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
Australian literature
ACT Literary Awards 2026
Last night, I attended the presentation of the ACT Literary Awards (as I have attended for the last few years). These awards are made by Marion (previously, the ACT Writers Centre), and were again emceed by CEO, Katy Mutton, and Board Chair, Emma Batchelor. The dress code was "Smart Casual to Creative Cocktail Attire". Ms … Continue reading ACT Literary Awards 2026
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
Miles Franklin Award 2026 shortlist
2025 was one of my best years for some time in terms of the Miles Franklin shortlist. When it was announced, I had only read one of the six novels, Michelle de Kretser's Theory & practice (my review). However, by the end of the year I'd read three, having read two more with my reading … Continue reading Miles Franklin Award 2026 shortlist
Monday musings on Australian literature: Quarry noir
I started my post on Tech noir with the comment that the genres and sub-genres just keep on coming, and I have another one that I've been saving up for you - quarry noir. I read about it some months ago - in The Conversation - and have been saving it up. Its time has … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Quarry noir
Monday musings on Australian literature: Sports romance
Last February, I wrote about Romance novels in my "supporting genres" Monday Musings subseries. Today's post could be seen as an extension of that post, in that it is about a Romance subgenre, Sports Romance. I have to admit that I had never heard of this sub-genre until a couple of days ago when a … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Sports romance
Monday musings on Australian literature: Forgotten writers 18, Bene Gibson Smyth
Bene Gibson Smyth is a little different from the writers I have researched for AWW over the last couple of years. This is partly because she was better known as a songwriter and composer than as a writer of stories or poetry, and what she did write was mostly for children. She is little known … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Forgotten writers 18, Bene Gibson Smyth
Monday musings on Australian literature: Eve Langley, AI and me
Putting aside the complex environmental questions surrounding AI and its data centres for the moment, I want to talk about using AI. I know it’s easy to naysay new technologies. I’ve been guilty of it myself, such as when smartphones first appeared on the scene. And, based on last night's experience, I could say I … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Eve Langley, AI and me
Shaun Micallef in conversation with Adam Shirley
We got to this week's Meet the Author evening early, and found the author, Shaun Micallef, signing books, so I bought a copy and got in line. When it came to my turn, I told him that only he could get me to read a book about vampires, to which he answered, teasingly but also … Continue reading Shaun Micallef in conversation with Adam Shirley
Monday musings on Australian literature: Graphic nonfiction
Last Monday I wrote my Monday Musings post on graphic novels, in which I defined the term and noted that it was sometimes applied so widely as to include graphic nonfiction. I understand this from a practical point of view. After all, in public libraries and bookshops the goal is to organise books in such … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Graphic nonfiction
Whispering Gums 