The best short story writers manage to say a lot, using a little. If you want to see what I mean, you need to read the work of Claire Aman, a writer from northern NSW who writes the most moving short stories, in a most economical and restrained fashion. (Read one of them here – Queensland Bluegrass – I GUARANTEE…
Every so often a writer comes along who reminds you of the immense possibilities of language. Myfanwy Jones is that kind of writer. The way she works with imagery. The way she structures her sentences. The way she creates characters who are real but slightly magical. It’s just so… energising. You can read in more detail my thoughts about Myfanwy’s…
Short Reads: This was definitely the week in which I found myself disappearing less and less into the rabbit hole which is in the internet, and delving more and more into the excess of excellent material mounting up on my kindle. Look, I know there are people out there who think Amazon are the anti-christ, and there may be an…
I have to admit I was a bit shocked when I found out that Eliza Henry-Jones is only 25 years old. Her debut novel, In the Quiet, is wise and insightful. Many people (including me) have described it as ‘quiet’ – but it’s quiet in a way that makes you want to lean in to really hear what’s being said.…
Pick of the web: Unless you have been living under a rock (or not in Australia) you would no doubt have read/heard/listened to commentary on the Adam Goodes booing affair. For my mind, most of it has been a load of wasted hot air, from mostly white people who’ve never experienced a day of discrimination in their lives. But one…
For a slightly impatient reader and writer like me, this past week has been a bit of a challenge. It was the week in which I had to slow down. I like to see progress in quantifiable terms, whether it’s numbers of words written, or pages read. But this last few days have been all about the one percent. Fixing…