I wrote a piece for Killings (the blog of literary magazine Kill Your Darlings) on my eventful trip to New York City. It begins: Like Loco, Pola and Schatze I was drawn to New York City to find a millionaire playboy. Wait, that’s not right. But in my nine days in NYC I did sometimes feel that I was acting … Continue reading New York, Noo Yawk for Killings
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New York, New York
It's election day in America and I'm about to go spend the day at MoMA. People seem a little anxious; here on the east coast they've just been through Sandy and New York City is only just beginning to get back to normal. Last night it was very loud on the Lower East Side when … Continue reading New York, New York
Going to America
Feels strange that I'm flying to the US tomorrow as I sit here glued to live feeds from Hurricane Sandy. I'm due to arrive in Dallas on Wednesday afternoon, then fly straight to Atlanta. But it probably depends how far inland/south the storm comes. I'm a bit worried as I'm due at a conference at … Continue reading Going to America
Exquisite restraint for maximum expression: an interview with Colm Tóibín (part two)
Brooklyn Colm Toibin (Aus, US) Picador 9780330425612 Part one of this interview can be found here. Tóibín has, to date, written or edited 21 books. I asked him which had been the most difficult to write, and which had been the most joyful. He said: ‘There’s a long story in the collection Mothers and Sons which I … Continue reading Exquisite restraint for maximum expression: an interview with Colm Tóibín (part two)
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
Collected Stories – Richard Yates
Vintage 9780099518549 (Aus, US) When a man is fired from his job in the story ‘A Glutton for Punishment’, he realises he has enjoyed the failures in his life. The character in this – like many of the other characters in Richard Yates’ Collected Stories – runs over a conversation in his head, with his … Continue reading Collected Stories – Richard Yates
Guest review: Sam Cooney on Mark Mordue's Dastgah
Dastgah, Mark Mordue Allen & Unwin (2001, Australia). Also published overseas. Review by Sam Cooney. Dastgah is an account of Australian writer, journalist and editor Mark Mordue's first trip overseas: a one-year journey through the regions of India, Nepal, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Iran, and the cities of Paris and New York. The … Continue reading Guest review: Sam Cooney on Mark Mordue's Dastgah
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
Scribe, 2007, 9781921372148 (Aus, US) James is eighteen, works at his mother's gallery in New York, and is trying to worm his way out of going to Brown in the fall. Why? He prefers the idea of buying a nice old house out in a ‘quiet' state, and not being around other people his own … Continue reading Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
Factory Girl vs. The Notorious Betty Page – Film Review
Factory Girl (dir. George Hickenlooper) and The Notorious Betty Page (dir. Mary Harron) were released on DVD in Australia in August, 2007. Factory Girl and The Notorious Betty Page both depict women whose circumstances lead them to positions of difference. TNBP is a slightly superior film in that Betty is likeable and believable in the … Continue reading Factory Girl vs. The Notorious Betty Page – Film Review
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