Why was Raimond Gaita's Seymour Biography Lecture booked out, but not Kim Scott's Ray Mathew Lecture*. Both lectures, held at the National Library of Australia, are endowed by generous benefactors and are free. Don't get me wrong. I love that Gaita was booked out, but so should double Miles-Franklin-winner Noongar-author Kim Scott have been. His novel, That deadman … Continue reading A paradox of empowerment: Kim Scott’s Ray Mathew Lecture
Kim Scott
Monday musings on Australian literature: Noongar/Nyungar, and the importance of place
Conceptions of home and understanding of place are the central issues in Noongar author Kim Scott's Miles Franklin award winning novel, That deadman dance, which I reviewed last year. From the opening pages of the novel Scott explores notions of home, as the white settlers confront the indigenous inhabitants of the land they are trying to … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Noongar/Nyungar, and the importance of place
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, 2012
The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature are biennial awards, coinciding, funnily enough, with the holding of the biennial Adelaide Festival. I understand, however, that from 2012 the festival will be an annual event. Presumably this means the literary awards will also be awarded annually from now on. If that's the plan, South Australia will finally … Continue reading Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, 2012
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Kim Scott on indigenous connection with the land
A short Delicious Description today from Kim Scott's That deadman dance, but an important one because it attempts to convey to we non-indigenous people just how closely indigenous people relate to their environment. It comes from the same expedition as my previous Delicious Descriptions post: Sometimes Wooral addressed the bush as if he were walking … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Kim Scott on indigenous connection with the land
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Kim Scott on confronting the new
Here is the first of two or more (depending on how the spirit moves me) Delicious Descriptions from Kim Scott's book That deadman dance. My first one presents two excerpts which describe people confronting the new. First, the British settlers during their expedition to find land: They found a path, rocky and scattered with fine … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Kim Scott on confronting the new
Kim Scott, That deadman dance
(Image courtesy Picador Australia) About a third of the way into Kim Scott's novel That deadman dance is this: We thought making friends was the best thing, and never knew that when we took your flour and sugar and tea and blankets that we'd lose everything of ours. We learned your words and songs and stories, and never … Continue reading Kim Scott, That deadman dance
Whispering Gums 