November 2017
Bearing Witness
Google describes bearing witness as a term that refers to sharing our experiences with others, most notably in the communication to others of traumatic experiences. This term has been on my mind most of [...]
Books I loved in 2017
I started the year as I always do, with a selection of books by Australian writers, this time because I was fortunate enough to be on a writing panel with Carmel Bird, Josephine [...]
September 2017
Taboo by Kim Scott
Taboo starts with an out-of-control semi trailer freewheeling down a street, a hillside, spilling wheat, two humans and a skeleton as it crests to a stop in ‘massacre place.’ It is a powerful beginning [...]
Mothering under different skies
I was a paranoid mum when my daughter was growing up. Raising her in a city/country/continent far removed from where I was raised made me paranoid. My daughter always knew which two people in [...]
July 2017
The Persian Book Club
One of the unexpected joys of publishing a book is that I am sometimes invited by book clubs to speak about my novel. This can be slightly nerve racking because book clubs have savvy [...]
May 2017
Literary Friendships #2
My second pair of guests are Sue Braghieri and Hannah van Didden. I first met them at a writing workshop a few years ago and we have been friends since. Their responses remind me [...]
April 2017
Literary Friendships #1
A little while ago I started thinking of literary friendships between women, and I turned naturally enough, to Professor Google. Despite trying the words in different combinations, the Professor thought I was enquiring about [...]
February 2017
Brown girls who shout
Whereas we write and speak as members of a small minority of marginal voices, our journalistic and academic critics belong to a wealthy system of interlocking informational and academic resources with newspapers, television networks, [...]
December 2016
The Historian’s Daughter, by Rashida Murphy
A beautiful review of The Historian's Daughter by the lovely Lisa Hill from ANZ lit lovers blog.
The next wave updated (part 2): Rashida Murphy and Karen Overman
Honoured to be featured in Amanda Curtin's blog alongside Karen Overman.