What makes two people in a long-term loving relationship decide to let others in? For every couple, the reasons will be entirely different. For my ex-partner and myself, who explored the option of non-monogamy towards the end of our relationship, the reasons were varied. What I’m fascinated by is the amount of people I know … Continue reading All the love
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Lab coats, lit journals & marrying frogs: Melbourne Writers Festival 2011 diary, part one
It’s that time of the year again, where authors, poets, thinkers and drinkers congregate in Melbourne, and we go along to hear their thoughts about work and life. As I was away in the lead-up, I'm not doing any chairing or official duties this year. I get to go along and enjoy the talks, readings, … Continue reading Lab coats, lit journals & marrying frogs: Melbourne Writers Festival 2011 diary, part one
Brendan Cowell’s How it Feels
Picador, November 2010 9781405039291 Our protag, Neil, is a young ‘arty’ guy from Cronulla whose concerns oscillate between the people of home, and his burgeoning theatre career. He’s self-absorbed, which we know because it’s reiterated a million times in the book. He can’t make up his mind about which chick to f*ck and keep f*cking. … Continue reading Brendan Cowell’s How it Feels
Guest review: Sam Cooney on Clinton Caward’s Love Machine
Love Machine Clinton Caward Hamish Hamilton (Penguin) February 2010, Australia 9781926428024 Reviewed by Sam Cooney. I first encountered Clinton Caward’s writing last year in the lit journal Cutwater; his two short stories punched me in the gut with their corrosive and compelling strength, and the accompanying author interview struck some chords. (Indeed, I said so … Continue reading Guest review: Sam Cooney on Clinton Caward’s Love Machine
Love, sex and intimacy with Krissy Kneen, author of Affection (a ‘responsive’ interview)
Affection: A Memoir of Love, Sex and Intimacy Text Publishing 9781921520617 August 2009 (Aus, US) Prompts: LiteraryMinded Responses: Krissy Kneen Things that are fast/things that are slow Motorcycles. Rollercoaster. Pick ups. Orgasms. All too fast. Slow would be nice. Slow is the ideal, something to aspire to. It all ends too quickly. Everything. And the … Continue reading Love, sex and intimacy with Krissy Kneen, author of Affection (a ‘responsive’ interview)
How to Eat a Wolf by Sharanya Manivannan: a poem
Does all lust start and end like this? Don't get me wrong. I loved my wolf. I held him tethered like a pussycat. I nursed the rumble in his belly with hands gentle as a burglar's. He lived on milk and blood and ocean. He had violets for his furs. It's just that he was … Continue reading How to Eat a Wolf by Sharanya Manivannan: a poem
The inability to relax (an experiment in the confessional)
It's not often that I feel calm. I have supernovas going off in my head, squirmy things in my muscles and fingertips. I'm sore all the time because I exercise so much. It's one of the only ways to expend the energy, wear me down, expend the effort effort effort. And I love the zing … Continue reading The inability to relax (an experiment in the confessional)
Princesses & Pornstars by Emily Maguire
Text, 2008 (Australia) 9781921351310 Update: now also available in a YA edition Your Skirt's Too Short: Sex, Power, Choice Emily Maguire's Princesses & Pornstars is a call to arms. It's a highly intelligent, entertaining, and sometimes endearingly awkward rant. To have a feminist stance is not just to talk about women, Maguire argues, it's to talk … Continue reading Princesses & Pornstars by Emily Maguire
