The comfort of story
I have always found it hard to tell ‘a single story.’ When Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche warned of the dangers of a single story, I understood her caution a deeper level. [...]
Sydney Writers Festival Podcast with Mirandi Riwoe
I was so happy to talk to Mirandi Stanton about her brilliant novel Stone Sky Gold Mountain, for this Sydney Writers Festival podcast. You can listen to Mirandi talk [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Book Pile – 2018
Globally and personally 2018 was a difficult year, so I built a wall of books and retreated. Here are some of the books I read, and some that I abandoned. [...]
Peddling my wares
These days I write the word ‘writer’ on forms that ask me what I do. I know I’ve earned it. I am that person – a published novelist. Publication has [...]
Cultural Knowledge
Such a loaded term – cultural knowledge – coming as it does with its own set of expectations and hints of secrets. When I try to unpack it a little, [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
Her Story
I first met Shokoofeh Azar in Fremantle about 3 years ago after reading a story she had published in the Westerly. Within 5 minutes we were chatting as if we [...]
A short story – When the sky breaks
This story was first published by Sonic Boom in 2015 and the fact that we are still 'debating' the incarceration of human beings in detention centres, saddens me deeply. Here's [...]