See also – 'part one: on the origins of a contemporary story'. My feature interview with Alex Miller on his new novel, Lovesong (Aus, US), was published in Readings Monthly. You can find it here. Miller spoke proudly about his 18-year-old daughter, who told him, when he said he was writing a ‘simple love story’, … Continue reading Meeting Alex Miller part two: on wisdom and imagination
writing
Buying time: Liz Sinclair on asking for money to write her book
I was very curious when I heard about Liz Sinclair's project 'Help Me Write My Book'. Like many writers, Liz has to work to support herself, and of course, work takes time away from what she's really wanting to do - write that book. My first reaction, honestly, was something along the lines of 'why does she … Continue reading Buying time: Liz Sinclair on asking for money to write her book
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Christopher Currie interviews Wells Tower, part the first
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Wells Tower Granta, 2009 9781847080486 (Aus, US/Kindle) Words: Christopher Currie and Wells Tower Image: Chris Somerville Back in March, during one of my reverential trawls through my RSS feeds, I began hearing about an American writer, Wells Tower, whose short story collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned was beginning to garner some … Continue reading Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Christopher Currie interviews Wells Tower, part the first
Melbourne launch of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature
The Red Rotunda at the Cowen Gallery at the State Library of Victoria is filled with silver-haired literary giants, and a young woman enters, sweaty and carrying two bags (she has walked from work). She sees a couple of familiar faces but is too intimidated to talk to them. She clasps a glass of champagne and … Continue reading Melbourne launch of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature
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)
Tom Cho: a ‘responsive’ interview
Tom Cho's surprising, funny, sexy, postmodern short story collection Look Who's Morphing is out now with Giramondo, ISBN: 9781920882549. Prompts: LiteraryMinded Answers: Tom Cho Auntie Ling Of the many impulses that the act of reading evokes, there are two that are especially irresistible. These are: 1) equating a text's narrator with its author, and 2) equating … Continue reading Tom Cho: a ‘responsive’ interview
Loco
Hey lit-sexies, a brief round-up this weekend, because, as you know from the previous post I'm up to my neck in my own words (up to my forehead, really, being a bit suffocated by them). I'm half-way through the rewrite, and it's going alright, but to be completely, searingly honest - it's really, really hard … Continue reading Loco
So what's happening with Smoke & Dancing?
I have been asked a few times lately what's happening with this novel manuscript, as people know I'm also working on a new one. Well lit-lovelies, here's the juice. I'm restructuring, rewriting, adding, subtracting, overhauling Smoke & Dancing this long weekend. This is the story so far, in point form (because my brain is mush after the first … Continue reading So what's happening with Smoke & Dancing?
Express or Die? The Sensidictory Artist – an extract
Here is an extract from my piece in The Death Mook, being launched tomorrow night at Dante's in Fitzroy, Vic. Buy it here. In the full piece I discuss Sylvia Plath, Susanna Kaysen, and Elizabeth Wurtzel (in that order). As I'll be reading the Sylvia Plath section tomorrow night, I'm reproducing the introduction and the middle section … Continue reading Express or Die? The Sensidictory Artist – an extract
Smells, Snugglepot, Springsteen Vibes, Sleepers and Stuff
Ah, to write. To do it for the joy alone. I am addicted to creating and recording. I am also addicted to discovery. How does that writer do it? How did they come up with that? How did they capture just how that feels, or what it would feel like, or how it would feel to be … Continue reading Smells, Snugglepot, Springsteen Vibes, Sleepers and Stuff
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