Last year the Stella Prize longlist announcement took place on a Monday, gazumping that week's Monday Musings. This year it's a Tuesday, and it was again streamed online from the Adelaide Festival Writers Week ... As I say every year, I don't do well at having read the Stella Prize longlist at the time of … Continue reading Stella Prize 2025 Longlist announced
Australian literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: Forgotten writers 10, Ruby Mary Doyle
Unlike my last forgotten writer, Dulcie Deamer, today's writer, though a prolific contributor to newspapers in her day, has slipped into the shadows. Neither Wikipedia nor the Australian dictionary of biography (ADB) contain articles for her, but the AustLit database does. As with many of my Forgotten Writers articles, I researched and posted a versions … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Forgotten writers 10, Ruby Mary Doyle
Andra Putnis, Stories my grandmothers didn’t tell me (#BookReview)
Local writer Andra Putnis' book, Stories my grandmothers didn't tell me: Two women's journeys from war-torn Europe to a new life in Australia, was my reading group's February read. Not only was it highly recommended by two members who had read it, but we were told the author would be happy to attend our meeting … Continue reading Andra Putnis, Stories my grandmothers didn’t tell me (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: The Richell Prize for Emerging Writers
Back in 2014, I wrote a Monday Musings post on Unpublished Manuscript Awards. Since then, more of these awards have appeared, including the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize (my posts), which made its first award in 2023. Before that, however - and not long after my 2014 post - came The Richell Prize for Emerging … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: The Richell Prize for Emerging Writers
Lisa Kenway, All you took from me (#GuestThoughts)
With my Review TBR pile teetering on the brink, I decided to call in a favour from Mr Gums, and handed him Lisa Kenway's debut novel, All you took from me, thinking it might be up his alley. Now, a word about Mr Gums. He is an engineer by training, and not the world's biggest … Continue reading Lisa Kenway, All you took from me (#GuestThoughts)
Author Talk: The season with Helen Garner
It is a measure of the love and respect readers have for Helen Garner that this event, held in the National Library of Australia's 300-seat theatre, had a 200-strong waiting list. And, it was well worth booking early for. The evening was emceed by Luke Hickey, the National Library's Assistant Director-General Engagement. He started with … Continue reading Author Talk: The season with Helen Garner
Monday Musings on Australian literature: Diverse publishing
With the idea and practice of diversity under attack in more than one place around this world of ours, it's encouraging to see publishers continuing to support the need for more diversity in their output. I've written several Monday Musings about diversity in publishing, including these, listed from the most recent to the earliest: Bundyi … Continue reading Monday Musings on Australian literature: Diverse publishing
Melanie Cheng, The burrow (#BookReview)
You may have heard the announcement by Sean Manning, of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint in the US, that he will “no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books”. Australian media academic Julian Novitz discussed the decision in The Conversation in a piece titled "Brilliant, moving, thought-provoking! Simon & Schuster is dispensing with book … Continue reading Melanie Cheng, The burrow (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 9: Romance novels
Back in 2020 I commenced a Monday Musings subseries I called "supporting genres". Some of the posts have, admittedly, been more form- than genre-based. Today's however is a genre, and one I have been putting off because it's not one I am at all familiar with. However, with Valentine's Day looming this week, I felt … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 9: Romance novels
Frank Dalby Davison, Dusty (#BookReview)
It's a strange coincidence that my second review for Bill's Gen 1-3 Aussie male writers week is for a novel titled Dusty, when my first was for a short story titled "Dust". One of those funny little readerly synchronicities. The title, however, is about the only synchronicity because, although both stories allude to the dusty Australian landscape, … Continue reading Frank Dalby Davison, Dusty (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 