In August 2020, small independent publisher MidnightSun sent me two short story collections, Margaret Hickey's Rural dreams (reviewed last month), and Marian Matta's Life, bound. I enjoyed Rural dreams, as some of you may remember, for its exploration of rural lives from multiple angles and points of view. Life, bound is a very different collection. … Continue reading Marian Matta, Life, bound (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Kate Jennings (1948-2021)
Strangely, Australian writer and intellectual, Kate Jennings, has been in the air lately, even though she has lived in New York since 1979. She's been in blogosphere because blogger Kim Forrester reviewed her novella, Moral hazard, just last month, but she's been more broadly visible too because she features in the documentary Brazen hussies which … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Kate Jennings (1948-2021)
Sydney Writers Festival 2021, Live and Local (Session 2)
My second Sydney Writers Festival's Live and Local event for 2021 was an hour after the first one. This left me time to fill in. It was disappointing that the National Library's Bookplate Cafe was closed by then, which I think has happened in previous years. It would have been nice to sit down with … Continue reading Sydney Writers Festival 2021, Live and Local (Session 2)
Sydney Writers Festival 2021, Live and Local (Session 1)
This is the third year I've attended Sydney Writers Festival's Live and Local live-streamed events at the National Library of Australia. More often than not, I attend these events alone, but I was lucky to find that one of our wonderful local authors, Karen Viggers, was also attending alone, so I had company in my … Continue reading Sydney Writers Festival 2021, Live and Local (Session 1)
Six degrees of separation, FROM Beezus and Ramona TO …
Happy May Day, everyone, not that we celebrate it here in Australia. Still, it's a day with some fascinating traditions so I'm at least going to mark it! And now, having done so, I will get onto our Six Degrees of Separation meme. If you don't know how it works, please check out meme host … Continue reading Six degrees of separation, FROM Beezus and Ramona TO …
Sara Phillips (ed), The best Australian science writing 2020 (#BookReview)
In 2016, my reading group discussed the 2015 edition of The best Australian science writing. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to do it again, and so this month we read the 2020 (tenth anniversary) edition. Our discussion was as engaged as before (and the overall reasons I enjoyed this volume are the … Continue reading Sara Phillips (ed), The best Australian science writing 2020 (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing about the war between the wars (2)
Last week's post focused on attitudes to writing about the war during the interwar period, particularly in relation to the realism of books like Erich Maria Remarque's All quiet on the western front. This post continues the discussion, but will share some specific war writing from the article that inspired this series. But first, a … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing about the war between the wars (2)
Bill curates: Best Young Australian Novelists
Bill Curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue’s vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. Today, what I'd like to know is where do all the Best Young Novelists go? Emily Maguire, who's featured in this post from 2013, wrote one about Gundagai a few years … Continue reading Bill curates: Best Young Australian Novelists
Stella Prize 2021 Winner announced
Unfortunately - though not really - I was not able to "attend" the online announcement as I did last year, as I'm spending a few days in the Snowy Mountains with Mr Gums and two friends. Before I announce the winner, which most of you will have heard by now anyhow, here is a quick … Continue reading Stella Prize 2021 Winner announced
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing about the war between the wars
By accident, really, I came across an article from the 1930s in Trove about war novels. However, with Anzac Day coming up here in Australia next weekend, it seemed apposite to follow up. So, I did - and was somewhat surprised by what I found. Not surprisingly, World War 1 was still fresh in people's … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing about the war between the wars
