I've just done my first review for popular American online literary magazine Bookslut. The review is of Wild Unrest: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Making of 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (Aus, US, UK). I say: 'Wild Unrest is refreshingly non-reductive, in that its author allows Gilman to be complex, to have a nature that … Continue reading Bookslut review of Wild Unrest
Celebrity Book Auction for literacy
One thing that was brought to my attention while I was in WA was The Great Celebrity Book Auction. Well-known people from Australia and beyond have donated books that have influenced their lives, to raise money for literacy programs at Kyilla Primary School, a small Government school of 200 students in North Perth. The children … Continue reading Celebrity Book Auction for literacy
Perth Writers Festival 2011: The A-Z of Publishing
Yesterday I chaired the 'A-Z of Publishing' day at Perth Writers Festival. Two-hundred people were in attendance. They heard Vintage/Knopf (Random House) publisher Meredith Curnow, senior editor at Text Publishing Mandy Brett and Fremantle Press Publisher Clive Newman speak on the topic 'Where on Earth Do You Start?' Then manuscript assessor John Harman and literary agent Lyn Tranter … Continue reading Perth Writers Festival 2011: The A-Z of Publishing
Renowned biographer Hazel Rowley dies
I recently had the pleasure of reading Hazel Rowley's wonderful biography of the Roosevelts, Franklin and Eleanor, in preparation for our panel in Perth this weekend. Last week I was notified that Rowley was ill, and that she wouldn't be able to attend the festival. I hoped that it wasn't serious and that she would pull … Continue reading Renowned biographer Hazel Rowley dies
20 classics in 2011 #3: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? Yarrrr, I was in the mood for some adventure! And so much legend exists because of this one book: one-legged pirates, parrots, treasure maps marked with an X and more. When was it published? It was originally … Continue reading 20 classics in 2011 #3: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Guest review: ‘It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun’, Alice Robinson on 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
Simon & Schuster 9781849833905 (Aus, US, UK) Reviewed by Alice Robinson Aron Ralston is starving, dehydrated and on the brink of death when, six days after being pinned beneath an 800-pound boulder, stranded alone in a remote Utah canyon, he snaps his own wrist; the blade of the $15 multi-tool in his pack just won’t … Continue reading Guest review: ‘It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun’, Alice Robinson on 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
The moody city: Meg Mundell on Black Glass
Black Glass Meg Mundell Scribe, March 2011 9781921640933 (Aus) In Meg Mundell’s dark and stylish debut, two sisters and a cast of characters from different tiers of society fight for survival, recognition and connection in near-future Melbourne. The novel is in some ways about maintaining some kind of hope or dreams in a fractured, controlling … Continue reading The moody city: Meg Mundell on Black Glass
Social media marketing & bringing back the letter
Those two things might seem incompatible, but they are two things I have spoken about and written on lately... Recently I was a guest of the Australian Publishers Association at the Social Media Marketing seminars in Sydney and Melbourne. There were all sorts of speakers - writers, booksellers, publishers, a 'guru' and someone like me … Continue reading Social media marketing & bringing back the letter
And the winner of the Hide & Seek: Melbourne books is…
Richard Goodwin, of Perth. The winner was drawn randomly. Richard had this to say about his favourite hidden place: 'When we’re visiting Victoria, we love to go to a place called Kyo down on the Bellarine Peninsula. It’s a warehouse full of old furniture, fittings, fabrics, work equipment and art/craft items from northern Asia, the … Continue reading And the winner of the Hide & Seek: Melbourne books is…
Guest review: Matthia Dempsey on What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg
Scribe Publications, February 2011 (Aus, US, UK) 9781921640896 Reviewed by Matthia Dempsey Laura van den Berg has particular skill in capturing the strangeness that can come at times—the sense of being a stranger to your own life and the world. For many of the women in her stories this feeling is the result of a … Continue reading Guest review: Matthia Dempsey on What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg
LiteraryMinded 