LiteraryMinded

Part One of this interview can be found here. Pictured: Emily Maguire and I before the Sleepers Salon in October. I ask Maguire about the setting. Is it pertinent for this story to be set in Sydney...

In Smoke in the Room, three characters end up in a share house in Sydney. Katie works on instinct and is weighted by an overwhelming empathy. Adam, an American, is grieving and needs to save money to get home. Graeme, an aid worker, has rid himself of possessions and simplified his existence...

Lots of books are getting moved from one place to another this weekend (and categorised and alphabetised) so forgive me for being a bit quiet. It’s not online yet, but my feature interview with Alex Miller, on his new novel Lovesong, has just come out in the November issue ofReadings Monthly. ...

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 awayfrom whatshe’s really wanting to do – write that book. My first...

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2009 ‘Blogging, Dissent & Solidarity’ session. Kadek Adidharma, Dian Hartati, yours truly, Ng Yi-Sheng & Antony Loewenstein. Pic from official festival Facebook page. I’...

This piece is a mash-up of an undergrad essay from a couple of years ago, plus present thoughts, imaginings and speculation onthe narrative of self in a virtual environment. Storytelling is as old as humanity...

Twitter user @whymicesing (Michelle Farran) is the winner of the double pass to theSpeakeasy Cinema screening ofObscene: A Portrait of Barnet Rosset and Grove Press, along with a burgers and bevvies. Michelle’s answer was My Secret Life and Tropic of Cancer. Cheers for your entries! ...

9780702237348 UQP September 2009 (Australia) Review by Lorelei Vashti When I was first offered this book to review I thought: Well, Ms Meyer, it seems that not only are you literary-minded but you’re also literally minded, because what you have given me here is a book about a Brisbane girl r...

The preview: Obsceneis a film biography of Barney Rosset, the influential publisher of Grove Press and the provocativeEvergreen Review. He was the first American publisher of Samuel Beckett, Kenzaburo Oe, Tom Stoppard, Che Guevara, and Malcolm X...

After Ruby J Murray’s On Writing in the World: Ten Things About Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2009. 1. Flying over the top end – veiny, crater-filled land, mercury lakes and billabongs. Th...

Who is your favourite superhero and why...

9780980374667 September 2009 (Australia) Affirm Press If you didn’t already know that Mic Looby was once a Lonely Planet writer and editor, it’s not difficult to guess, readinghis debut novel, Paradise Updated. In...

I started the day yesterday with a plunge into the pool, and then a 45 minute walk up to the festival venues. I will not do this again as the swim + walk, coupled with the heat, just about made me a zombie for the entire day! I am giving myself permission to chillax...

Here’s 5th Wall’s most excellent wrap-up of This is Not Art and the National Young Writers Festival. And here are some more of Estelle’s awesome interviews from NYWF. Katie Jacobs’ dispatches from Ubud, are being featured on Beattie’s Book Blog. Bookman ...