Favourite Books -2021
I read a lot of books, around 75 I think. I kept a tally for a while but lost track along the way. I tend to forget library books [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
Strands of Jupiter
Our resident astrologer was a strict vegetarian Hindu who wore his caste marks on his forehead. With stained fingers he spread out charts and filled the room with the [...]
A Ministry, a Garden, a God
I read a lot of books. For research mainly, or so I tell others and myself but also for pleasure, for comfort and to know myself better. I read fabulous [...]
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, [...]
Books on Shelves
When a friend sent me a photo of my novel on her shelf, my preoccupation with books and how they appear on shelves, inspired me to find pictures of The [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]