Just a quick post before bed. I was nervous when I blogged earlier today, but the 'home town' pub event was really great. We had our best numbers for a night gig on the tour yet. Coffs... You're alright. Tomorrow the schedule is very full. More events in Coffs, and then we hit Grafton. I'll … Continue reading #555writers @ the Coast
#555writers: Lismore to Coffs
With limited time, these blog posts just have to flow from my head onto the screen. Please forgive all unfiltered thoughts, badly chosen words, grammatical errors and digressions of narrative and theme... I want to start with what just happened. I invited the five writers Zac, Craig, Ash, Sam and Nick, and filmmaker Tim, into my … Continue reading #555writers: Lismore to Coffs
#555writers: Tweed Heads & Kingscliff
I flew into the Gold Coast in glorious weather, staring out at the mountains and inlets, the blue green ocean. I was ready to get some sun on my skin. When you thrust seven strangers together, there's no guarantee they'll get along. Some of us had gotten up at 5:30am, some were feeling poorly, and … Continue reading #555writers: Tweed Heads & Kingscliff
Craig Sherborne’s Tree Palace and Craig Sherborne, #555writers
Yesterday: The plane is just about to descend as I draft this. Craig Sherborne is sitting in the row in front and I've just finished his beautiful novel Tree Palace. I've been completely lost in the story of this family of itinerants, or 'trants', as they call themselves in the book. The family—connected by both blood … Continue reading Craig Sherborne’s Tree Palace and Craig Sherborne, #555writers
The busiest months of my life to date continue + #555writers
Somewhere among editing a big hardcover book, writing and teaching a university course, submitting reviews and an essay, teaching workshops in SA, Vic and Tas, being interviewed for radio and newspapers about Captives, talking The Trip on the Death by Consumption podcast, filming a TV appearance (for Jennifer Byrne Presents: The Seven Deadly Sins—more on that soon), … Continue reading The busiest months of my life to date continue + #555writers
5x5x5 writer tour, Northern NSW
I'm delighted to be invited along as the official blogger on this upcoming tour of Northern NSW, in the lead-up to the Byron Bay Writers Festival. As some of you know, I grew up in Coffs Harbour. It's a part of the world with which I'm very familiar. It's where I was living when I started … Continue reading 5x5x5 writer tour, Northern NSW
Review: Herman Koch’s Summer House with Swimming Pool in The Australian
'Summer House is a dark satire, scalpel-sharp and more cohesive than The Dinner, with a more complex unreliable narrator, a compelling structure, and a sutured but festering wound of themes.' Read my review of Dutch author Herman Koch's disturbing novel Summer House with Swimming Pool here. I also reviewed his previous novel, The Dinner, for The Australian.
Flash fiction is like a good dram
Cross-posted from the SA Writers' Centre blog. I wrote this post ahead of my flash fiction workshop at the SA Writers' Centre in Adelaide (this weekend: 22 June, book here). I also have workshops coming up at Writers Victoria (see also my interview), the Tasmanian Writers' Centre, and at Byron Bay Writers' Fest! On my desktop … Continue reading Flash fiction is like a good dram
Review: Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame in Readings Monthly
I reviewed Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame (released with a new foreword by Margaret Drabble in the Text Classics series) for Readings Monthly, with the book still ringing in my head (hence the style of the review). When I read Frame I am reminded, too, that a writer might deliberately eschew grammar rules, in aid of rhythm or … Continue reading Review: Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame in Readings Monthly
Interviews in The West Australian and Tincture
In the West Australian: 'I thought of (Captives) as a pillbox of stories,' Meyer says. 'There are different coloured pills - a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one—and they produce different effects and maybe you can't take too many at once. And they're a little dark and a little strange. But … Continue reading Interviews in The West Australian and Tincture
LiteraryMinded 