Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2012 (2013), Round 2

Methinks our Meanjin Tournament of Books judges partied a little too much over the silly season because it has taken a few weeks for the second round to be judged. However, the judging has now concluded and the eight stories have been reduced to four, as follows: Round 2 Match 1: Thea Astley's 'Hunting the … Continue reading Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2012 (2013), Round 2

Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2012, Matches 7-8

With this post, we finish the first round of this year's Tournament of Books, so here goes ... next post will look at Round 2. Match 7: Henry Lawson's "The drover's wife" defeated Cate Kennedy's "Static" Like most Australians I've read Lawson's "The drover's wife". It's probably one of Australia's most anthologised stories so it … Continue reading Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2012, Matches 7-8

Monday musings on Australian literature: Literary Awards for Short Stories

Since we've been currently talking about short stories - or, at least, I have been doing so here in my little corner of the litblog world - I though it might be a good time to list some of the literary awards dedicated to short stories in Australia. It's a bit of a lazy post … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Literary Awards for Short Stories

Nettie Palmer on short stories

In a recent Monday Musings I mentioned Nettie Palmer who was part of one of Australia's famous literary couples. Her husband, Vance Palmer, wrote, in the late 1930s to early 1940s, a regular column for the ABC Weekly published by the then Australian Broadcasting Commission. Nettie Palmer also contributed to this paper, albeit less regularly. One of these contributions is a discussion, in … Continue reading Nettie Palmer on short stories

Monday musings on Australian literature: Are short stories on the rise?

Today I'll dip my toes into the muddy waters that comprise short stories. Regular readers of this blog know that I'm rather partial to short stories. Why, I wonder, are they still pretty much the second class citizen of the literary world? Marion Halligan said, on the release of her latest collection, Shooting the fox, that her … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Are short stories on the rise?