Brooklyn Colm Toibin (Aus, US) Picador 9780330425612 Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín was recently in Australia for the Sydney Writers Festival as well as events in Melbourne, including one for the Wheeler Centre. I caught up with Tóibín at his Melbourne hotel to ask him some questions about writing and his latest novel Brooklyn, which I recently had … Continue reading Exquisite restraint, maximum expression: an interview with Colm Tóibín (part one)
Other People’s Words
Guest review: Raili Simojoki on Janus Faces: Ampersand Magazine, Issue 2
Sydney-based arts and culture journal Ampersand Magazine sits somewhere between literary journal, art glossy, and street mag. Eschewing cool irony, it explores notions of humanity and societal change through rare, unorthodox topics with a historical or technological bent. The publisher, Ampersand, is now the local distributor of niche artistic and literary journals like New York’s Cabinet Magazine and San Francisco’s The … Continue reading Guest review: Raili Simojoki on Janus Faces: Ampersand Magazine, Issue 2
Both ways is the only way she wants it: an interview with Maile Meloy
As the title indicates, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want it (Text, May 2010 in Aus, Riverhead US), Maile Meloy's engaging collection of stories, is about the fear, desire, pleasure, confusion and complications of wanting it both ways and sometimes having it so. It's like Guido's dilemma in Fellini's 8 1/2 - he wants … Continue reading Both ways is the only way she wants it: an interview with Maile Meloy
Guest review: Sam Cooney on I Can See My House From Here: UTS Writers’ Anthology 2010
I Can See My House From Here: UTS Writers’ Anthology 2010 Reviewed by Sam Cooney University anthologies are often pedestrian and insular. Even worse, at times they smack of desperation - you can almost wring it from the pages like water from hair. ‘Here is my story,’ each writer seems to say. ‘This is what … Continue reading Guest review: Sam Cooney on I Can See My House From Here: UTS Writers’ Anthology 2010
Guest review: Raili Simojoki on Benjamin Law’s The Family Law
The Family Law Benjamin Law Black Inc. 9781863954785 June 2010 (Aus, US) Reviewed by Raili Simojoki. Benjamin Law’s first book, The Family Law, is a collection of themed essays about his eccentric yet endearing family. His shorter pieces offer quirky insights into eclectic topics such as green burial, sleep deprivation, homosexuality healing workshops, and 90s … Continue reading Guest review: Raili Simojoki on Benjamin Law’s The Family Law
A postcard from Beth Sometimes
Beth Sometimes is the author/creator of From Sometimes Love Beth, where Sometimes wrote a postcard to somebody or someone (or something) every day for a year. She sent me this postcard, which gives you some insight into her work! Sometimes will be appearing at the Emerging Writers' Festival, which starts this weekend in Melbourne (how exciting!)
Guest review: Sam Cooney on Clinton Caward’s Love Machine
Love Machine Clinton Caward Hamish Hamilton (Penguin) February 2010, Australia 9781926428024 Reviewed by Sam Cooney. I first encountered Clinton Caward’s writing last year in the lit journal Cutwater; his two short stories punched me in the gut with their corrosive and compelling strength, and the accompanying author interview struck some chords. (Indeed, I said so … Continue reading Guest review: Sam Cooney on Clinton Caward’s Love Machine
Guest post: Splinters and Ore, by JJ DeCeglie
I adhere to old Henry Miller and I quote: I believe that today more than ever a book should be sought after even if it has only one great page in it: we must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and soul. … Continue reading Guest post: Splinters and Ore, by JJ DeCeglie
Guest review: Elena Gomez on Kill Your Darlings Issue One
I was really excited when Ange asked me to review the very first issue of new literary journal Kill Your Darlings, created by some hip Melbourne literary-types, edited by Affirm Press’s Rebecca Starford. Then I read its opening article: Gideon Haigh’s scathing piece on the Australian book review landscape. I got a little stage fright … Continue reading Guest review: Elena Gomez on Kill Your Darlings Issue One
Guest review: Matthia Dempsey on Patti Smith’s Just Kids
Bloomsbury/Allen & Unwin February 2010 9780747548409 (Aus, US/Kindle) Reviewed by Matthia Dempsey Emerging from their teens, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe first encounter each other in 1960s New York, a recognition as much as a meeting. Smith has fled the aftermath of an unplanned pregnancy and adoption, and the factory future that faces her in … Continue reading Guest review: Matthia Dempsey on Patti Smith’s Just Kids
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