Whispering Gums

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Bill curates

Bill curates: Thea Astley, Drylands

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 15 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. I selected Drylands because a) this is ANZLL Thea Astley Week; and b) I have just reviewed it myself. Sue apologizes that she relied on "not well-formed" notes, but … Continue reading Bill curates: Thea Astley, Drylands

Bill curates: Favourite writers: 3, Thea Astley

August 14, 2020August 20, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 36 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. Lisa's ANZLL Thea Astley Week runs from 17 - 25 August so I thought it would be timely to skip ahead a bit as we make our way through … Continue reading Bill curates: Favourite writers: 3, Thea Astley

Bill curates: Jane Austen and the information highway

August 7, 2020August 20, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 16 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. Jane Austen comes up over and over in Sue's posts, and as I'm as fascinated by her as Sue is, that suits me fine. Here though we are not … Continue reading Bill curates: Jane Austen and the information highway

Bill curates: What do I mean by spare?

July 31, 2020July 19, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 14 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. During this first year as a blogger (2009) Sue wrote an astonishing number of well-researched and interesting posts. Let's say 4 per week at around 600 words per post. … Continue reading Bill curates: What do I mean by spare?

Bill curates: Imre Kertesz’s Fateless or Fatelessness

July 24, 2020July 23, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 20 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. Sue reads some striking books and writes some (many!) striking reviews, of which this is one. I'm not sure I agree with her about Holocaust fiction, but I do … Continue reading Bill curates: Imre Kertesz’s Fateless or Fatelessness

Bill curates: Elizabeth Jolley’s My father’s moon

July 17, 2020July 16, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 36 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. Elizabeth Jolley is one of the greats and I am sorry that I have only read her in fits and starts. I have had, unread, Brian Dibble's biography of … Continue reading Bill curates: Elizabeth Jolley’s My father’s moon

Bill curates: JM Coetzee’s Diary of a bad year

July 10, 2020July 9, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 14 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. When Sue wrote this review in July 2009 - yes I am progressing only slowly, but there is so much to choose from!  - Diary of a Bad Year … Continue reading Bill curates: JM Coetzee’s Diary of a bad year

Bill curates: Orhan Pamuk’s Snow

July 3, 2020June 22, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 37 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. Sometimes I think I am well read and sometimes I come upon a post like this and realize just how far I have to go. Pamuk, I discover, is … Continue reading Bill curates: Orhan Pamuk’s Snow

Bill curates: Tim Winton’s Breath

June 26, 2020June 24, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 54 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. Tim Winton is not my favourite novelist but as a Western Australian I feel obliged to read those of his books that I come across, and mostly they're OK … Continue reading Bill curates: Tim Winton’s Breath

Bill curates: Notes from a Wikipedian

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 6 Comments

Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. I first ran into Sue in Wikipedian mode when I wrote something wrong about Eve Langley, and Sue who had spent a great deal of time and effort on … Continue reading Bill curates: Notes from a Wikipedian

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Recent Whisperings

  • Stella Prize 2026 Winner announced
  • Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (17), Women readers (1)
  • Maxine Beneba Clarke, Beautiful changelings (#BookReview)
  • Monday musings on Australian literature: National Poet Laureate for Australia
  • Vale Michael Sollis (1985-2026)

Latest comments

  1. TravellinPenguin's avatar
    TravellinPenguin on Stella Prize 2026 Winner announcedMay 17, 2026

    I'll look forward to what you think.

  2. Whispering Gums's avatar
    Whispering Gums on Stella Prize 2026 Winner announcedMay 17, 2026

    Thanks Pam … I have just bought it and hope to read it soon.

  3. TravellinPenguin's avatar
    TravellinPenguin on Stella Prize 2026 Winner announcedMay 16, 2026

    I missed the announcement so interested to hear the Graphic novel won. I have enjoyed a few graphic novels. Growing…

  4. TravellinPenguin's avatar
    TravellinPenguin on Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (17), Women readers (1)May 16, 2026

    I read the Saturday Paper at times and have a subscription to the Guardian. It is the only paper I…

  5. Whispering Gums's avatar
    Whispering Gums on Stella Prize 2026 Winner announcedMay 15, 2026

    Oh that’s right Melanie, I was so impressed that you tried … I am definitely planning to read it now!…

Past Whisperings

Recently Popular Whisperings

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Australian Literary Awards for (mostly) Fiction, 2026


The Age Book of the Year:
ALS Gold Medal:
Australian Book Industry Award (Literary Fiction):
Barbara Jefferis Award:
Indie Book Awards (Fiction):
Miles Franklin Award:
NSW Premier's Literary Award (Christina Stead Prize):
Patrick White Award:
Prime Minister's Literary Award:
Queensland Literary (Fiction) Award:
South Australian Literary Awards:
Stella Prize:
Victorian Premier's Literary (Fiction) Award: Omar Musa, Fierceland
Western Australian Premier's Book of the Year Award:

Acknowledgement of Country

I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the nation in which I live, of land that was never ceded. I honour and respect their cultural heritage, customs and beliefs, and am truly thankful for their ongoing care of this country.

Copyright on my content

This work by Whispering Gums is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike 4.0 International

Copyright on images used in this blog

I am careful about the images I use in this blog. Some of them are my own, some I've specifically obtained permission to use from an owner, and some book cover thumbnails are used under fair use provisions. However, I have used others under Creative Commons (and similar licences) when the owners have indicated on their sites/pages that they release their material under such licences. Where possible, I have tried to properly attribute the owners/creators of uploaded images. If you think I have breached your copyright in any way please let me know. Any photos not attributed to others or to public domain are mine. Unless otherwise specified, you are welcome to use them under the Creative Commons license described under Copyright on my content above.

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