1. Bendigo Writers Festival is on this weekend. I'm seeing a stream of tweets in my feed. Looks like some good sessions, but what I've really noticed are the staging and flower arrangements. Gorgeous. One day I'll get up there for the festival. 2. And on aesthetics, here is an article from today about [...]
Category: Fiction
Battling on with Sir Salman
I am in the final stages of Midnight's Children and what a struggle it is. This is not a novel that will give itself over to me in any way. Just when I think I'm getting a grip, it slips away from me, like one of the frequent snake motifs scattered through the book, or [...]
Read #1: The God of Small Things
I finished my first Reading India book last night, Arundhati Roy's first - and only - published novel, The God of Small Things. It's a book I had tried once before to read, and not gotten through the first twenty or so pages. This time, because of my challenge, I persisted. And for a long [...]
Plans for 2016
As I said before, this is my Year of Reading India. The rules are I don't buy any new local or overseas fiction, with the following exceptions: my friend's book, coming out this year some time books that fit into my written by an Indian author/set in India/about India books that are necessary for my reading [...]
Signing off, festively yours
It's that time of year to go quiet, but before I do, here are my top 5 reads for 2015: A Little Life, Hanya Hanagihara The Wonder Lover, Malcolm Knox A Strangeness in My Mind, Orhan Pamuk H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr Yes, they are [...]
Reading catch-up, almost end of 2015
But I will squeeze a few more books in by the end of the year. Last book I listed was Pamuk's A Strangeness in My Mind, which was book 44. Then, I went to Ubud. In my suitcase I took one bottle of champagne, and several books, including Lucy Treloar's Salt Creek; Hanya Yanagihara's A [...]
2, 2 and 2 at Amanda Curtin’s blog
The lovely Amanda Curtin (who I met at the recent Ubud Writers Festival) asked me if I'd participate in a series she runs on her blog, looking up looking down. The idea is you write about 2 things that inspired your book, 2 places connected with the book (geographical or metaphysical) and 2 favourite 'anythings' somehow connected [...]
5 influential books
Culture Street asked me to write about five books that influenced me, including one from childhood. This was a fantastic exercise as it made me really think hard about which books - among many many - had some sort of influence that I could trace. I had 100 words limit to spend on each, they [...]
Back from my fishing trip aka The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2015
It was really good and while the added six days were kind of not good, they were also good. Good. Here are some photos from my launch, which was held at the divine Sri Ratih Cottages in Ubud, which was also where I stayed. It was really fun doing a launch with a different format. First, [...]
Just me, Toni & Salman
So check out the link below. I'll wait here for you to come back. Radio National Books & Arts Daily I was very excited when I got a message from Kate Evans of Books+Arts and Books+ on Radio National to let me know my interview with her would be broadcast this morning. I listened 'live' and was [...]
My first author Q&A for The Secret Son
My publicist at Allen & Unwin was approached by a reviewer, who'd read my book and reviewed it on her website. Would I consider answering some questions, about the book and how I wrote it? Oh, yes I would! The questions were fantastic, and it's made me realise that after so long with a book, so [...]
The Fishermen, by Chigozie Obioma
Book 42: I finished this earlier today and did so with tears in my eyes. None rolled, but they were there. I found it moving, at the end, and also found that it seemed perfectly paced, the last quarter of the book. I felt doom, I felt apprehension and I felt admiration. It's a fine [...]
The Secret Son, review in The Australian newspaper
Was very happy to see this review of The Secret Son (alongside Leah Kaminsky's first novel The Waiting Room) in the paper over the weekend. An author dreams of reviews, and they don't always happen, small or big, positive or negative. They don't always happen quickly, and they don't always happen at all. With 400 new [...]
Sunday reading catch up including PURITY by Jonathan Franzen
But first, looky here: This is what I saw in The Age Sunday Life magazine this morning. Nice! This is what I cooked last night. I don't think anyone can make a better spaghetti marinara than me. Romeo's in Toorak? I think not. TIAMO in Carlton? Pffft. * Yesterday I spent a lot of the day [...]
Chigozie Obioma and the case for ‘audacious prose’
This week, Chigozie Obioma's debut novel The Fishermen was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Obioma was already on my radar, first because I'd been hearing about the book, and then because I booked into a workshop he's running at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival next month. I booked into it so fast, it was like [...]
Book launch for THE SECRET SON
Last Wednesday night I had my book launch party at Bella Union in Melbourne. It was a fantastic night, I couldn't be happier with how it went. We had a belly dancer and drummer: My book was graciously and intelligently launched by AS Patrić. He said lovely things about it and it was quite overwhelming. He read [...]
Official publication day for The Secret Son
Even though my book has been in shops for a few days now, today is the official pub date. My dad flew in from Perth, where he's almost at the end of a drive-Australia trip with his wife. He's come for my launch. A friend has come from New Zealand to be here for my [...]
Happening
My book is in all good book shops. My book is quite comfortable, in a stack, as a pillow. My book is very beautiful and quite nice to read too. My book wants to be in your house, in your bookcase. My book has the most beautiful cover. Did I say that? My book is [...]
QUICKSAND Steve Toltz
Let me say first, I have A Fraction of a Whole, I've had it for years, but I haven't read it. Yet. I will, because now I know how Steve Toltz writes, I will be eating up all his words. Book number 35 for the year was Quicksand, ah what to say about it. It's [...]
Another book giveaway
Goodreads is hosting another Allen & Unwin book give-away of my novel, THE SECRET SON. Twenty more copies are now up for grabs, so head there if you'd like to be in it. Competition is open until 16 August (AUS and NZ only). But hey, good luck! Enter here.
Monday musings
Melbourne is very cold at the moment so I'm sitting propped in bed, 'working'. And as usual I have a bunch of pages open in my Mozilla browser. I'm always envious of anybody who has gotten to see The Museum of Innocence in Istanbul. I know I'll get there, and I've known about it since it opened. [...]
Book give-away | THE SECRET SON
The ace people at Allen & Unwin are giving away 5 advance reading copies of my book THE SECRET SON, on Goodreads. Click on THIS LINK to go to the page to enter. I can't give any better instructions than that. I've forgotten my Goodreads password, which isn't a good look. Competition is open until 19 July, and Australian and [...]
Things of interest (to me anyway)
Once more I have a raft of open browser windows across the top of my screen. I haven't made much progress on the footy scarf I'm knitting for my husband's boy. Luckily I told him it would probably be ready for next season. The reason why I'm going slowly with this project is mainly because [...]
Wednesday wrap with lettuce
Today the most important thing I'll do is go here: Kate has been talking about this place for ages, on twitter, and while I have done three drive bys in an effort to get a gelato, it just hasn't worked out. I couldn't see the shop, there were no parks available, and so on. But today [...]
When you think a book is merde but it’s a best-seller
It's not often I abandon a book knowing I will never try it again. I often put books down, but I know I'll go back to them. I'm enjoying them, but it's like eating too much of the same thing , you want something different on the tongue. [beat] I know I should be kinder [...]
So there’s this
Allen & Unwin just tweeted this. How is the beauty? And I was so happy to see the bee. Just the week before I'd seen another book with bees on the cover and thought wistfully 'I wish I had a bee on my cover' and then forgot about it. And there it is. Meant to bee. [...]
The Secret Son update – the cover
Last night I saw the cover design for my book. I was standing on Princes Bridge, at about 5.30pm, with a photographer, doing a few extra shots. The sky was full-on moody and the wind was wildish. It looked liked this: I was taking a few snaps on my phone, in between Mark doing his, and [...]
Yaşar Kemal (1923-2015)
Yaşar Kemal was one of Turkey's leading authors, before anyone had heard of Orhan Pamuk. He was also the first Turkish author I read. It was Kemal's Wind from the Plain trilogy that I loved. I read the first book in 1999, during one of my times living in Istanbul. There was an English-language bookshop on Divan [...]
Gone fishing
Leaving Friday for my trip but wanted to close the blog down now, as I have a lot to do before I go. Like googling directions and printing them out. Making sure I have enough boots packed. And hats. When I come back in mid Feb I have a first meeting with my new [...]
What I’ve been reading
I've been reading a lot lately, probably because I'm not writing en ce moment (more about that later, or soon, I hope. There are a couple of reasons for it and one is that my daughter is up against her Year 12 exams, beginning Cup Day, so maman has been in attendance, on the couch [...]
Interview with author Annabel Smith about her new book THE ARK (and some other stuff)
Let me tell you a bit about writer Annabel Smith. I first 'met' her on twitter, and then I met her for real earlier this year when I went to Perth for the writers festival. I think I went galloping down to her in one of the tiered venues, after she was on a panel, [...]
Dave Eggers | Closing at MWF14
Look how gorgeous the sky is through the glass of whatever it is they are calling that space now. ¤ I know, I know, I'm late with this but better late than... you know. Eggers opened with reading a piece, something he's been playing with, that he's never read before, that he thinks might become [...]
Salman ‘Let’s drop the Sir shit’ Rushdie, at MWF 2014 (28 August)
Rushdie, sans zoom Almost done with my catch-up posts. I went to see Salman Rushdie speak at what I call Dallas Brooks Hall but which I think now has another name. I can't move with the times which is why it's always 'Spencer Street Station', 'Telstra Dome' and 'Kardinia Park'. I had a good [...]
MWF14 – MEG WOLITZER & JOAN LONDON
MEG WOLITZER TALKS TO JANE SULLIVAN, Saturday 23 August Sullivan introduced Wolitzer, an author whose book The Interestings has been on my list for a long time, saying she's written seven novels, and is admired and enjoyed in equal measure. Wolitzer grew up with a mother who wrote, and still writes in her eighties, her [...]
Melbourne Writers Festival 2014, let’s call it an Early Friday wrap, with lettuce
Well it's upon us, and has been for a week now. But it really cranks up for me tomorrow. Thus far the highlights have been Meg Wolitzer (last Saturday), Joan London (last night) and Salman Rushdie (tonight). I'm not going to be able to do what I did last year, which was post long recounts [...]
A day in bed a week
Edith Sitwell said something like a woman needs a day in bed a week. I've been trying this out (when practicable) and yesterday I had a day. I read (Patti Smith's memoir about her and Robert Mapplethorpe's relationship, Just Kids) and looked at my phone, and read, and looked at my phone. Went to to [...]
Qaisra Shahraz @ Readings Hawthorn PEN event
My friend Athi and I went along to see my twitter friend Qaisra earlier this month, to hear her speak about her work. Qaisra has been very warm and friendly on twitter, and when I read last year that she was Australia-bound for the Byron Bay Writers Festival, I thought I might make the trip [...]
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Finished this last night. It is wonderful. I'd been hearing about it for quite a while (you know when you hear about books. Other books I hear about, and have yet to read are Claire Messud The Woman Upstairs, Louise Erdich's The Round House (I think, I've got it written down somewhere) and AM Homes's [...]
Catch-up post: what I’ve been reading
I want to share my thoughts on three recent reads.These are selected because I very much liked the first two, am confused by the third, but all of them I read straight through without stopping and picking something else up. This is odd for me these days so there was something about all of these [...]
PWF14 catch-up post, Intelligent Design with Margaret Drabble, Eleanor Catton and Jeet Thayil
INSERT NOTE HERE: THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENT SECTION NOW, ABOUT THE LUMINARIES. JUST SAYING. The first note I have written here is: 'Margaret Drabble's pearls.' They were beautiful. I'm noticing pearls, and wearing them a bit more this year. A writerly friend and I have decided 2014 is 'the year of the [...]
PWF14 catch-up: Intelligent Design with Eleanor Catton, Margaret Drabble and Jeet Thayil
The first note I have written here is: 'Margaret Drabble's pearls.' They were beautiful. I'm noticing pearls, and wearing them a bit more this year. A writerly friend and I have decided 2014 is 'the year of the pearls.' We are trying to bring them back, and it was good to see Drabble is on [...]
PWF14 catch-up: Martin Amis talks to Tony Jones
The young Martin Amis with stepmother, author Elizabeth Jane Howard, and father, author Kingsley Amis. On the Saturday night I went to the Perth Concert Hall to see Martin Amis talk to Tony Jones. I walked there from my accommodations, sculled a champagne and then counted the number of Amis titles for sale at the [...]
PWF14 catch-up: Fallen Women with Hannah Kent, Evie Wyld & Annabel Smith
What a line-up! This session started with Annabel-tech-guru-Smith encouraging the audience to live tweet, and gives us the panel members twitter handles. (@HannahFKent and @eviewyld if you're interested. Annabel's is @AnnabelSmithAUS.) Hannah spoke first about Agnes, the protagonist in her dark, evocative Burial Rites. Hannah said she wrestled with the idea of whether Agnes was [...]
PWF2014 catch-up: The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton speaks with Susan Wyndham
On the Saturday (22 Feb) I went to listen to Eleanor Catton talk with Susan Wyndham about The Luminaries. I think this was the day I wore my new navy skirt I had bought in the op-shop at Freo the day before, when we went to find the Eyrie building. This is a skirt which [...]
A year later
Was just going through my old posts and came across this one from 21 December last year. Great things It interests me that a year ago I had my first draft completed of my second novel manuscript (labelled VERSION1) and that I was trying to come up with a structure for it. What I was [...]
Messages from 2004 – no one is taking a punt any more
I have several large ring binder folders that are stuffed with clipped newspaper articles, book reviews, my handwritten notes from courses and other printed material, mainly pieces on writing that I've found online. Sometimes when my mind is too buzzy to settle on fiction when I'm in bed at night, before sleeping, I pull out [...]
Ian McEwan: On making love work in fiction
If you watch one thing today, let it be this: On making love work in fiction Some quotations: novelists struggle constantly with trying to portray the concept of sustained happiness. There's always the danger that it will seem sentimental, or smug. Unreal. And I think only Tolstoy has truly achieved this "Anyway, literature loves difficulty, [...]
Words
Missing Persons WORDS. I want to talk about words. There are good ones (the solid old Anglo-Saxon ones, often single syllable, and very concrete, like rock, earth, tree, stone, bread, love, sky) and the 'bad ones',which for me are usually poly-syllabic, newer, or Latinate. Cerebral. Adverbial. Hemingway knew the worth of single words. His style [...]
Colm Tóibín workshop – Melbourne Writers Festival 2013
UPDATE: It was announced yesterday that Tóibín's The Testament of Mary has been shortlisted for this year's Man Booker Prize. I haven't read it but it's 'on the list.'*It's a writing day today. I'm lucky to have taught my last session for term last Wednesday and so have been burrowing into my manuscript, wrangling with [...]
Workshop with MJ Hyland at the Melbourne Writers Festival
MJ Hyland has written three novels and I enjoyed all of them, particularly the second (Carry Me Down) and third (This is How). Her stripped-back prose and clever, clever management of points of view I find exciting. In an earlier writing course I did, in 2009, in between meetings every two months we read books [...]
Laurent Binet and HHhH
I read a bit more of HHhH last night, but I was so whacked I couldn't read much. (Twitter does seem a little quiet today, I think people are catching their collective breath after an amazing first few days.) The voice of HHhH is easy to read I find; the narrator, purportedly Binet himself, cast [...]
While I’m cogitating on the next ‘How-to’ book review post…
I wanted to quickly list the books that I have on my shelves that I have found (variously) helpful in improving my writing skills but thought I'd also write a bit about my beliefs for revising work. Editing Knowing and clearly understanding what the different types of revision are is a first step and this [...]
Workshop in Brisbane – writing memoir
On Sunday I flew up to Brissy to attend a workshop at the Queensland State Library, run by the QWC. Facilitated by Patti Miller, it was on Writing the Real Story. While my focus is fiction, and novels (although am working on a novella en ce moment, god knows why, it seems from my reading [...]
SERAGLIO 