While reading the GenreCon 2017 twitter feed, which resulted in last week's Monday Musings, I came across the twitter handle @PopFicDoctors. Intrigued, I checked them out and discovered they are behind a research project and manage the website Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction in the Twenty-first Century. The project is being funded by an ARC … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Genre Worlds
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The sympathizer (#BookReview)
A cover blurb on my edition of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Sympathizer, captures the novel perfectly when it calls it "intelligent, relentlessly paced, and savagely funny" (Wall Street Journal). I loved reading it. It's quite coincidental that I read this straight after Hoa Pham's Lady of the realm (my review) but they … Continue reading Viet Thanh Nguyen, The sympathizer (#BookReview)
Tony Birch wins the 2017 Patrick White Award
The Patrick White Award is one of Australia's very special literary awards, and one that I posted in detail about last year when Carmel Bird was the winner. It's special for a number of reasons. It is named for Patrick White who is, to date, Australia's only Nobel Laureate in Literature. But, as I wrote last year, … Continue reading Tony Birch wins the 2017 Patrick White Award
Monday musings on Australian literature: GenreCon 2017 by Tweet (#gcoz)
First off, no, I didn't attend this year's GenreCon which took place this weekend past in Brisbane, Queensland. However, I did see many of the tweets that emanated from attendees (using hashtag #GCoz) and found many of them extending beyond the genre focus. So, I thought I'd pass some on. Not all tweeters identified the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: GenreCon 2017 by Tweet (#gcoz)
My literary week (10), Non-fiction November and Lady Chatterley
I had hoped to finish my current book by this weekend, but it's been a busy week with a two-day trip away, an exhibition launch, and a Friends' of the NFSA event, on top of usual commitments. However, I do have some "literary" bits and pieces to share. I'll start with the one that isn't … Continue reading My literary week (10), Non-fiction November and Lady Chatterley
Hoa Pham, Lady of the realm (#BookReview)
Hoa Pham was one of the participants at the recent Boundless Festival (my post), so it's rather apposite that her latest work, Lady of the realm, popped up as my next review copy. The very brief author bio on the Festival site describes the novel as "about a Buddhist clairvoyant in Vietnam". Well, it is, but … Continue reading Hoa Pham, Lady of the realm (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Ad hoc literary awards (1)
Wah! It's Sunday night (as I write this), and I've suddenly realised that I'll be out of town all Monday and Tuesday, so what to do about this week's Monday Musings? Something quick, that's what! So, I looked at my little list of ideas for something I could do fairly quickly, and noted one I'd … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Ad hoc literary awards (1)
Stan Grant, Talking to my country (#BookReview)
History is, in a way, the main subject of my reading group's October book, Stan Grant's Talking to my country. I'm consequently somewhat nervous about writing this post, because discussions of history in Australia are apt to generate more emotion than rational discussion. I will, though, discuss it - through my interested lay historian's eyes. … Continue reading Stan Grant, Talking to my country (#BookReview)
Six degrees of separation, FROM Less than zero TO …
Last month I changed my Six Degrees titling practice to not including the end book. Most commenters preferred that approach, so I'm sticking with it for the moment, with apologies to those who demurred! And now, before I get stuck into this month's choices, the formalities. Six Degrees of Separation is a meme currently run by Kate … Continue reading Six degrees of separation, FROM Less than zero TO …
Monday Musings on Australian literature: the Boundless Festival
Last Saturday, the NSW Writers’ Centre and Bankstown Arts Centre presented Boundless: A Festival of Diverse Writers, which they describe as the "first-ever festival focused on Indigenous and culturally diverse Australian writers and writing". My first reaction was, Really? Surely not. There was Blak and Bright held last year in Melbourne. But, hmm, that was specifically … Continue reading Monday Musings on Australian literature: the Boundless Festival
Whispering Gums 