Hmmm ... it's taken me a while to get back to my so-called series on Canberra's writers. Over a year ago I wrote posts on Capital women and Capital men poets, and fully intended to write about the fiction writers last year too, but somehow the year got away from me. However, today is Canberra … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Capital women novelists
Australian literature
Neomad: A Yijala Yala Project
First up, I have to admit that I'm rather challenged when it comes to e-book apps. I did love The Wasteland app which I reviewed a couple of years ago, but it was clearly designed for a, let us say, more staid demographic. Neomad, "a futuristic fantasy" in three episodes, is another matter. Consequently, my … Continue reading Neomad: A Yijala Yala Project
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, 2014
As you know, I don't report on every literary award announced throughout the year in Australia. There are way too many. But I did want to announce the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, partly because they are only awarded biennially. They were established in 1986. The fact that they are awarded biennially means of course … Continue reading Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, 2014
Angela Savage, The dying beach (Review)
When I received Angela Savage's novel The dying beach out of the blue last year as a review copy, I didn't put it high in my list of reading priorities. I had - and still have - a pile of books waiting patiently, and I rarely (never say never) read crime novels. However, two things … Continue reading Angela Savage, The dying beach (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Confronting Australian novels
Recently I wrote a post about reading difficult novels and proposed categories for different sorts of "difficulties". One of those categories was "emotionally confronting", but I realise now that a better category would have been "emotionally and/or intellectually confronting". By intellectually confronting I don't mean challenging in terms of style, language, structure, but in terms … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Confronting Australian novels
Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (Review)
The best way I can describe Christos Tsiolkas' latest novel Barracuda is to liken it to what Tsiolkas would define as a "good man", tough on the outside, but tender within. I don't know how Tsiolkas does it, but he manages to reach into your heart while at the same time confronting you to your … Continue reading Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (Review)
Christos Tsiolkas on success and failure
I will soon post my review of Christos Tsiolkas' latest novel Barracuda, which is about a young man who fails in his quest to become an Olympic swimmer. It tears him apart. In tonight's news, here in Australia, we heard that one of our successful Olympic swimmers is going into rehab for addiction to Stillnox. … Continue reading Christos Tsiolkas on success and failure
Monday musings on Australian literature: The Bread and Cheese Club, again
I promise that this, my third post on Melbourne's now defunct Bread and Cheese Club will also be my last, but it was such an interesting club that I can't resist one more post. Just to remind you, it was formed in 1938, with the following goals: To promote mateship and fellowship among persons of mutual interests, to … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: The Bread and Cheese Club, again
Margaret Merrilees, The first week (Review)
Having discussed in this week's Monday Musings Margaret Merrilees' essay on white authors writing about indigenous Australians, I'm now getting to my promised review of her debut novel, The first week, in which she does just this. It also, according to Wakefield Press's media release, won the Adelaide Festival's Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2012. I can see why … Continue reading Margaret Merrilees, The first week (Review)
Wrapping in the rain
Mr Gums and I spent last weekend in the lovely historic town of Beechworth staying with two other couples in the gorgeous 1890s Indigo Cottage (owned by one of the couples). Quite coincidentally, we discovered that this weekend was Beechworth's WRAP Festival. That's Writers, Readers and Poets, an annual event that has been sponsored by the Beechworth … Continue reading Wrapping in the rain
Whispering Gums 