Emily O’Grady, The yellow house (#BookReview)

Although Emily O'Grady's debut novel The yellow house won this year's prestigious The Australian/Vogel's Literary Award for unpublished manuscripts by authors under 35, I wasn't sure at first that I was going to like it. I think this was because I was feeling I'd read a surfeit of books this year about young people living challenging lives … Continue reading Emily O’Grady, The yellow house (#BookReview)

Monday musings on Australian literature: Barbara Jefferis Award and negative depictions of women

A month ago, blogger Kim Forrester (Reading Matters) tweeted "I’ve stopped reading books where a woman being murdered is the plot point. Let’s change the story." I thought this was interesting, but didn't think a lot about it at the time because I read very little crime (though I do watch some). However, I was … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Barbara Jefferis Award and negative depictions of women

Margaret Merrilees, Big rough stones (#BookReview)

In her latest novel Big rough stones, Margaret Merrilees seems to have done for Australian lesbians what Armistead Maupin did for the American gay community in his Tales of the city series. It is the story, spanning roughly three decades from around 1970s on, of a character named Ro and her lesbian sisterhood in Adelaide. … Continue reading Margaret Merrilees, Big rough stones (#BookReview)

Monday musings on Australian literature: Reading for Reconciliation

Funny sometimes how Monday Musings topics suddenly appear to me. I was researching for a future post, when I came across a site called Reading for Reconciliation - and couldn't go past it for today's post. However, the site's Home Page needs a bit of unpicking. It has a heading, "Finalists in 2012 Queensland Reconciliation Awards", … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Reading for Reconciliation

Elizabeth Kleinhenz in conversation with Chris Wallace – about Germaine Greer

It made for a busy night, given that the last Tuesday of the month is also my reading group night, but I had to go to this ANU Meet the Author event, because it involved Canberra academic/journalist (not to mention Germaine Greer biographer) Chris Wallace conversing with Elizabeth Kleinhenz, whose biography, Germaine: The life of Germaine … Continue reading Elizabeth Kleinhenz in conversation with Chris Wallace – about Germaine Greer

Monday musings on Australian literature: And now it’s booktubers

Well, actually, it's not quite "and now" because booktubers have been around for a while - apparently. Or, so I read in an article, sent to me by occasional commenter here Neil. (Thanks Neil.) The article is from ABC RN's The Hub program: it contains a link to the segment on the radio program, as … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: And now it’s booktubers

Queensland Literary Awards 2018 winners announced

Hot off tonight's twitter feed are this year's winners of the Queensland Literary Awards. They combine specific state awards and awards for which all Australian writers are eligible. Here is the whole suite of winners in the order they were announced: Queensland Premier’s Award for a work of State Significance: Jackie Ryan's Expo 88 Young Publishers … Continue reading Queensland Literary Awards 2018 winners announced

Monday musings on Australian literature: Memorable homes in Aussie novels

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" is a novel opener that many of us will recognise, I'm sure. It comes, of course, from Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. For some reason it popped into my head recently, and it got me thinking, not about first lines, but about famous fictional houses - and … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Memorable homes in Aussie novels

Nadia Wheatley, Her mother’s daughter: A memoir (#BookReview)

In Her mother's daughter: A memoir, Australian writer Nadia Wheatley has written the sort of hybrid biography-memoir that I've reviewed a few times in this blog. All of them, as I mentioned in my recent Meet the Author post, have been mother-daughter stories, Susan Varga’s Heddy and me, Anna Rosner Blay’s Sister, sister, and Halina Rubin’s … Continue reading Nadia Wheatley, Her mother’s daughter: A memoir (#BookReview)