Last year the Stella Prize longlist announcement took place on a Monday, gazumping that week's Monday Musings. This year it's a Tuesday, and it was again streamed online from the Adelaide Festival Writers Week ... As I say every year, I don't do well at having read the Stella Prize longlist at the time of … Continue reading Stella Prize 2025 Longlist announced
Literary events
Author Talk: The season with Helen Garner
It is a measure of the love and respect readers have for Helen Garner that this event, held in the National Library of Australia's 300-seat theatre, had a 200-strong waiting list. And, it was well worth booking early for. The evening was emceed by Luke Hickey, the National Library's Assistant Director-General Engagement. He started with … Continue reading Author Talk: The season with Helen Garner
Monday musings on Australian literature: Final thoughts on Canberra Writers Festival 2024
In 2019, I wrote a detailed wrap-up of that year's Canberra Writers Festival, and I thought to do one this year, though I didn't have the fascinating stats I had in 2019. However, with this year's festival bumping up against November, which is a very busy month in the blogosphere, I've decided to scale down … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Final thoughts on Canberra Writers Festival 2024
Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize 2024 Winning Books Launch with Conversation
I mentioned the nonfiction winner of the 2024 Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize, in this week's Monday Musings, but saved the full winner announcement until after I attended the launch at a conversation with the winning authors this weekend. The participants This year, as publisher Julian Davies had hoped, there was a prize for fiction … Continue reading Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize 2024 Winning Books Launch with Conversation
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 6, The case for critics
Presented in partnership with Sydney Review of Books and Radio National’s The Bookshelf This was my final session of the festival, and it felt the perfect choice after five sessions focussing on authors and their novels. The program described it this way: Derided, disparaged and cursed to the heavens, book critics are depicted as literature’s … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 6, The case for critics
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 5, Your favourites: Anita Heiss
In conversation with Astrid Edwards Astrid Edwards is a podcaster who conducted a "conversation" I attended at last year's Festival (my post), while Wiradyuri writer Anita Heiss (my posts) has made frequent appearances on my blog. This was my second (and final) "Your favourites" session at the Festival, though there were more in the program. … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 5, Your favourites: Anita Heiss
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 4, Your favourites: Robbie Arnott
In conversation with Karen Viggers Karen Viggers is no stranger to this blog (my posts), and I have read Robbie Arnott's previous novel, Limberlost (my review). One of several "Your favourites" sessions with loved authors, this one was described as Robbie Arnott’s fiction is steeped in the wild: women return from the dead as walking … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 4, Your favourites: Robbie Arnott
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 3, Get thee to the nunnery
Emily Maguire and Charlotte Wood with Kate Mildenhall I chose this session primarily because of Charlotte Wood, given I’d seen Emily Maguire the day before, but her presence was plus, as was having author Kate Mildenhall conduct the conversation. Here is the session's description in the program: Emily Maguire and Charlotte Wood have both written … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 3, Get thee to the nunnery
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 2, History repeating
Another preamble What I didn't say in my first post on this year's festival is that the venue where I attended the sessions today is a favourite of mine - and not only because it's where I spent most of my working career. This year, some strands of the festival are being held at the … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 2, History repeating
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 1, The most interesting man in OzLit
A preamble The Canberra Writers Festival is back in 2024, with last year's wonderful Artistic Director, the writer and critic Beejay Silcox. The Festival's theme continues to be "Power Politics Passion", although that tagline is not quite so visible on the website. This is good - to my mind at least. Last year, under Beejay … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 1, The most interesting man in OzLit
Whispering Gums 