In 2021 Australian artist Peter Wegner won Australia’s prestigious portrait painting prize, the Archibald, with his painting of the Australian artist Guy Warren, who also happened to be a centenarian. That year also happened to be the prize's centenary. Coincidence? Who knows! Regardless, the portrait was in fact part of a Centenarians project which Wegner … Continue reading Peter Wegner’s Centenarians
Aging
Yarra Valley Writers Festival 2020 (Online): New Release Sundays: Robert Dessaix
Back in May, I attended several sessions of the Yarra Valley Writers Festival (YVWF), a COVID-19 bonus, as most of you know. The Festival also runs two regular events, a weekly New Release Sundays and a monthly Bookclub. I haven't managed to attend any, until today, which involved Festival Ambassador Michael Veitch speaking with Australian … Continue reading Yarra Valley Writers Festival 2020 (Online): New Release Sundays: Robert Dessaix
Griffith Review 68: Getting on (#BookReview)
I love reading the Griffith Review, though have mostly only reviewed individual articles on this blog. It's a meaty quarterly, with each edition being devoted to a particular theme. Edition 68's theme, Getting on, seemed apposite for my reading group and so was our August selection. Although it was confronting at times, it was a … Continue reading Griffith Review 68: Getting on (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Older men protagonists
Early last year, I wrote a Monday Musings on Older women protagonists. With my father having turned 100 last month, I figured it was time I explored older men protagonists in Australian literature. It proved a bit harder than I expected, but gradually books started to make themselves known to me. As in my older … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Older men protagonists
Monday musings on Australian literature: Older women protagonists
This post was inspired by Book Word's "older women in fiction" project, which involves her reading and posting reviews for books with older women protagonists as well as encouraging others to read these books and sharing them with her. She has quite a list on the page I've linked above, and is adding to it … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Older women protagonists
Delicious descriptions from Down under: Julian Barnes on ageing and memory
This is the second Delicious Description I have written about ageing. It probably won't be the last because, being a woman of a certain age, I am starting to connect with authors who explore the impact of ageing. I loved Barnes' description of failing memory in his The sense of an ending (which I recently reviewed): … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down under: Julian Barnes on ageing and memory
Nora Krouk, Warming the core of things
life wrapped in bundles of painful joy (from "Skies will be luminous") The reason I like to read poetry is the obvious one - the way poets can capture a feeling or idea in just a few carefully chosen words that are presented through a controlled rhythm. Nora Krouk fills this bill nicely! I hadn't … Continue reading Nora Krouk, Warming the core of things
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Thea Astley on aging
Regular readers of this blog will now that I'm a big fan of Thea Astley. One of her last novels (novella, actually) was Coda, a biting story about elderly widow Kathleen who is losing her memory but struggling, with little help from her self-centred children, to maintain some independence and, more, dignity. The book is full of wonderful … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Thea Astley on aging
On growing old
I am currently reading Haruki Murakami's What I talk about when I talk about running. I will write more on it when I've finished it, but today I came across this statement which rather caught my attention: ...one of the privileges given to those who've avoided dying young is the blessed right to grow old. … Continue reading On growing old
Whispering Gums 