For some reason, I haven't posted on the Miles Franklin Award shortlist for a few years, probably partly due to timing because I often travel in the southern hemisphere winter. However, I have time to post on this year's shortlist that has just been announced, and, what's more, I have read or will read more … Continue reading Miles Franklin Award 2025 shortlist
Diversity
Monday Musings on Australian literature: Diverse publishing
With the idea and practice of diversity under attack in more than one place around this world of ours, it's encouraging to see publishers continuing to support the need for more diversity in their output. I've written several Monday Musings about diversity in publishing, including these, listed from the most recent to the earliest: Bundyi … Continue reading Monday Musings on Australian literature: Diverse publishing
Miles Franklin Award 2022 shortlist
I didn't post this year's longlist when it came out last month, and if any of you have been following the award you will know that controversy has, once again, hit it, with one of the longlisted books, John Hughes' The dogs, being withdrawn on the grounds of plagiarism. That's a shame for me, as … Continue reading Miles Franklin Award 2022 shortlist
Monday musings on Australian literature: Diversity and memoir
Hands up if you've read memoirs by First Nations writers, Immigrant writers, Gay writers, Transgender writers, Writers with a disability, and so on? I sure have, and have reviewed several on this blog - including ones by Archie Roach, Marie Munkara, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Alice Pung, Maxine Beneba Clarke, and Jessica White. Black Inc has … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Diversity and memoir
Monday musings on Australian literature: Stella judges on the zeitgeist in Australian fiction
Last week I reported on the longlist for this year's Stella Prize, and shared an excerpt from the judge's comments. For today's Monday Musings, I'm reiterating most of that - for us to think about and discuss: Reading for the Stella Prize … [is] a sample of the zeitgeist, a look at what is informing … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Stella judges on the zeitgeist in Australian fiction
Monday musings on Australian literature: GenreCon 2017 by Tweet (#gcoz)
First off, no, I didn't attend this year's GenreCon which took place this weekend past in Brisbane, Queensland. However, I did see many of the tweets that emanated from attendees (using hashtag #GCoz) and found many of them extending beyond the genre focus. So, I thought I'd pass some on. Not all tweeters identified the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: GenreCon 2017 by Tweet (#gcoz)
Monday Musings on Australian literature: the Boundless Festival
Last Saturday, the NSW Writers’ Centre and Bankstown Arts Centre presented Boundless: A Festival of Diverse Writers, which they describe as the "first-ever festival focused on Indigenous and culturally diverse Australian writers and writing". My first reaction was, Really? Surely not. There was Blak and Bright held last year in Melbourne. But, hmm, that was specifically … Continue reading Monday Musings on Australian literature: the Boundless Festival
Whispering Gums 