Part One of this interview can be found here.
Pictured: Emily Maguire and I before the Sleepers Salon in October.
I ask Maguire about the setting. Is it pertinent for this story to be set in Sydney? She says it probably could have been a few cities, but ‘western Sydney is – the cliché is ‘melting pot’, [...]
Tag Archives: Australian books
This cumulative kind of effect when you stop: an interview with Emily Maguire on Smoke in the Room, part two
November 5, 2009 – 7:53 am
Guest review: Elena Gomez on Mic Looby’s Paradise Updated
October 13, 2009 – 7:57 am
9780980374667
September 2009 (Australia)
Affirm Press
If you didn’t already know that Mic Looby was once a Lonely Planet writer and editor, it’s not difficult to guess, reading his debut novel, Paradise Updated. In it, the satirically named ‘SmallWorld’ publishers dominate the guidebook industry and the bloke who made them what they are today, legendary Robert Rind, expert on [...]
Turner’s Paintbox – Paul Morgan
April 9, 2009 – 7:54 am
Viking, 9780670071364, 2007 (Australia)
Gerard Moyne is an extremely successful Sydney-based art consultant, art lover, and all round philosophical aesthete. He falls for the independent, earthy, and oft-scattered Julia. They’re not exactly opposites, but nor do they complement each other entirely. Their relationship, and its undoing (it begins with this) are chronicled, alongside the narrative of [...]
Other People’s Favourite Books – Troy Martin on Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet
February 9, 2009 – 7:55 am
Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
Hi, I’m Troy, a high school English teacher, frustrated writer, all round book nerd. Being an ‘English’ teacher means more than grammar or literacy, but literature, blogs, picture books, websites, cultural studies and much more… I have been teaching in the NSW public education system for [...]
‘Discomfort is sometimes what is most precious to me about great art’ – Christos Tsiolkas on The Slap
January 29, 2009 – 8:08 am
Note: This review/interview is uncensored and contains swearing.
The Slap is a novel that grabs you by your tender spots, squeezes, and doesn’t let go. It’s yelling, not at you, but in general frustration, at the edge of a cliff, at the end of the world. The end of the world might be Australia. An Australian [...]
‘I Wanted to Talk About Being Completely Screwed Over by the Corporate Machine With a Smile on My Face’ – William Kostakis on Loathing Lola
October 7, 2008 – 7:56 pm
Loathing Lola, William Kostakis, Pan Macmillan, 2008, Australia, 9780330424165
You rewrote the whole book to be in first person (no mean feat!), in Courtney’s point of view. How did you come to this decision?
Okay, so originally, Loathing Lola was in the third person, with three leads, Courtney, Tim and Katie. Well, four leads, if you included me, because [...]
Blood & Tinsel: A Memoir – Jim Sharman
August 3, 2008 – 6:13 pm
9780522853773, Miegunyah Press, August (Australia), HB
A version of this review was first published in the June 2008 issue of BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2008 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC).
Jim Sharman relays the story of his life rhythmically, like a play or film. Childhood memories of boxing sideshows are cut between information on eras, people, [...]
The Asking Game – Rose Michael
August 21, 2007 – 7:26 pm
9780975022863, Transit Lounge (distributed by Dennis Jones), 2007
It is near-future Australia. Eve is hired on a new job, taking the code name ‘Alice’. Alice suffers from dreams that feel more like memories, yet are disconnected from her own experience. The job itself is deeply connected with Alice’s questions of self. All that she has pushed [...]
The Company of the Dead – David Kowalski
July 22, 2007 – 12:37 pm
First published in the July 2007 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2007 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC) http://www.bookseller+publisher.com.au/
In 2012 the world is occupied by German and Japanese forces. America is divided. Agent Kennedy of the Confederate has always felt that something in his world is amiss. His thoughts are confirmed [...]
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Loathing Lola – William Kostakis
Pan Macmillan, 2008, Australia, 9780330424165
Courtney Marlow becomes the star of new reality TV Show Real Teens despite the fact that she doesn’t watch much reality TV. Her boyfriend, Liam, had encouraged her to audition. Is she following through just for him? And how will she cope with cameras in her face just months after Liam [...]