One of the best parts of living in Canberra - and there are many best parts, despite what the politicians and media seem to say! - is that we have the National Library of Australia. It presents many literary events each year, to which I only ever manage to make a few. Some of them I've … Continue reading Who me?: Robert Drewe’s Seymour Biography Lecture
Literary events
Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 3, Gender and the study of Austen
Jane Austen and gender studies are made for each other, not only because the content of her novels inspire feminist critique (albeit sometimes conflicting, because, well, all her heroines get married, don't they?), but also because reactions to her tend to be polarised along gender lines. (Remember my reporting in a recent post on VS Naipaul's … Continue reading Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 3, Gender and the study of Austen
Monday musings on Australian literature: Guest post by Annette Marfording of the Bellingen Writers Festival
Having been intrigued by comments made by Annette Marfording, Program Director of the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, about running a literary festival, I approached her about writing a guest post for my blog. I thought her experience might intrigue at least some of my readers here too. Marfording chairs one-on-one conversations and panels at the Festival, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Guest post by Annette Marfording of the Bellingen Writers Festival
Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 2, The art of literary research
For my second post on JASA's Emma: 200 years of perfection conference, I want to share (or, at least, summarise for my own edification) some of the ways the speakers had gone about researching Emma, at least as they became apparent to me via their papers. None of these are particularly mind-blowing - they are … Continue reading Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 2, The art of literary research
Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 1, The capacious Emma
This year is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Emma, so it was natural that the Jane Austen Society of Australia's (JASA) biennial weekend conference, held last weekend, would be devoted to the novel. It was a fascinating and inspiring conference, and one I felt well-prepared for having just re-read Emma earlier … Continue reading Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 1, The capacious Emma
Monday musings on Australian literature: Reading Australian literature
Reading Australian Literature is a lecture series inaugurated at the University of Sydney last year by its School of Letters, Arts and Media. The idea is for writers to talk about a literary text that means something to them. Here is how the website describes it: Writers’ festivals and other popular forums invite writers to talk about … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Reading Australian literature
Carmel Bird launches Marion Halligan’s latest at Paperchain
Sometimes blogging brings you little thrills, and I had one a few days ago when Carmel Bird, one of Australia's literary luminaries, emailed me with the offer to post her launch speech for Marion Halligan's latest book. Was this out of order she asked? As if! So, I attended the delightful launch, and received the text from Carmel Bird's … Continue reading Carmel Bird launches Marion Halligan’s latest at Paperchain
Monday musings on Australian literature: Story and Poetry Readings
I've written several posts in the past about festivals and awards - national and regional - but I haven't written about ongoing lower-key literary events, sometimes called Readings, sometimes Salons, so today I'm going to highlight this aspect of Australia's literary culture. I first planned this post a year ago when I read about the Whispers … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Story and Poetry Readings
Monday musings on Australian literature: Whither Australian literature in 1927?
Last week's Monday Musings focused on a plebiscite conducted in 1927 on Australian and New Zealand authors and poets. It was conducted in August as a lead up to September's Australasian Authors' Week. I found several articles about this week. Some were primarily descriptive, but a few took the opportunity to comment on the state of Australian literature. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Whither Australian literature in 1927?
Monday musings on Australian literature: Specialist literary festivals
Are you a reader of crime or science fiction or fantasy? Or, perhaps of poetry? A few weeks ago I wrote a post on regional literary festivals in Australia. I focused then on festivals for general and/or literary fiction. But, if you have specialist reading inclinations, there are also likely to be festivals for you. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Specialist literary festivals
Whispering Gums 