Has that got your attention? If it has, I'm sorry if you think I'm going to talk about high society fund-raising parties. I'm afraid it's a bit more mundane than that ... but interesting I hope. The Stilettos I have in fact written about the Stilettos before, the Scarlet Stiletto Awards to be exact. To … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian Literature: Stilettos and Sponsors
Australian literature
Emma Ashmere, Dreams they forgot (#BookReview)
Emma Ashmere's short story collection, Dreams they forgot, is different again from recent short story collections I've read. Certainly very different from the most recent, Adam Thompson's Born into this (my review). One of the things that makes it different is its breadth in terms of time and place. Thompson's collection, for example, is mostly … Continue reading Emma Ashmere, Dreams they forgot (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Defining the novel, in 1975?
During one of my forays into Trove, I came across an intriguing little piece by Canberra artist-educator-reviewer, Malcolm Pettigrove. Pettigrove was a regular arts reviewer in The Canberra Times through the 1970s and 1980s, but it was his article published on 31 January 1975 that particularly caught my attention. It starts: NO issue in the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Defining the novel, in 1975?
Jonathan Shaw, None of us alone (#BookReview)
Some of you will know of Jonathan Shaw as the blogger at Me fail? I fly! If you read his blog, you will also know that he loves poetry: he writes it, he reviews it. None of us alone is his first commercially published collection, though he has self-published five collections and has had a … Continue reading Jonathan Shaw, None of us alone (#BookReview)
Miles Franklin Award 2021 winner announced
Nothwithstanding this week's Monday Musings posts on literary awards, I still like the Miles Franklin - partly because of its significance in the Australian literary firmament - and so I am sharing today's announcement of this year's winner which I watched via You Tube. You may remember that this years shortlist was: Aravind Adiga's Amnesty … Continue reading Miles Franklin Award 2021 winner announced
Monday musings on Australian literature: Talking literary awards
This Thursday will see the announcement of the winner of this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award. It's one of the more important days on the Australian literary calendar, but it has inspired another of those articles about the value of literary awards. Now, we have discussed awards here before. Back in 2012, I wrote about … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Talking literary awards
Stan Grant, On Thomas Keneally (Writers on writers) (#BookReview)
Stan Grant's On Thomas Keneally is the second I've read in Black Inc's Writers on writers series, Erik Jensen's On Kate Jennings (my review) being the first. As I wrote in that post, the series involves leading authors reflecting "on an Australian writer who has inspired and influenced them". Hmm ... the way Keneally inspired … Continue reading Stan Grant, On Thomas Keneally (Writers on writers) (#BookReview)
Adam Thompson, Born into this (#BookReview)
When my brother gave me Tasmanian author Adam Thompson's Born into this earlier this year, I told him I'd save it for Lisa's ILW 2021, which I did - and which means I can now thank him properly for a yet another well-chosen gift, because this is a strong, absorbing and relevant read. If you … Continue reading Adam Thompson, Born into this (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Recovering Australia’s Indigenous languages (2)
2021 National NAIDOC logo. Yesterday was the start of Lisa's (ANZLitLovers) 2021 Indigenous Literature Week which coincides of course with NAIDOC Week, and, again, I've decided to contribute this week's Monday Musings to the cause. The topic I've chosen, the reclamation of First Nations languages, was partly inspired by last week's Monday Musings on Eliza Hamilton … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Recovering Australia’s Indigenous languages (2)
Steven Conte, The Tolstoy Estate (#BookReview)
Steven Conte burst on the scene in 2008 when he won the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Award with his 2007-published debut novel, The zookeeper's war. I always intended to read it but somehow it never happened. Jump to 2020, and Conte's second novel, The Tolstoy Estate, was published. That's a big gap, but what he's … Continue reading Steven Conte, The Tolstoy Estate (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 