InaGuddle: June 2023

Friday 30 June 2023

Academy of Broken Dreams

In Tallahassee, Florida, high school student Elwood Curtis is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights marches. As a young African American he is acutely aware of racism and his limited opportunities, but he remains optimistic that the civil rights movement will bring about vital change. Elwood is intelligent and his high school curriculum is far beneath him. A teacher sees his potential and helps him secure a spot at a local college. But before he can start, a wrong turn finds Elwood charged with a crime and sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school.

The Nickel Academy is a terrible place where the boys are subject to hard labour and are brutalised with physical and sexual violence. Segregated by race, the white boys receive better treatment. Here Elwood befriends Jack Turner, who is the cynic to Elwood's optimist. Turner has street-smarts and is determined to survive Nickel, while Elwood has misplaced faith in systems that are supposed to protect children. The longer he stays at Nickel, the more he sees that the system is corrupt and unwritten rules are subject to change. When it becomes apparent that Elwood's life is endangered by staying at Nickel, the boys attempt to escape.

Told on two time horizons, the chapters switch between 1960s Florida and Elwood's time at Nickel, to 2010s in New York City where Elwood is trying to live the best life he can, still haunted by his childhood trauma. The portrayals of these characters - particularly Elwood and Turner - is so compelling, the reader cannot help but be invested in their future and rooting for their success.

Nickel Academy was inspired by the Arthur G Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. This notorious reform school was the subject of multiple investigations and inquiries before it was closed in 2011. At Dozier, at least 80 boys had died from the brutal beatings, their unmarked graves discovered by anthropologists in 2012. Reading about Dozier, I am appalled at how authorities turned a blind eye for so long.

The subject matter in this novel is confronting but essential reading. Whitehead handles these dark issues with crisp, beautiful prose. The depictions of violence need to shock as the physical violence against these children leaves to deep rooted scars that last a lifetime. The heartbreaking portrayal of entrenched racism reveal how little progress has been made since the 1960s. While reading The Nickel Boys, I often thought of Percival Everett's brilliant satire The Trees (2021) and the tragic outcomes for Emmett Till and Elwood Curtis.

Unsurprisingly, Whitehead won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel. It is so well crafted, challenging readers to understand that this racism and injustice is not in the past, it is very much present.

The Nickel Boys is definitely a contender to be one of my favourite books read this year.

I met Colson Whitehead at the Sydney Writers' Festival last month and he signed a stack of books for me, including The Nickel Boys.

Wednesday 21 June 2023

Miles Franklin Shortlist 2023

The 2023 Miles Franklin Award shortlist was announced last night, made up of the following works:

Khgshak Akec - Hopeless Kingdom
Robbie Arnott - Limberlost
Jessica Au - Cold Enough for Snow
Shankari Chandran - Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens
Yumna Kassab - The Lovers
Fiona Kelly McGregor - Iris

Richard Neville, Chair of the judging panel, said of the shortlist:

'The 2023 Miles shortlist celebrates six works that delve deeply into archives and memory, play confidently with style and structure and strike new grounds in language and form. From deeply immersive tales to polished jewels of craft, from lyrical mappings of land to convention-breaking chronicles, this is novel-writing at its freshest and boldest.'

When I predicted which titles would make the cut, I guessed that Arnott, Au, Coleman, Janson and McGregor would make the shortlist. I was only half right!

There hasn't been much time between longlist and shortlist so I have not read any of these titles. However, I have long had an interest in Au, Arnott and McGregor. Having seen McGregor at the Sydney Writers' Festival talk about her novel Iris, I am going to root for this to win.

Each of the shortlisted authors will receive $5,000 and the Winner will receive $60,000. The winner will be revealed on 25 July 2023.

Saturday 17 June 2023

Independent Women

At the recent Sydney Writers' Festival, I attended a session on the rise of independent candidates in Australian politics. One of the panelists was journalist Margot Saville who followed the so-called 'teal' candidates at the 2022 federal election and wrote a book called The Teal Revolution (2022). I was intrigued to learn more so picked up a copy at the festival.

Australian politics has been dominated by two major parties - Labor and the Coalition (Liberal and National parties) - with both losing ground to parties on the left and right. The Greens are the most established alternative, but Pauline Hanson's One Nation, Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, the Jacqui Lambie Network, Katter's Australian Party and others threaten to disrupt the hold of the two-party system. And then there are the independent candidates who do not align with any party.

I first became interested in the independents during the 2010 federal election when Julia Gillard's minority government secured confidence and supply agreements with the Greens and three independents. That same year, Andrew Wilkie was elected to represent Clark (Tasmania) and a few years later Cathy McGowan (Indi) ousted Sophie Mirabella (a long-term Liberal representative). These independents seemed to be community-minded voices of reason. Helen Haines' election in 2019, following McGowan's retirement, marked the first independently-held seat to retain independence despite the change of candidate. Like her predecessor, Haines has contributed greatly to the Parliament, leading the call for a Federal Independent Commission Against Corruption. In 2019 independent Zali Steggall (Warringah) was victorious over former Prime Minister Tony Abbott on a climate change platform.

The 2022 election was remarkable with six independent female candidates running in apparently safe traditionally Liberal seats. In NSW Allegra Spender ran in Wentworth, Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Dr Sophie Scamps in Mackellar. In Victoria Dr Monique Ryan took on Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong, and Zoe Daniel unseated Tim Wilson in Goldstein. In Western Australia, Kate Chaney ran in Curtin. Each of these women were high achieving professionals who rallied grassroots campaigns on issues of integrity and climate change.

Saville begins by answering the question 'who are the teals?'. Dubbed the teals by the media to reflect 'a mix of blue for conservative liberal economic values, and green for their focus on effective action on climate change' (p1). If the Liberal/National party had been more progressive and less patriarchal, these women would have been prized candidates. These electorates may be affluent, educated and traditionally conservative, but they want action on issues that matter to them and have long been taken for granted.

Saville details how these grassroots campaigns begun and built momentum, how they were supported by Climate 200 and a groundswell of volunteers, and how they were victorious despite the well-resourced campaign machines of their opponents. Saville follows these campaigns in the lead up to the formal election period, and throughout the intense six weeks to election. In the epilogue she writes about what might happen next. Clearly the Australian electorate wants change and these women have shown how it is possible to achieve success.

I appreciate the thoroughness of Saville's research, her keen analysis, and the way in which she brought the campaigns to life. I look forward to seeing the impact of these independents in the 47th Parliament of Australia.

Thursday 15 June 2023

Women's Prize for Fiction Winner 2023

The winner of the 2023 Women's Prize for fiction has just been announced. Barbara Kingsolver has won for her novel, Demon Copperhead. Kingsolver is the first author to have won this award twice, having been recognised in 2010 for her novel The Lacuna.

Chair of Judges Louise Minchin announced the winner, stating:

“Barbara Kingsolver has written a towering, deeply powerful and significant book. In a year of outstanding fiction by women, we made a unanimous decision on Demon Copperhead as our winner. Brilliant and visceral, it is storytelling by an author at the top of her game. We were all deeply moved by Demon, his gentle optimism, resilience and determination despite everything being set against him.

An exposé of modern America, its opioid crisis and the detrimental treatment of deprived and maligned communities, Demon Copperhead tackles universal themes – from addiction and poverty, to family, love, and the power of friendship and art – it packs a triumphant emotional punch, and is a novel that will withstand the test of time.”

Set in Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains, this is a modern re-imagining of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield.

Kingsolver received the £30,000 prize and the award ‘Bessie’, a limited-edition bronze figurine. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, essayist and poet. Kingsolver is probably best known for The Poisonwood Bible (1998), The Lacuna (2009) and Flight Behavior (2012).

I have started reading this epic novel and am intrigued by the homage to Dickens.

Friday 9 June 2023

Sydney Writers' Festival 2023 - Day Five

Sunday 28 May 2023 was the last day of the Sydney Writer's Festival. My festival friend and I had tickets to two sessions but bought rush seats for two more.

Barrie Cassidy and Friends

We always love seeing former ABC Insiders host Barrie Cassidy in conversation with esteemed journalists about current affairs. This year his panel featured journalists Laura Tingle (ABC 7:30), Niki Savva (SMH/The Age) and Amy Remeikis (The Guardian). They talked about the year in politics and what has happened in the first year of the Albanese Labor government. (Exactly one year ago we saw Barrie in conversation on election day when the outcome was not yet known).

The panel talked about the key moments of the past year - advancing The Uluru Statement from the Heart and announcing the referendum, re-establishing Australia's reputation globally, and restoring cabinet government. They also dissected some of the problems the government faces - the economy and the looming stage three tax cuts, the environment, and the shift towards independents.

There was consensus among the panel that the opposition has lost its way - lurching further towards the fringe. Remeikis gave an impassioned plea to listen to younger people who will make up the majority of the electorate and are concerned about social justice, the environment and housing as priorities. In all, an excellent conversation.

Fifty Shades of Teal

Barrie Cassidy mentioned in his session that he was also chairing a panel discussing the rise of independent candidates, so we bought rush seats to attend. The panel featured Independent MP for Indi Helen Haines, philanthropist Simon Holmes A Court (The Big Teal) and journalist Margot Saville (The Teal Revolution). They discussed the success the independents had in the last election, unseating key Liberals in what were thought of as safe-seats, like Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong.

The panel discussed the dissatisfaction of voters in these electorates who were frustrated at the Liberal government's lack of action on climate change, the lack of integrity and the way they took their electorates for granted. Holmes A Court described how the Climate 200 campaign supported candidates and how the media presented the campaign as a billionaire influencing elections, when it was largely crowd-funding to support the campaign. Haines spoke about the role of the independents in Parliament and how in this term they have been given more opportunities to be involved.

The rise of the independents is a fascinating evolution in Australian politics. After the session I bought a copy of Saville's book The Teal Revolution and I look forward to learning more.

This is Their Life

Laura Tingle chaired a panel on writing biography with authors Paddy Manning (The Successor - about Lachlan Murdoch), Margaret Simons (Tanya Plibersek: On Her Own Terms), and Niki Savva (Bulldozed - about the Morrison government). The panel discussed the challenges of writing about other people's lives, especially when unauthorised or the subject is not cooperative.

One of the interesting parts of the discussion is about the personal lives of the people they are writing about and what is or is not in the public interest. Generally the thought was that the private lives of public people are off-limits, except where there was a contrast with their public persona (e.g. a conservative politician who espouses family values but is having an adulterous affair), or where something in a private life impacts a decision made (e.g. Plibersek deciding not to run for leadership so she could support her daughter).

The panel also discussed the challenge of publishers wanting a scoop to sell the book and the difference between writing about an individual or about a government.

After the session I bought a copy of Manning's book The Successor which promises to be an interesting read.

The Voice to Parliament

For our final session of the Sydney Writers' Festival we bought rush seats to hear about the Voice to Parliament and the book written by Indigenous leader Thomas Mayo and veteran journalist Kerry O'Brien, called The Voice to Parliament: All the detail you need. Chaired by lawyer Jennifer Robinson, the two men spoke about the Voice and this moment in the history of our nation where we have an opportunity to make a significant step towards Reconciliation.

O'Brien spoke about why this is an important issue for him. He dismayed at the way the way this issue has been politicised and expects that the harm it will do to First Nations people will be similar to the harm done to the LGBTQIA+ community during the same-sex marriage plebiscite.

Mayo spoke about the reasons why the Voice is needed, what it is and is not, and what it will mean to First Nations people if the referendum fails. He concluded the session, by standing centre-stage and reciting The Uluru Statement from the Heart. This was such a moving moment. While I have read the Uluru Statement many times, to have it articulated like this was breathtaking.

So that's a wrap on my Sydney Writers' Festival 2023. Twenty-two sessions over five days, and I thoroughly enjoyed every single session. Highlights included:

The mateship between Sam Neill and Brian Brown
Bernardine Evaristo talking about her work and life
Helen Garner and Hedley Thomas discussing crime and justice
Eleanor Catton discussing Birnam Wood with Beejay Silcox
Colson Whitehead's laughter in conversation with Michael Williams
Sarah Holland-Batt reading her poetry from The Jaguar
Amy Remeikis' voice of reason in the panel on politics with Barrie Cassidy
Thomas Mayo's rousing rendition of the Uluru Statement from the Heart
Meeting authors at book signings - including Sam Neill, Jane Harper, Geraldine Brooks, Eleanor Catton and many more.
Spending time with my festival friend!

I now have plenty of things to read before next year's festival!

Books Purchased at SWF2023

Peter Frankopan - The Silk Roads
Sarah Holland-Batt - The Jaguar
Suzie Miller - Prima Facie
Margot Saville - The Teal Revolution
Paddy Manning - The Successor
Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brien - The Voice to Parliament
Helen Garner - Honor and Other People's Children

Thursday 1 June 2023

Sydney Writers' Festival 2023 - Day Four

On Saturday 27 May 2023 I was joined by my festival friend, who flew up from Melbourne to attend the Sydney Writers' Festival. Together we saw a bunch of fantastic sessions.

Beginnings: Jennifer Robinson

Human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson is best known in Australia for representing Julian Assange. She is a strong advocate who I have tremendous admiration for, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to hear her speak on the Curiosity Stage as part of the Beginnings series on Crimes and Histories. She read for five minutes from her book How Many More Women? Exposing how the law silences women (2022) which she co-authored with Keina Yoshida. The section she read was about a woman in the UK who wrote about the domestic violence she experienced on Facebook and her husband sued her for libel. As Robinson read this section my rage metre boiled over. It reminded me of The Hidden Gender of Law (2002) by Regina Graycar and Jenny Morgan which I read when I was at law school.

Crime and Justice

I was so looking forward to this panel as it featured my favourite Australian writer, Helen Garner, and Hedley Thomas, the journalist who created The Teacher's Pet podcast I am obsessed with. The session was chaired by Sarah Krasnostein.

Helen Garner has written a few books about a true crime case including The First Stone (1995), Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004) and This House of Grief (2014). Krasnostein started by asking them what sparks interest in a story?

Garner spoke of the ambiguity, not knowing whether or not the person was guilty. In This House of Grief which followed the case of a man convicted of murdering his three sons by driving a car into a dam, Garner could not comprehend how someone could commit such a crime and was intrigued as the man was not a monster. She would not have written about the case if he was.

Thomas on the other hand knew Chris Dawson, the man at the centre of his investigation 'was a bastard'. There was no question in his mind of Dawson's guilt of the murder of his wife Lynette Simms in 19982.

Krasnostein asked them how they handled the long periods in which nothing happened. Garner is a journal keeper and she wrote daily of her reactions to the story, which helped her when it came time to write. Thomas has started investigating the matter decades before and filled a box of files which he left in the roof of his carport. He had mulled it over for a long time and eventually decided the time was right to pull the story together. He started a podcast in 2018 which snowballed as more witnesses came forward as episodes aired.

This was a fascinating discussion about journalism and justice. Thomas is currently writing a book on the Dawson case which I am eagerly anticipating. Garner has become obsessed with AFL as she takes her grandson to his matches. She is a Bulldogs fan and may write something about this. I am not a fan of sports ball, but Garner can make anything interesting.

Unfortunately, Garner did not attend the booksigning afterwards.

Pip Williams: The Bookbinder of Jericho

I am currently reading The Dictionary of Lost Words (2021) and had hoped to have finished it prior to seeing Pip Williams at the festival, but alas.

In this session, Williams was interviewed by Cassie McCullagh about her newest 'companion' novel, The Bookbinder of Jericho (2023). While I had seen Williams the day before as part of the panel on historical novels, the content of this session was entirely different. She explained that this novel is set in WWI and as the men enlist to fight in the war, the women have to take up occupations to keep the country running.

Twin sisters Peggy and Maude work at the bookbinding department at Oxford University Press. Their job is to fold and gather the pages that will be sewn together to make books. Peggy is keen to read these books, but only accesses sections in this factory-like setting. Oxford is divided into town (workers) and gown (university) and she is very much on the town side, but looks longingly across the road to Somerville College where women learn. When European refugees arrive in Oxford fleeing the war, Pegg's mind is opened in new ways.

Williams explained that she wanted to write about working class women who were largely invisible. Her process was to write at least one word per day so she always feels she has made progress and has a sense of achievement.

McCullagh asked her about the success of The Dictionary of Lost Words. Williams explained that it sold beyond expectations, has been translated into dozens of languages, turned into a play and now optioned for a TV series. She said she gave the playwright and the screenwriters free rein, as she feels it is important that they adapt the story in their own ways. Williams says she plans to write a third companion novel, but wants to do something different first.

Panel: The State of the Art

I chose this panel as I really wanted to see Richard Flanagan (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), in conversation with Eleanor Catton (Birnam Wood), Colson Whitehead (Harlem Shuffle) and Tracey Lien (All that is Left Unsaid). This session was chaired by Kate Evans.

Evans began by asking each of them 'What is the state of your art?'. As a debut novelist, Lien spoke about moving from journalism to fiction writing. Colson spoke about wanting to try new genres. Flanagan and Catton also spoke about wanting to evolve in their writing and try new things.

They were asked about threats to the novel by artificial intelligence. Lien gave an excellent answer to this, explaining that ChatGPT will never give the soul needed to a novel. Evans asked Whitehead about censorship and the book banning that is happening across America. Whitehead explained he is more fearful of the impact of gun violence, while Catton said this kind of censorship can happen anywhere. Flanagan said the greatest threat to fiction is the lack of funding for the arts and the monopoly of booksellers like Amazon which drive down the wages of writers.

Evans concluded by asking about the future of the novel. All authors were optimistic about the state of the art. This was an intelligent, thoughtful discussion and it was wonderful to have these novelists together on stage.

Sam Neill: Did I Ever Tell You This?

We then raced into the city to the glorious Town Hall to hear Sam Neill in conversation with his dear friend Bryan Brown about Neill's memoir Did I Ever Tell You This?

Brown started by asking him about why he wrote a memoir. Neill explained that he was diagnosed with cancer and her wanted to write stories of his life for his children. So he wrote memories about his childhood, his parents, the early days of Australian cinema, and his brilliant career.

Neill spoke about career highlights and lowlights, telling tales about when he got the call from Spielberg about Jurassic Park. The two men spoke about the 1970s and 1980s in Australian cinema and their mutual friends Wendy Hughes, Roger Donaldson and others who impacted their careers.

What I loved about this session was the mateship between the two men and their deep love and affection for each other. They had a genuine banter and were able to tackle both the serious and frivolous in this session.

After the session I met Sam Neill when he signed a copy of his book for me.

Book Signings

I have met a lot of writers and had many books signed over the year's but tonight's book signing was awesome. Sam Neill signed a copy of Did I Ever Tell You This? There was a very long queue and I believe I was around #70 in the line. He was a genuinely likeable man, giving time to each person he met. He asked me what I had been doing that day and I explained I had been attending the festival all week. He then asked for my expert opinion on his session, 'was it any good?'. I told him it was pretty good, top five maybe. I told him Bryan Brown was excellent and I look forward to Brown writing a memoir, which gave him a laugh. I ended up leaving Town Hall well after 10pm - so in all a huge day at the Festival.

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