2010 August | LiteraryMinded

LiteraryMinded

Monthly Archives: August 2010

Chris Womersley’s Bereft

August 30, 2010 – 9:30 pm

This review first appeared in the August issue of Bookseller+Publisher, and is cross-posted over at Bookseller+Publisher‘s Fancy Goods blog. Bereft Chris Womersley Scribe, September 2010 (Australia) 9781921640605 Chris Womersley’s Bereft, his second novel after 2008’s award-winning The Low Road, is a rich, gripping tale of love, loss, conflict and salvation. The prologue states that in 1912, during a [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Reviews + Analyses | Tagged Australian authors, Australian literature, Australian writers, Bereft, Chris Womersley, The Low Road | Comments (7)

Melbourne Writers Festival blog

August 26, 2010 – 12:18 pm

Just a quick note to say I may not be updating over here quite as much over the next few weeks as I’ll be full-on over at the Melbourne Writers Festival blog. You’ll see I’ve been pretty busy over there already, asking some of the MWF guests to respond to random topics such as listening, [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Commentary | Tagged Melbourne Writers Festival 2010, Torpedo Greatest Hits, zombie | Comments (1)

Brass Monkey Books: a cultural exchange between Indian and Australian literature

August 24, 2010 – 3:42 pm

When I was working at Bookseller+Publisher, Kabita Dhara wrote an article for us on her Asialink residency in India. In New Delhi, Kabita worked on literature that had been translated into English from India’s many regional languages, with a view to understanding the processes behind choosing a title for translation and assessing markets for it. Kabita, [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Commentary, Interviews + Profiles | Tagged Anjum Hasan, Asialink, Australia-India relations, Australian book market, Big Girl Now, Brass Monkey Books, Brass Monkey cocktail, Brisbane Writers Festival 2010, cultural exchange, hunter publishers, Indian authors, Indian literature, Kabita Dhara, Lunatic in My Head, Melbourne Writers Festival 2010, Midnight's Children, new imprint, new publisher, Salman Rushdie, world literature | Comments (1)

Like, embrace the pain: the Bret Easton Ellis interview (part 2)

August 20, 2010 – 6:30 pm

It’s very telling, you know? Find part 1, right here, folks. Kathy: My two very favourite novels of all time are Lunar Park, and Pet Sematary by Stephen King, which kind of makes perfect sense… Bret: Yes, it does. Kathy: I’m really interested in the idea that Lunar Park may be becoming a film. I’m [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Interviews + Profiles | Tagged American authors, American fiction, American Psycho, Austin Nichols, BEE, Benecio Del Toro, Billy Bob Thornton, books to films, Bret Easton Ellis, Bret Easton Ellis in Australia, Bret Easton Ellis on The Hills, construction, film rights, Imperial Bedrooms, Jane Austen, Jon Foster, Justin Bobby, Kardashians, Kristen Cavallari, Lauren Conrad, Lunar Park, Lunar Park movie, Nicholas Jarecki, Pet Cemetery, Phil Alden Robinson, real or false, Sean Ellis, Spencer Pratt, Stephen King, surfaces, The Canyons, the final season of The Hills, the fourth wall, The Hills, The Hills with monsters, The Informers, The Informers movie, Tim Robbins, TV rights, Vegas | Comments (2)

Like, embrace the pain: the Bret Easton Ellis interview (part 1)

August 18, 2010 – 7:49 pm

Pictured: Carrie, Samantha, Carrie Let’s begin at the end. After Kathy Charles and I finished our interview with the very engaging Bret Easton Ellis, we sat with his publicist over a couple of glasses of Chandon, waiting for Ellis to wrap-up with our friend Robbie Coleman. Robbie emerged, white-faced and swearing, revealing that the interviewee had turned interviewer [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Interviews + Profiles | Tagged American authors, American literature, American Psycho, BEE, Bret Easton Ellis, Bret Easton Ellis in Australia, Byron Bay Writers' Festival, control, cruelty, drafting, emotional writing, fiction, Glamorama, Imperial Bedrooms, Kathy Charles, LA, LA novels, Less Than Zero, letting go, Los Angeles, Lunar Park, Matthew Reilly, Melbourne, metaphors, noir, Porcupine Tree, Raymond Chandler, Sex and the City, The Informers, The National, The Rules of Attraction, writing, writing process | Comments (4)

Guest review: Raili Simojoki on harvest: issue 5

August 17, 2010 – 11:27 am

harvest: issue 5 reviewed by Raili Simojoki Harvest ’s gentle, reflective, sometimes anxious writing appeals to Gen Y romantics who, dissatisfied by the disconnected, disposable information generated by mass media, are drawn instead to the poetic, intricate, and meandering. Editor Davina Bell speaks directly to this audience in her essay ‘To my Generation of Precious [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Other People's Words, Reviews + Analyses | Tagged Anthony Levin, Australian writing, Charles Bukowski, Chris Flynn, Dan Bigma, Davina Bell, essays, Gen Y, guest reviews, harvest, harvest issue 5, harvest magazine, information, literary magazines, Max Noakes, Nandi Chinna, navel-gazing, Nicola Redhouse, poetry, Raili Simojoki, Ruby Murray, Ryan O'Neill, short stories | Comments (2)

Byron Bay Writers Festival 2010 diary, part 3

August 13, 2010 – 8:30 am

A sun-drenched and possibly superficial series of blog posts On Saturday afternoon I chaired a panel on magic, and expanding our ideas of the conventional world, with speculative fiction author and astrologer Kim Falconer, and Dutch poet and Voodoo Priestess Maria van Daalen. There was such a great vibe to this panel. I went in [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Commentary | Tagged Alex Miller, Birds, bisexuality, Bret Easton Ellis, Dan Ducrou, Delta Goodrem, dolphins, energy, festival audiences, Haitian Vodou, Kim Falconer, Krissy Knee, literary festivals, Maria van Daalen, Matthew Reilly, old friends, Phoebe Bond, readers, snakes, speculative fiction, spirituality, The Byron Journals, unconventional ideas, whales | Comments (4)

Byron Bay Writers Festival 2010 diary, part 2

August 11, 2010 – 8:00 am

A sun-drenched and possibly superficial series of blog posts On Friday I had my first three panels. I won’t go into too much detail, but there were highlights – such as being on stage alongside Tom Cho on one, and Krissy Kneen on another (and not as a chair, but fellow writer); meeting Susan Wyndham, [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Commentary | Tagged Alvin Pang, American Psycho, audiences, BBWF 10, Bon Hawke, books, Brenda Walker, Bret Easton Ellis, Byron Bay Writers Festival 2010, Byron Bay Writers' Festival, chairing panels, childhood books, Clive Hamilton, Dan Ducrou, Delta Goodrem, Georgia Blain, Hannie Rayson, Kirsten Tranter, Krissy Kneen, literary mothers, Marele Day, Matthia Dempsey, Michael Cathcart, Michael Heyward, Michael Robotham, Patrick Holland, Peter Bishop, Phoebe Bond, purple swamphen, Ramona Koval, Simon Marnie, Susan Maushart, Susan Wyndham, Text Publishing, Tom Cho | Comments (3)

Byron Bay Writers Festival 2010 diary, part 1

August 9, 2010 – 3:42 pm

A sun-drenched and possibly superficial series of blog posts Around 9pm on Wednesday night I rolled into Gold Coast airport. My talented friend Omar Musa was on the same bus into Byron and we decided we should go out and wreak some havoc. Havoc was kebabs and a quiet pub where a young blonde man by [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Commentary | Tagged Amy Barker, BBWF 2010, blogging, Bret Easton Ellis, Byron Bay, Byron Bay Writers Festival 2010, Byron Bay Writers' Festival, constructed selves, drinking, Jack Heath, Krissy Kneen, Omar Musa, parties, radio interview, Robert Drewe, social media, Terry Denton, workshops, writers festivals | Comments (2)

Byron time

August 5, 2010 – 3:00 pm

A quick post, lit-lovelies. I’m on a laptop near the beach (sort-of) but I’m posting between my workshop this morning (which was so fantastic) and a radio interview, while lining up another radio interview and catch-ups and trying to answer a few emails. Who has time to read? Just wanted to say, I’ll be charging [...]

By Angela Meyer | Posted in Commentary, Self-indulgence | Comments (0)