Eli Funaro's "The dog pit" is the twelfth of fourteen stories in the anthology, Great short stories by contemporary Native American writers. Like the previous stories by Thomas King and Duane Niatum, it was written in the 1990s. Eli Funaro Anthology editor Bob Blaisdell provides very little information about Funaro, and I have to say … Continue reading Eli Funaro, The dog pit (#Review)
Sean Doyle, Australia’s trail-blazing first novelist: John Lang (#BookReview)
Sean Doyle's literary biography, Australia's trail-blazing first novelist: John Lang, provides insights not only into this "idiosyncratic" man, but into two colonial societies - Australia and India - through the early to mid nineteenth-century. Doyle's is not the first biography of John Lang, but it's the first I've read. However, Lang (1816-64) himself is not … Continue reading Sean Doyle, Australia’s trail-blazing first novelist: John Lang (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Book industry awards
How to title today's post was my first challenge - and I hope the title I settled on covers it well enough. What I am wanting to cover here are those awards that don't go to books (or manuscripts) or writers, but to those in the industry - people and organisations - that support writers … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Book industry awards
Thomas King and Natasha Donovan, Borders (#BookReview)
Earlier this year I posted on Thomas King's short story "Borders" from Bob Blaisdell's anthology, Great short stories by contemporary Native American writers. The story was written in 1991, but as I noted in my post, it has also been adapted into a teleplay for the CBC, and turned into a graphic novel for younger … Continue reading Thomas King and Natasha Donovan, Borders (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers on artists
Last week, the winner of Australia's prestigious Archibald Prize was announced, Laura Jones for her portrait of Tim Winton. Winton, as I read in the Herald's The Booklist email, is the first novelist to be the subject of an Archibald Prize-winning portrait in more than two decades, with Geoffrey Dyer’s portrait of Richard Flanagan being … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers on artists
Gail Jones, Salonika burning (#BookReview)
Australian author Gail Jones' ninth novel, Salonika burning, is a curious but beautiful novel, curious because she fictionalises four real people for whom she has no evidence that they met or knew each other, and beautiful because of her writing and the themes she explores. The novel is set during World War 1, but its … Continue reading Gail Jones, Salonika burning (#BookReview)
Author Talk: the Craft of Crime, Sulari Gentill & Chris Hammer with Anna Steele
This author talk was not one of my usual series - that is, not ANU/Canberra Times Meet the Author or Muse Canberra's conversations. Instead, it was presented by the Friends of the National Library of Australia, of which I am a member. Despite the cold, drizzly night, it was a full house, which is not … Continue reading Author Talk: the Craft of Crime, Sulari Gentill & Chris Hammer with Anna Steele
Monday musings on Australian literature: Untangling the tangles
Introducing last week's Monday Musings, I mentioned that the article I was sharing in that post contained a clue to a curly identification I was working on for my upcoming Australian Women Writers blog post. I said that I might share that puzzle this week, and that is what I am doing. I will get … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Untangling the tangles
Six degrees of separation, FROM Butter TO …
Today is the first day of winter here in Australia, and we can feel the chill in the air here in Ngunnawal/Ngambri country (or Canberra). I don't like winter, but my new home (apartment) has the best aspect and we get sun streaming in most of the day in winter (if there is sun, as … Continue reading Six degrees of separation, FROM Butter TO …
Monday musings on Australian literature: Queensland’s women writers, 1920s
Yesterday, as I was trying to untangle a curly identification for my next Australian Women Writers blog post, I came across an interesting article in The Brisbane Courier. Published on 15 October 1927, and penned by one W.M., the 1300-word article is titled "Queensland Women Writers: Poets and Novelists". Of course, it caught my attention, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Queensland’s women writers, 1920s
