joanne burns taught me a lot about writing during my time at university and with her recent poetry collection, brush, my education continues. What I relish in her work, old and new, is its humour and playfulness, its gimlet-eyed perception and its voltaic surge. In burns’ spirit of inventiveness, I’ve chosen several definitions of the
In 2014, I pledged to spend more time writing and learning about poetry. Galloping away from the Year of the Horse and into the Year of the Sheep (which starts on February 19) I’m wondering: What have I achieved? What tips can I offer to others attempting to stay the course? Tip 1. Write drafts
My story ‘We’re All Travellers Here’ has won the 2014 Carmel Bird Award, announced on January 9. Award judge, Michael McGirr, said ‘We’re All Travellers Here’ is ‘the story of an older mother and her adult son on tour. The son is buried alive in his own sophistication and self-concern. The mother eclipses him with
Three great books sweetened the days between Christmas and January 1 for me — ending a fine literary year and paving the way for a happy 2015 of reading pleasure. I wonder which of these three sweet treats will please your palate over the summer break? 1. Revolutionary Road Richard Yates, with a rapier-deftness like
Robert Dessaix’s voice is as distinctive as a fingerprint and his dazzling flights through fiction and memoir distinguish his writing in Australian letters. What Days Are For: A Memoir, published in November, is classic Dessaix and does not disappoint. Despite its clinical backdrop, it’s an intimate fireside chat, blazing and crackling — and I was
Santa’s reindeers do heavy lifting at Christmas but they don’t get much glory (or cake). I raise a glass to my reindeers of 2014. These are the books I meant to garland with fairy lights well before now … but the year jingled away. Dasher … Combining classical music and travel: Was this memoir written
Speed date 1: Australian Love Stories First crush, slow burn or for better or worse? First crush? Easy. Bruce Pascoe’s ‘Dawn’. It’s a paean to a sleeping woman and the reader shares her lover’s gaze. Sensual. Silver-tongued. Seductive. Here’s an amuse bouche: ‘It is allowed that I may let a finger slide into the cup
Here’s the format: Three questions, three answers, move on. When it’s over, you decide which book of short stories you’re going to date. Your time starts now … Speed date 1: An Elegant Young Man What world are you from? I’m the kind of guy who walks around Liverpool in the south-western suburbs of Sydney
My story ‘Walk Beside Me’ has won the inaugural Lane Cove Literary Award (Short Story), presented to me at a packed ceremony in Lane Cove Library on October 29. Award judge Jeni Mawter said ‘Walk Beside Me’ wove all the essential elements of a great short story through its narrative in a beautiful way. The voice
Cracking the Spine: Ten short Australian Stories and How They Were Written is a diamond that should feature on reading lists the nation over — to ensure its richness can be savoured by secondary English and tertiary Literary Studies students, thoughtful writers and all who enjoy reading and good books. It’s an insider’s view of
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