The reason for my second choice for the day - a panel discussion on true crime - may not seem quite so obvious as my first, so I'll explain. I don't read a lot of crime, but I do watch it, and I have a slightly more than passing interest in true crime. I loved … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2019, Day 1, Session 2: Defining moments – True Crime Panel
Australian literature
Canberra Writers Festival 2019, Day 1, Session 1: Capital culture
It's Canberra Writers Festival time again. The theme continues to be Power, Politics, Passion, reflecting Canberra's specific role in Australian culture and history. I understand this. It enables the Festival organisers to carve out a particular place for itself in the crowded festival scene, but the fiction readers among us hunger for more fiction (and, for … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2019, Day 1, Session 1: Capital culture
Monday musings on Australian literature: National Biography Award, 2019
It's been five years since I posted on the National Biography Award. Given that, and the fact that some changes have been made since last year, I figured it was worth reminding you (and me) of it. First, a recap: The National Biography Award was endowed in 1996 by Geoffrey Cains, and supported for many … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: National Biography Award, 2019
Monday musings on Australian literature: Introducing Charmian Clift
There's no way I can do justice in a short post to such this complex woman about whom so much has been written, but I'd like to add Charmian Clift to Monday Musings posts featuring Aussie authors, not only because she and her husband, author George Johnston, were one of our significant literary couples, but … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Introducing Charmian Clift
Sebastian Smee, Net loss: The inner life in the digital age (#BookReview)
If you've been reading my blog recently, you'll already know why I am reviewing Sebastian Smee's Quarterly Essay edition, "Net loss: The inner life in the digital age", but to briefly recap, it's because it inspired a member of my reading group to recommend we read Anton Chekhov's short story, "The lady with the little … Continue reading Sebastian Smee, Net loss: The inner life in the digital age (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers SA
Time, I decided, for the next Monday Musings in my little series on Australia's writers centres, this time South Australia's. And it, like Writing NSW did, has recently changed its name, in this case from SA Writers Centre to Writers SA It is, says its About page, Australia's first writers’ centre, and is located at the State Library of South … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers SA
Miles Franklin Award 2019 Winner announced!
Well, good news for me (because it's all about me of course!) Not only had I read more of the longlist and the shortlist than is my usual achievement, but one of those books is the winner - and a wonderful winner it is too, Melissa Lucashenko's Too much lip (my review)! Really, as much … Continue reading Miles Franklin Award 2019 Winner announced!
Monday musings on Australian literature: No Vogel prize in 2019
For those of us who follow the major Australian literary awards, The Australian/Vogel is one we like to keep an eye out for, because it has launched a number of significant careers during its nearly 40-year history. For those who don't know it, the award is for an unpublished manuscript, which can be "a work … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: No Vogel prize in 2019
Monday musings on Australian literature: New Territory 2019
For the third year I am a mentor for the ACT Writers' Centre arts writing program, which was called in its first year, ACT Lit-bloggers of the Future program, but rebadged last year as New Territory or, Adventures in Arts Writing. It was broadened then to include theatre, when the Street Theatre joined the National … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: New Territory 2019
Vale Kerry Reed-Gilbert
Note: It is traditional in most indigenous Australian communities to avoid using the name of a deceased person, for some time after their death. And so, as is my wont regarding writing about indigenous writers, I checked out what I believed to be authoritative precedents, and found that Wiradjuri woman Kerry Reed-Gilbert's name has been used … Continue reading Vale Kerry Reed-Gilbert
Whispering Gums 