Evelyn Araluen, Jasmin McGaughey and Lisa Fuller with Casey Mulder The program described the session as follows: Join this exciting First Nations panel including Evelyn Araluen, Jasmin McCaughey and Lisa Fuller to explore how culture and Country influence each author’s writing. Spanning poetry, YA and children’s novels, how do Indigenous worldviews emerge? As First Nations … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 5, Our worlds, our way
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 4, Finding Elizabeth Harrower
Susan Wyndham with Julieanne Lamond The program described the session as follows: A literary biography can be a truly fascinating exploration of the life of an author beyond their pages, and so it is with Susan Wyndham's Elizabeth Harrower: The woman in the watch tower. Harrower wrote some of the most original and highly regarded psychological … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 4, Finding Elizabeth Harrower
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 3, Reckoning
Kate Grenville and Paul Daley with Craig Cormick The program described the session as follows: Kate Grenville’s ancestors were ‘the sharp edge of the moving blade’ of colonisation through the Hawkesbury region – the subject of her bestseller The Secret River. Now in Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place, she reflects on the reckoning that comes with … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 3, Reckoning
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 2, What happened in the outback
Garry Disher and Gail Jones with Michael Brissenden The program described the session as follows: Join two of Australia's most highly regarded writers speak about the lure of the Australian outback with its landscapes, characters and unsettled complexity. Here we have different tales of desperate searches to uncover what has happened to two women in … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 2, What happened in the outback
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 1, ACT Book of the Year
A preamble The Canberra Writers Festival is back in 2025, with a new Artistic Director, author Andra Putnis whose biography-memoir, Stories my grandmothers didn't tell me I reviewed earlier this year. The Festival's theme continues to be "Power Politics Passion", albeit not as dominating in promotion as it used to be. The ACT Book of … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 1, ACT Book of the Year
Olga Tokarczuk, House of day, house of night (#BookReview)
About 30 pages into Olga Tokarczuk's novel, House of day, house of night, I turned to Mr Gums and said, I have no idea what I am reading, which is unusual for me. I certainly don't pretend to understand everything I read, but I can usually sense a book's direction. However, something about this one … Continue reading Olga Tokarczuk, House of day, house of night (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: 1925 in fiction
Once again it's Karen's (Kaggsy's Bookish Rambling) and Simon's (Stuck in a Book) "Year Club" week. This week, it is 1925, and it runs from today, 20 to 26 October. As for the last 8 clubs, I am devoting my Monday Musings to the week. The 1920s were wild years, at least in the Western … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 1925 in fiction
Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Sister Josepha (#Review)
It's a year since I've posted on a Library of America (LOA) story, but I was driven to post on this one for two reasons. I have just posted a review of "The scapegoat" by Dunbar-Nelson's first husband, Paul Dunbar, and, earlier this year, I reviewed "A carnival jangle", written by Alice Dunbar-Nelson, before marriage … Continue reading Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Sister Josepha (#Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Quiet achievers 2, Barry Scott of Transit Lounge
Back in August, I wrote the first post in my Monday Musings sub-series on Quiet Achievers in Australia's literary landscapes, meaning people like publishers, for example. My first post was on Terri-ann White from Upswell Publishing. Of course, most of these people aren't really Quiet Achievers. Those in the industry will know them, often well. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Quiet achievers 2, Barry Scott of Transit Lounge
Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize 2025: Winners announced
In August I wrote a progress report on Finlay Lloyd's 20/40 Publishing Prize, a prize in which I have special interest because I love novella-length writing and the publisher behind this prize, Finlay Lloyd. So just a quick recap on the prize: 20/40 is a manuscript award, with the prize being publication. It is not … Continue reading Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize 2025: Winners announced
