The Winners of the the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for 2019 were announced earlier today, but I was driving to Berrima for my annual "same-time-next-year" catch up with a dear Sydney friend. Below is the shortlist for the three categories I posted on in my shortlist post, with the winners marked in bold. Fiction Rodney … Continue reading Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Winners, 2019, announced
Australian literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: 1930s, moving beyond “gumleaf and goanna”
Time for another post inspired by Trove, this one, as often happens actually, discovered while researching something else. What I discovered was the discussion that went on in the 1930s about Australian fiction's coming of age - and the fact that much of this was down to the women writers of the time (about which … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 1930s, moving beyond “gumleaf and goanna”
Special Book and Event Giveaway for Jessica White’s Hearing Maud
Regular readers here will know that I very rarely do give-aways. However, when Jessica White, who is on the Australian Women Writers Challenge team with me and whose novel Entitlement I've reviewed, asked whether I'd be happy to do a giveaway for her latest book, Hearing Maud, and her conversation with Inga Simpson at Muse, … Continue reading Special Book and Event Giveaway for Jessica White’s Hearing Maud
Ros Collins, Rosa: Memories with licence (#BookReview)
Memoirs are tricky things. There are readers who love them, readers who hate them, and readers like wishy-washy me who sit in the middle. I sit in the middle because, for a start, I don't like to say "never" when it comes to reading. I sit in the middle because I couldn't cope with a … Continue reading Ros Collins, Rosa: Memories with licence (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers Victoria
When I wrote my last post in this Monday Musings series on Australia's writers centres, author Angela Savage, who is also the current Director of Writers Victoria, commented that the centre was celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. She was hinting, in the nicest way of course, that I should "do" Writers Victoria this year - … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers Victoria
Monday musings on Australian literature: Growing up [name the aspect] in Australia
With my Japanese trip almost over, I'm posting just a quick - but nonetheless interesting, I hope - Monday Musings this week. Some of you will have guessed what this title refers to; it's to the little recent flurry of anthologies being published in Australia in which contributors write about growing up Asian, or Aboriginal, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Growing up [name the aspect] in Australia
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian novels in Japan
Here is my second Monday Musings inspired by my current Japanese travels. It is, loosely, a companion piece to one I wrote three years ago on Australian literature in China. That was inspired by an article I found in Trove. This one, however, was been inspired by a program I discovered via Google, called The … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian novels in Japan
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian writers in Japan
Given I'm currently travelling in Japan, I thought I'd write a couple of Japanese-oriented posts. My first one - introductory, rather than in-depth - is about Australian writers who live or have lived (loosely defined) in Japan. An early Australian writer who went to Japan was Rosa Praed who visited Japan around 1894–95 on her … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian writers in Japan
Dominic Smith, The electric hotel (#BookReview)
I admit to a brief feeling of déjà vu when I started Dominic Smith's latest novel, The electric hotel, because it starts by telling us that its protagonist 85-year-old Claude Ballard has been living in the Knickerbocker Hotel in Los Angeles for over thirty years. Not another man living in a hotel like our gentleman … Continue reading Dominic Smith, The electric hotel (#BookReview)
Nhulunbuy Primary School, I saw we saw (#BookReview)
A week or so ago, I wrote a post to commemorate this year's Indigenous Literacy Day. In that post I noted that the book I saw we saw was going to be launched at the Sydney Opera House that day. It was written and illustrated by students from Nhulunbuy Primary School, up on the Gove Peninsula, … Continue reading Nhulunbuy Primary School, I saw we saw (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 