In October 2006, I was sitting at the airport in Bali after the Ubud Writers' and Readers' Festival, and Eva Hornung (then Sallis) and her gorgeous little boy came and sat next to me. I had seen her speak during the festival, and read her book Fire, Fire, which I found quite confronting. We … Continue reading Eva Hornung on Dog Boy, writing and activism
Australian literature
Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
Sleepers Publishing, 9781740667012, 2009 (Aus, US) Things We Didn't See Coming is a series of vignettes, from different stages of the unnamed protagonist's life in a dystopian alterno-present/future. It is a post-apocalyptic story, but told in a hard-boiled, yet highly resonant literary style. The sentences are sharp, the character is hard and the environment is … Continue reading Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
Other People's Favourite Books – Troy Martin on Tim Winton's Cloudstreet
Tell us a little about yourself and what you do. Hi, I'm Troy, a high school English teacher, frustrated writer, all round book nerd. Being an ‘English' teacher means more than grammar or literacy, but literature, blogs, picture books, websites, cultural studies and much more... I have been teaching in the NSW public education system … Continue reading Other People's Favourite Books – Troy Martin on Tim Winton's Cloudstreet
Svetlana or Otherwise – Tiggy Johnson
Mockingbird, 2007, 9781740274616 Svetlana or Otherwise is a collection of small explorations. Tiggy Johnson constructs a story well, often ending with a surprise. Most of the stories revolve around a character in a family situation; some deal with memory; all of them touch on the ephemeral, as the best literature usually does. Some are in … Continue reading Svetlana or Otherwise – Tiggy Johnson
‘Discomfort is sometimes what is most precious to me about great art’ – Christos Tsiolkas on The Slap
Note: This review/interview is uncensored and contains swearing. The Slap (Aus, US) is a novel that grabs you by your tender spots, squeezes, and doesn't let go. Set in contemporary Melbourne and its suburbs, a man slaps another person's child at a barbeque. From there, the narrative expands out to the lives of several characters of … Continue reading ‘Discomfort is sometimes what is most precious to me about great art’ – Christos Tsiolkas on The Slap
The Steele Diaries – Wendy James
Vintage, 2008, 9781740513845 Ruth comes from a line of artists, but preferred to study medicine and become a doctor like her father. When her father passes away, she is forced to leave the city and head home to arrange everything. A man called Douglas Grant calls, who had written a biography of her grandmother - bohemian artist … Continue reading The Steele Diaries – Wendy James
The Comfort of Figs by Simon Cleary
9780702236433, UQP, 2008 (Australia) This book opens in the past, with the sight of a body falling from a bridge. In the present, Robert O'Hara makes small gestures - planting fig trees, comforting his distraught girlfriend after an attack on them both, easing his way into an old man's life to learn the secrets of his own … Continue reading The Comfort of Figs by Simon Cleary
Two Hamlets
Hamlet: A Novel, John Marsden, Text, 9781921351471, 2008 (Australia) + Hamlet (film), directed by Kenneth Branagh, 1996. John Marsden has always had a distinct ability to grasp and express adolescent experience. His Hamlet: a Novel is highly accessible for an audience familiar with heightened perceptions of desire, deception, unfairness, traps, loneliness, defiance, and existential angst. If you are familiar … Continue reading Two Hamlets
Go Nam!
Nam Le has won the $140,000 Dylan Thomas Prize, for a writer under 30. And how well-deserved! Read all about it from the ABC, or The Oz, or perhaps what we printed in WBN today (subscription required). And do revisit my 'responsive' interview with Nam. This is so exciting, when you love a writer's work - because a prize … Continue reading Go Nam!
Overland 192
Overland is an Australian literary journal that has been around for over fifty years. It claims to be ‘temper democratic, bias Australian' and is proudly left-leaning. I got my hands on the Spring issue (no. 192) at the Melbourne Writer's Festival and have been devouring the eclectic selection of articles, poetry, stories, and reviews here … Continue reading Overland 192
LiteraryMinded 