Well, good news for me in that I had read three of the longlist, and two of those have made it through to the shortlist. Interestingly, the one that didn't, Trent Dalton's Boy swallows universe, has been making such a splash that I rather expected it to be shortlisted. But, as we all know, you … Continue reading Miles Franklin Award 2019 shortlist
Australian literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: the Australian Common Reader
The Australian Common Reader is, says its website, "a world-leading database of digitised reading records" which "contains thousands of records of library borrowers between 1860 and 1918." Initiated by Western Australia's Curtin University professor Tim Dolin in 2008*, it was acquired by ANU in 2013, and is managed by its Centre for Digital Humanities Research. It was officially launched … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: the Australian Common Reader
Chris Womersley, A lovely and terrible thing (#BookReview)
Described as "twenty macabre and deliciously enjoyable stories for readers of Fiona McFarlane and Lauren Groff", Chris Womersley's newest book - his debut collection of short stories - wasn't necessarily a natural fit for me. I haven't read Lauren Groff, but I have read and really liked Fiona McFarlane's clever, memorable, The night guest (my … Continue reading Chris Womersley, A lovely and terrible thing (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Books banned in Australia
This week, my reading group will be discussing an American classic, Mary McCarthy's The group. Published in 1963, it sat on the New York Times best-selling list for five months. It also has the honour of having been banned in Australia! I realised that I've never done a Monday Musings on banned books, so now … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Books banned in Australia
World Refugee Day – #StepWithRefugees
World Refugee Day was denoted by the UN General Assembly in December 2000, and has been celebrated on June 20 ever since. Why 20 June? Because this was the date on which many African countries had already been celebrating Africa Refugee Day. The Day's aims, as for all UN International Days, are "to educate the … Continue reading World Refugee Day – #StepWithRefugees
Monday musings on Australian literature: Irish-Australian writers
With yesterday being Bloomsday - at which Lisa (ANZLitLovers) took part in a reading marathon - I thought it might be interesting to talk about writers in Australia who have an Irish background. But, how to define this? Wikipedia lists hundreds of Irish-Australians, although not all are writers of course! The Irish were among the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Irish-Australian writers
Lecture and Book Launch: Australia’s first naturalists
I don't usually write up book launches, mostly because the speeches are brief, and I hope to eventually read and review the book itself. However, as the title of this post tells, the launch for Penny Olsen and Lynette Russell's book, Australia's first naturalists, was also billed as a lecture, hence this exception. Australia's first … Continue reading Lecture and Book Launch: Australia’s first naturalists
Monday musings on Australian literature: Some queer Australian writing
Well, it's Gay (or LGBT) Pride month in the USA, and since I don't think we have a specific national month here, I thought I'd give a little shout out to some of our queer writers. Now, I'm not sure about labelling, but Readings bookshop posted three years ago on "queer reads", while Wikipedia has … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Some queer Australian writing
Nigel Featherstone, Bodies of men (#BookReview)
Nigel Featherstone's latest novel, Bodies of men, is a brave book - and not because it's a World War 2 story about love between two soldiers at at time when such relationships were taboo, though there is that. No, I mean, because it's a World War 2 story that was inspired by Featherstone's three-month writer-in-residence … Continue reading Nigel Featherstone, Bodies of men (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: American apologist for Australian literature
If you read my 1965 series Monday Musings post on literary visitors, you will know the subject of this post. It's Professor Bruce Sutherland, who was credited with establishing one of the first university courses on Australian literature in the USA (at Pennsylvania State University, in 1942) and who became the first American Professor of … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: American apologist for Australian literature
