Jonathan Cape (Random House) 9780224093453, 2011 (buy hardcover, ebook) Review by Dallas Angguish Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal is the sometimes disturbing, sometimes tender and often funny story behind Jeanette Winterson’s debut novel Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Whereas Oranges was a semi-autobiographical novel, Why Be Happy is a memoir, a … Continue reading Dallas Angguish on Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson (guest review)
Choosing to fly: When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett
Allen & Unwin, 2011 9781742375564 (buy Aus paperback, ebook, US/Kindle) The main theme, and dilemma, for the two main characters in When We Have Wings is an old one: how do we deal with technological progress, the divides it can create (between classes, between generations), and the power it may provide to a privileged few? More specifically, … Continue reading Choosing to fly: When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett
Emerging Writers’ Festival 2012 program out now
From 24 May to 3 June the Emerging Writers' Festival is on in Melbourne. The full program has just been released. It consists of workshops, panels, performances, networking events and the always stimulating Town Hall writers' conference over the weekend of 26 and 27 May. Please come along to the Late Night Book Club session … Continue reading Emerging Writers’ Festival 2012 program out now
Vintage Children’s Classics launching in August
Vintage Classics (Random House) are launching a new Children's Classics range in August that excites me very much. It includes some novels that had a huge effect on me in childhood, such as The Silver Sword by Ian Serralier (of which I accidentally stole a copy from school), Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and The Secret … Continue reading Vintage Children’s Classics launching in August
North jazz: Kent MacCarter talks to Johan Harstad about Buzz Aldrin: What Happened to You in All the Confusion? (guest post)
Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? UWA Press, Australia 9781742582634 (buy paperback) by Kent MacCarter The concert in which Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad can eat a sandwich, drink a watermelon granita and adroitly conduct an interview without any noticeable pauses for gulping or chewing is an impressive orchestration. Amid my questions and … Continue reading North jazz: Kent MacCarter talks to Johan Harstad about Buzz Aldrin: What Happened to You in All the Confusion? (guest post)
A Drink with… Lisa Lang and Omar Musa
Here, finally, are the first two episodes of the new LiteraryMinded show A Drink with... ! A Drink with... is a literary-minded chat show. In each episode I chat, informally, with a different writer, over a drink at a Melbourne location. Over the course of the show my co-producer Mark Welker and I will feature both emerging and established writers, … Continue reading A Drink with… Lisa Lang and Omar Musa
Pleasure, memory, decay, and The Stranger’s Child: an interview with Alan Hollinghurst
I had the pleasure of speaking with British novelist and Man Booker Prize winner (for The Line of Beauty) Alan Hollinghurst at his hotel last month in Melbourne, over a pot of tea. Hollinghurst's latest novel The Stranger's Child opens in 1913. The poet Cecil Valance is visiting his Cambridge friend (and secret lover) George Sawle … Continue reading Pleasure, memory, decay, and The Stranger’s Child: an interview with Alan Hollinghurst
Guest review: Gabriel Ng on Various Pets Alive and Dead by Marina Lewycka
Fig Tree (Penguin) 9781905490912 March 2012 (buy paperback) review by Gabriel Ng The title of Various Pets Alive and Dead might make you think it involves lots of cute animal stories and some kind of furry genocide. Instead, it’s a very political novel about the global financial crisis and the failure of the leftist ideals, … Continue reading Guest review: Gabriel Ng on Various Pets Alive and Dead by Marina Lewycka
Newman! The Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards axing
You've probably heard by now that one of the first acts of the new QLD Premier Campbell Newman was to get rid of the state's own literary awards. Of course, the literary community across Australia is pissed off, particularly because the awards have given many emerging and Indigenous writers their break, including Amy Barker, Karen … Continue reading Newman! The Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards axing
Sydney Writers’ Festival 2012: tickets on sale
I've attended the Sydney Writers' Festival as 'media' before but this year I'll get to chat with some great authors on stage. I'm chairing three panels in one day, Thursday 17 May. If you see me that night, don't be surprised if I'm drunk or asleep in the corner of the hotel bar. Two of … Continue reading Sydney Writers’ Festival 2012: tickets on sale
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