I enjoyed this article on ‘Late Bloomers’ in The New Yorker. Makes me feel less rushed (for a little while). Hayden Carruth is a poet who passed away recently. Here are two poems I like: ‘Agenda at 74′ and ‘Economics’. Cute, yes? Christmas is coming up. Books are great presents, especially for children. Literacy is [...]
READ MORENovember, 2008
Firmin by Sam Savage
Sam Savage, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 9780297854586, 2008 (Aus, US/Kindle) Firmin is a sad, lonely, depressing book. An anthropomorphous rat, achingly empathetic, shares his hopeless, dreaming, doomed existence. The ‘chinless’ one was born in a bookstore and suffers from ‘lexical hypertrophy’ or, as he also refers to it, a kind of ‘biblio-bulimia’, where he at first [...]
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Nick Cave, Cate Kennedy, Paul Jennings in 2009
2009 will bring many delightful literary goodies. I am privileged to know of them as I wrote an article for Bookseller+Publisher entitled ‘The Ones to Watch 2009′ – it’s in the Summer issue, which has just come out. One on children’s books will be in the March ‘Junior’ issue (which I’m currently working on). I can’t reveal [...]
READ MOREAnother Voice for Nam Le – a Guest Post by Louisiana Alba
Louisiana Alba is the author of Uncorrected Proof, which I heart, so I asked if she would write something just for me (and you lit-lovers). Here ’tis: Italians have a phrase: non mettere le mani avanti, don’t put your hands out in front (to prevent the fall you fear). Let the scholars sort out my [...]
READ MOREStylish Book Trailer
… for young adult novel Gone, by Michael Grant, who wrote the ‘Animorphs’ series. This is the first good book trailer I’ve seen. A development in the literary world I’m keeping an eye on. Obviously, it has a budget. But the concept is still quite simple. It has definitely got me intrigued. I also read the [...]
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Story To… and Random Stuff
I have a wee poem ‘Tinsel Dreams (Tram Moment 1)’ in the new Story To… zine, which is available in print and as a FREEBIE online. Click on Issue 2: Pod People here. Note that I wrote this poem after going to Varuna. There is a bit of stream-of-consciousness thought ramblings about mentor Peter Bishop, [...]
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Such sensual books I’ve read lately – Rachael King’s The Sound of Butterflies
Picador, 2008, 9780330449175 (Aus, US) In 1904, Sophie awaits her husband at the train station in Richmond. He is returning from the heart of the Brazilian jungle, seeking a mysterious, rumoured species of butterfly. When he arrives at the station Thomas is a shadow – scarred with insect bites, thin, and not speaking at all. The narrative of [...]
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Sketch – this Thursday
Come along and hear me read (possibly sexually explicit material!) Also reading will be Kirk AC Marshall and Amy Jackson, who you might remember from my ‘Best Unpublished Books’ posts. Sudeep Lingamneni‘s photography is also in the issue – and I’ll be posting some more of his photos soon that are from our manuscript (short [...]
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Other People’s Favourite Books – Barry Simiana on Robert Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky
Tell us a little about yourself and what you do. Hi. I’m Barry, and I run the writing group known as Nitewriters [in Miss LiteraryMinded's home town Coffs Harbour]. We’ve been around for almost ten years and we aim to get our members published. Personally, I write speculative fiction in the ‘what if…’ vein, but have been [...]
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