Every now and then I feature a specific writer in my Monday Musings - and they've usually been women because they tend to be overlooked. Take Jessica Anderson (1916-2010), for example. Most keen AusLit readers will know her because her novel Tirra lirra by the river made quite a splash when it was published in 1978, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Jessica Anderson
Dorothy Porter, On passion (Review)
Do you read "little" books? You know those small books that are carefully placed on bookstore sales counters where you are buying the book you really came for? I don't often, but every now and then one catches my eye. Today's review is of such a book from Melbourne University Press's Little books on big themes … Continue reading Dorothy Porter, On passion (Review)
Michael Sala, The last thread (Review)
It's clear why Affirm Press chose a comment by Raimond Gaita for the front cover of their latest publication, Michael Sala's autobiographical novel, The last thread. Gaita, for readers here who don't know, wrote an award-winning memoir, Romulus, My Father, about growing up as a migrant with mentally unstable parents. Sala's story is different but both … Continue reading Michael Sala, The last thread (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: On the making of a classic
Having completed the book, I tried to get it published, but everyone to whom I offered it refused even to look at the manuscript on the ground that no Colonial could write anything worth reading. They gave no reason for this extraordinary opinion, but it was sufficient for them, and they laughed to scorn the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: On the making of a classic
Fergus W. Hume, The mystery of a hansom cab (Review)
Sometimes you just have to break your reading "rules" don't you? Two of mine are that I'm not much into detective fiction (despite having reviewed Peter Temple's Truth here) and I don't read self-published books - but then along came Fergus Hume's The mystery of a hansom cab. It's a classic Australian crime novel - … Continue reading Fergus W. Hume, The mystery of a hansom cab (Review)
Delicious Descriptions from Down Under: Francesca Rendle-Short on writing
In my recent review of Francesca Rendle-Short's fiction-cum-memoir, Bite your tongue, I concluded on the suggestion that for Rendle-Short the act of writing, as well as of reading, "changes things". Today I thought I'd share two excerpts from her novel that confirm this, one from her fictional persona of Glory, and the other from her … Continue reading Delicious Descriptions from Down Under: Francesca Rendle-Short on writing
Monday musings on Australian literature: On nurturing Australian literary classics
Over the weekend an article appeared in The Age describing the parlous situation regarding recognition of classic Australian literature. Written by Michael Heyward of Text Publishing, it's titled "Classics going to waste" and argues that those who have the power to choose and influence what people might read - publishers, professors, teachers, journalists, commentators, editors - have done a lamentable job of … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: On nurturing Australian literary classics
Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011: Reviews from the week January 15-21
Week 10 of our Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011 project and, as I reported last week, we are still reading and reviewing. We are, however, slowing down now as most of our team have finished, or nearly finished, their reviewing. This week: Jamil Ahmad's The wandering falcon (Pakistan) by Matt of A Novel Approach. … Continue reading Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011: Reviews from the week January 15-21
Bettye Rice Hughes, A Negro tourist in Dixie (Review)
I have plenty to read at the moment, but when I see a Library of America story come through that is set in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement in the American South, well, I can't resist. I've never heard of the author Bettye Rice Hughes, which turns out to be not surprising … Continue reading Bettye Rice Hughes, A Negro tourist in Dixie (Review)
Kyung-Sook Shin, Please look after mom (Review for the Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011)
Image by Matt Todd of A Novel Approach Am I right in thinking that mothers are more often the subject of novels and memoirs than fathers? Or, is it just that I'm a woman and am subconsciously (or even consciously, if I'm honest) drawn to the topic? Of course, with the Shadow Man Asian Literary … Continue reading Kyung-Sook Shin, Please look after mom (Review for the Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011)
Whispering Gums 