June 2020
Recovery
The events of the last few months have been too much. The world has been too much. The Virus. George Floyd. Black Lives Matter. Rio Tinto. 434 Aboriginal deaths in custody. 55 Indian [...]
The Parable of Bansi Lal Babu
‘You remember Bansi Lal Babu?’ asks my father, frowning down at me as I sit on the floor of our lounge, back against the wall, ginger cat purring on my lap. I nod. I [...]
February 2020
Moving in from the margins
Talented Perth writer Emily Sun invited me over to her blog and asked me a series of excellent questions, which I enjoyed answering. In this chat we talk about being writers of colour, being [...]
December 2019
My year in books
I read a lot of books this year, no different to any other year. But I did try to read differently, adding writers of colour and translated works to my usual reading list. I [...]
November 2019
UWAP Writers – Michelle Michau-Crawford
In 2013, Michelle Michau-Crawford won the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Prize for her short story, Leaving Elvis, and in 2016, she was published by UWA Publishing, with her debut collection - Leaving Elvis And Other [...]
UWAP Writers – Roanna Gonsalves
In my second post about the UWAP writers I am proud to share this publishing house with, I'm writing about The Permanent Resident and its author, the award winning Roanna Gonsalves. The short stories that [...]
UWAP Writers – Amanda Curtin
Recently, the West Australian writing community was stunned by the shock announcement that the 85 year old publishing house was told to systematically shut down its operations and move to an open access, digital [...]
August 2019
Loving Hardy
English novelist Thomas Hardy was an unlikely role model for a book-obsessed young girl growing up in India, but I credit Hardy, and the Romantic poets, with my initiation into writing. Something about [...]
March 2019
The semantics of slaughter
We know that language matters. As people of colour, especially, we know language matters. Pauline Hanson’s debut speech in Parliament in 1996 sent a shiver up my spine. Words like swamp, ghetto and [...]
February 2019
Gardens of Earthly Delights
On an exceptionally kind February afternoon in Perth yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking to Annamaria Weldon and Moreno Giovannoni about goddesses and fireflies. The late great Mary Oliver wrote this: 'creative [...]