to the brains trust here. If you are … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Too many books?
Monday musings on Australian literature: Magabala’s reading list for “50 Years Deadly”
NAIDOC Week 2026 finished yesterday, but, as I sometimes do, I am bookending the week with NAIDOC-dedicated Monday Musings. For this year's concluding one, I'm sharing the reading list selected by Magabala to support this theme. They wrote on their Facebook Page that the theme: marks a significant milestone: five decades of strength, Culture, resilience … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Magabala’s reading list for “50 Years Deadly”
Monday musings on Australian literature: First Nations children’s picture books
NAIDOC Week 2026 started yesterday, and as has become my tradition, I am devoting my NAIDOC Week Monday Musings to celebrating First Nations writers in some way. Each year has a theme, and for 2026 it is "50 Years Deadly", celebrating five decades in which NAIDOC Week has celebrated the voices of First Nations communities. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: First Nations children’s picture books
Monday musing on Australian literature: A view from 1946
A few years ago, I wrote several Monday Musings posts about Australian literature from the 1920s to the 1940s, including one titled A view from 1930. It looked at the ideas of two critics of the time, HM Green and Nettie Palmer. Today, I am sharing some ideas presented in one article written in 1946 … Continue reading Monday musing on Australian literature: A view from 1946
Whispering Gums 