This is my second report of the sessions I attended of the first Yarra Valley Literary Festival. I hope to write up more, but you can also check Lisa's blog for her posts. She did not, however, attend Christos Tsiolkas - see my post - nor this crime panel. Like Lisa, I really read crime, but … Continue reading Yarra Valley Writers Festival 2020 (online): If I tell you I’m going to have to kill you (Crime panel)
Australian literature
Yarra Valley Writers Festival 2020 (online): Road to Damascus (Christos Tsiolkas with Angela Savage)
Today I attended several sessions of the first Yarra Valley Literary Festival, which the organisers turned around and converted to an online event with the arrival in our lives of COVID-19. I plan to write up a couple more sessions over the next week, when time permits, but you can also check Lisa's blog for her … Continue reading Yarra Valley Writers Festival 2020 (online): Road to Damascus (Christos Tsiolkas with Angela Savage)
Shokoofeh Azar, The enlightenment of the greengage tree (#BookReview)
I bought Shokoofeh Azar's novel The enlightenment of the greengage tree when it was longlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize, for which it was also shortlisted. However, it was its shortlisting this year for the International Booker Prize that prompted me to finally take it off the TBR pile. Born in Iran, artist and writer Azar … Continue reading Shokoofeh Azar, The enlightenment of the greengage tree (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Best Young Australian Novelists (2)
The Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelists award is announced annually to coincide with the opening of the Sydney Writers Festival. Of course, there is no live festival this year, but awards announcements can still go ahead can't they? I have posted on these awards before, but that was 2013, so I figured I could … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Best Young Australian Novelists (2)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting locals in 1927
Back in 2014 I wrote two Monday Musings posts on a plebiscite held in 1927. It involved readers of Melbourne's The Argus newspaper naming those they deemed "the six leading poets and the six foremost writers of fiction of Australia and New Zealand”. You can see the results in my first post, and some post-plebiscite commentary … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting locals in 1927
Heather Rose, Bruny (#BookReview)
If The yield (my review) was Tara June Winch's passion project, I'd say Bruny is Heather Rose's. It's a very different book to her previous novel The museum of modern love (my review). Not only is it a strongly plot-driven novel, but it's about something that is clearly dear to her heart, the future of Tasmania … Continue reading Heather Rose, Bruny (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing WA
Time for a change from COVID-19 inspired Monday Musings, methinks, so I'm returning to something more straightforward like continuing my little trip around Australia's writers centres. Today, we travel west to look at Writers WA. Unfortunately, I cannot find anything on the Writing WA website about its history. I do find it disappointing when organisations … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing WA
Julie Thorndyke, Mrs Rickaby’s lullaby (#BookReview)
Quaint title, eh? I really didn't know what to expect when I accepted this book for review, but accept I did because the publisher is a quality little press and because the author, Julie Thorndyke, although unknown to me, has a track record as a writer, particularly of tanka. Mrs Rickaby's lullaby, however, is her … Continue reading Julie Thorndyke, Mrs Rickaby’s lullaby (#BookReview)
Stella Prize 2020 Winner announced
Well, a very different announcement "party" for the announcement of the 2020 Stella Prize winner but one that was exciting for those of us not in Melbourne, because we could attend! It was a beautifully conceived and smoothly produced program, with words from each of the shortlisted writers and each of the judges, plus a … Continue reading Stella Prize 2020 Winner announced
Monday musings on Australian literature: Armchair travelling
Over at The Resident Judge of Port Phillip, Janine is publishing a series of travel posts on My non-trip in the year of coronavirus. You see, as she writes in her first post, published on April 3, she would, that day, have been "folding up the laptop, packing my case and taking up my passport all … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Armchair travelling
Whispering Gums 