I am not a person who generally feels well-informed; for a year I called our Prime Minister Julia Jillard. So I’ve been reading a series of remedial primers, the Oxford Very Short Introduction. More
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Rebus: Game Theory Epiphenomenon:The History of Time Les jambes coupee:Dreaming Recency:Literary Theory
The first two factz came from Forensic Psychology. The last two factz came from Advertising.
Did I win a year’s subscription?
The Best Australian Essays anthology performs this annual reflection for us as a nation, canvassing the prominent figures, issues and events that captured our imagination in the preceding 12 months. More
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So glad you discussed Gillian Mears' essay – I think it is brilliant and very moving. I found this year’s Best Australian Essays one of the best, with terrific pieces from Morris Lurie, Andrew Sant, Maria Tumarkin and Shakira Hussein. Morris...
If one accepts naturalistic as a lifestyle corresponding to present day society, The Doll has lost its relevance. There are no longer itinerant cane-cutting teams, pub life and barmaids have changed greatly since the Aussie male preserve of the public bar was lost, and the social attitude towards unions outside marriage has changed entirely. There seems no reason why audiences nowadays should accept The Doll as anything but a naturalistic play with the set values of its own particular period. More
The images of emptiness weren’t so much emptiness to me, as promise. A kind of lure. Particularly a picture of stockmen on a veranda, looking out toward this undeviating horizon line. And they seemed to me to be in this vast, wonderful, mysterious silence that I’d never before imagined, having come from South London and being brought up as a Londoner. And of course those photos were taken by Sid Nolan – I didn’t know that at the time. More
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How refreshing then to end the year with a good news story about a print work. A story that flies in the face of the above trend and that contradicts the accepted narrative concerning the future of the novel. More
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“But if so, then surely it’s a fairly expensive one.”
Not really, in the big scheme of things. How much does it cost to hire a relatively low profile author to write a book for you? Compare that to the development budget of Dead Island ($20...
This provides a clear rock and a hard place bind for emerging writers: how are you to fund the completion of that first book when you are not eligible to apply for any funding? Having a book contract or long form commission of significant length signed off on doesn’t put you in an eligible category either. More
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I’m pleased that your comments give me an opportunity to talk about the changes we have reluctantly made to our Emerging Writers grants category. When I arrived at the Australia Council three years ago the Literature Board was receiving...
Where previously he imagined a dystopian not-too-distant future in which near every impending global disaster was realised, in this novel the threat comes from the inside — the emotions, behaviours and actions of families, and the ways that their after-effects can ripple across other members’ lives. The novel’s central device is a kind of wish fulfilment made real. As each character struggles to cope with the stresses of family life, Amsterdam offers them a yearned for supernatural ability to help them on their way. More
Months ago I received an email from The Paris Review. For the price of a few café lattes I could extend my paper subscription to include full digital coverage. It seemed a chance too good to refuse. I adore the journal’s elegant design and have been known to disappear when reading one of some 213 interviews on The Art of Fiction. So I tagged the email with a reminder. Then I ignored it. More
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Who can argue with paying for good quality writing, so that writers can be paid a fair price for their work?
As you say, Diane, this market is maturing fast and we are seeing it diverge interestingly. It’s safe to say no will ever pay for access...
I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve always been very dismissive of Russian literature. I don’t know why. Probably just to be contrary. But also because every novel is half a mile wide and I resent having to swim through a book unless it’s Moby-Dick. More
There has been a world-wide discussion of the verbal and written misogynistic abuse that women face, particularly as a result of expressing themselves online. More
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I write an activist, feminist, blog. The main consequence for me has been ‘in real life’, where people in comparatively powerful positions—men and women—have said unkind/cruel/untrue things about me as a result of what I’ve written. Others have...