The Dignity of Mosses

As one of the few people on the planet that has not read Eat Pray Love (2006), Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoir, I approached her novel The Signature of All Things (2013) without too much expectation.

I am not sure what lead me to pick up his book. Gilbert was in Australia earlier this year at the All About Women festival I attended, although I did not attend her sessions. But then I saw her on ABC's The Book Club and Marieke Hardy praised her Signature so I thought I would give it a chance.

Set primarily in Philadelphia, the story begins in 1800 with the birth of Alma Whittaker the long-awaited child of wealthy botanical import/exporter Henry and his Dutch wife Beatrix. Alma is a fiercely intelligent child, with her intellect making up for her lack of beauty. She naturally becomes fascinated with botany and can converse with authority on plants of all types. As she ages she becomes fascinated by mosses and spends her life work studying them.

Alma's pursuit of mosses is only matched by her pursuit of love and belonging. She falls in love with an unobtainable man, and then marries another equally unattainable. Then, in later life, realising she has only ever really known the White Acre estate on which she has resided, Alma sets out on an extraordinary journey to Tahiti and Amsterdam in which she makes a monumental discovery.

Gilbert's writing is beautiful - describing orchids and mosses with such detail - and she transports the reader back in time convincingly.  She covers the abolitionist movement, pharmaceutical discoveries, the voyages of Captain Cook, and the discoveries of Darwin. Alma is a wonderful character, vividly depicted, and I enjoyed travelling with this witty, intellectual, woman of science.

Signature is a big, ambitious book and the result was somewhat uneven for me. There were parts I enjoyed thoroughly and became engrossed in, particularly the first half of the book describing Henry Whitaker's upbringing and his work for Sir Joseph Banks in Kew Gardens. But in other parts, like the trip to Tahiti, I felt the story dragged and lost momentum. Overall though I would recommend this book, particularly to those with an interest in natural history and a love of plants. This would make a great book club read as there is so much to discuss.

Shame on You, Shame on Us

Welsh journalist Jon Ronson's latest book is So You've Been Publicly Shamed (2015). I had the privilege of hearing him speak on the topic at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas on 5 September 2015. I was intrigued by his views on public shaming so bought his book and read it in the days following the Festival.

Ronson looks at how the Internet, particularly Twitter, has been used to ruin people. Social media has given everyone a voice, but it has also given rise to a virtual mob.

Several high-profile shaming are explored. Justine Sacco, a young PR rep who made a bad joke on Twitter before boarding a flight, landed to find herself trending on social media, the most searched term in Google, and fired from her job.

Likewise, Lindsey Stone posted a joke photo on Facebook for her friends. Months later someone made it public and Stone was reviled on social media and lost her job.

Bestselling writer Jonah Lehrer was exposed for plagiarism and inaccuracies. He was reviled in social media and when he attempted an apology who we shamed even further.

The book has come out just as the Ashley Madison scandal happened in which the personal information of thousands of people from an infidelity dating site were exposed by hackers. This has lead to the public shaming of those named to the point of social ruin and in several instances to suicide.

Ronson shows that the punishment of these public shamings far exceed the action that caused them. Public humiliation, threats, sackings and abuse from often anonymous strangers on the internet cause deep psychological harm. Women are treated far more harshly then men in this arena with threats of sexual violence a common form of trolling.

Shame researcher Dr Brene Brown writes that "shame is the most powerful, master emotion. It’s the fear that we’re not good enough." In most of the cases Ronson explores good people were brought down by shame.

He also checks in to see how people are after they were destroyed. Dr Brown writes that "If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive." In Ronson, Stone, Sacco and even Lehrer found a sympathetic ear and perhaps his book will aide in their recovery.

The message here is one of empathy and restraint. Before we all pile on and add our voice to the collective shaming, consider whether we are hiding behind our internet avatars. If we wouldn't pick up torches and pitchforks to chase people out of town, why would we do so virtually?

Eyes on the Prize

The Man Booker Prize shortlist was announced on 15 September 2015, whittling the 13 titles down to six.

I was somewhat surprised that none of the past shortlisters Anne Enright, Tom McCarthy and Andrew O'Hagan (1999) made it this year.

But I am pleased that The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma and Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings are on the shortlist.


My pick for the winner is Anne Tyler's A Spool of Blue Thread (2015). She is one of my favourite writers and I am keen for her to win. But I would also be happy if the prize went to The Fishermen.

Here is the shortlist:

• A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James (Jamaica)
• Satin Island - Tom McCarthy (UK)
• The Fishermen - Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria)
• The Year of the Runaways - Sunjeev Sahota (UK)
• A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler (USA)
• A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara (USA)

The winner announced on 13 October 2015.

Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2015 - Day 2

Day two of FODI (Sunday 6 September 2015) was a great opportunity to attend a range of thought-provoking sessions.

Technophilia - Panel
Marc Fennell chaired a panel discussion featuring Martin Ford and Marc Lewis about addiction to technology.

Ford is a software developer and author of The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (2015).  His argument is that artificial intelligence, mass automation and rapidly advancing technology will see many jobs disappear. In terms of technophilia, he talked about the potentially unhealthy dependence many people have on their smartphones and other devices.

Lewis is an addiction specialist who has written The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease (2015). As a neuroscientist he spoke about how technology can be healthy and cited examples of video games which can teach important life skills. While I purchased Ford's book and  look forward to reading it, I do not think I want to read Lewis' book on addiction.

I had expected the panel to be a lively discussion, but instead it was rather boring. There was a brief moment when Lewis and Ford disagreed and it got interesting, but for the most part it was rather tame and certainly not dangerous. The presentation is not yet available on YouTube.



Knowledge Wars - Peter Doherty
Peter Doherty was an excellent choice for my next session. Winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1996 for discovering the nature of the cellular immune defence, he is passionate about science. He despairs that in the popular press and on social media there is so much misinformation about important subjects like immunisation and climate change.

Doherty makes a passionate plea for ordinary citizens to become informed about science so as to make up their own minds about these important issues. During his talk he spoke about how education has become dumbed down so that our understanding of basic scientific concepts is limited.

He was quite funny in his talk, making digs at politicians, lawyers and judges for their lack of knowledge. His main concern at the moment is climate change and the misinformation being spread about it. Doerty's presentation is available to watch on YouTube.

His new book, The Knowledge Wars (2015), is a science book for non-scientists, encouraging us to look for the evidence in the information presented to us. I spoke to Doherty as he was signing my book and he was delightful.

Bad Education - AC Grayling

My final session was the one I was most looking forward to today. British philosopher AC Grayling delivered a presentation on education that was inspiring, witty and thought-provoking. Education is a passion of mine so I was keen to hear what Grayling had to say.

His main argument centred on how we tend to think of education as a necessary tool for getting a job instead of education for broader life skills. Grayling argued that "education is for life and for living". He made a passionate plea for the Humanities to be taught alongside STEM subjects and highlighted how the study of history, literature, philosophy, languages and the arts make people better human beings as they better understand the human condition. His presentation is available on YouTube and well worth viewing.

Grayling was delightfully erudite, joking about how we should all be reading Plato in the bath. The hour passed so quickly and I could have listened to him forever. After the session I spoke to him as he signed a copy of his latest book The Challenge of Things - Thinking Through Troubled Times (2015). He told me a joke about lawyers as we talked about my work in education. He was very impressive and I look forward to reading his book.

So that was my Festival of Dangerous Ideas for 2015. The highlights for me were Naomi Klein and AC Grayling - both delivering powerful presentations. I also thoroughly enjoyed Peter Doherty, Peter Greste and Jon Ronson. 

I have a lot of reading to do, having come home from the Festival with a stash of signed books, including:

• So You've Been Publicly Shamed (2014) by Jon Ronson (Read September 2015, see review)
• The Rise of the Robots (2015) by Martin Ford
• This Changes Everything (2014) by Naomi Klein
• The Challenge of Things (2015) by AC Grayling
• Knowledge Wars (2015) by Peter Doherty

Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2015 - Day 1

One of my favourite events each year is the Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI), an annual event run by the Sydney Opera House and The Ethics Centre. In the past few years I have heard many fabulous speakers and writers including: David Simon; Hanna Rosin; Evgeny Morozov; Anne Summers; Dan Savage; Salman Rushdie; Kajsa Ekis Ekman; Lydia Cacho and many, many more.

Here is a summary of what happened on day one of FODI (Saturday 5 September 2015) for me:

Capitalism and the Climate - Naomi Klein
Canadian author Naomi Klein spoke about her latest book This Changes Everything (2014) about climate change. Klein started by talking about Australia's indigenous people and made a compelling case for greater respect and understanding of indigenous people around the world. She then talked about refugees and the humanitarian crisis arising our of the Syrian civil war. She was pointed in her comments about our government's stance on asylum seekers and critical of offshore processing.

Klein went into detail about Nauru and the plight of its citizens, being wedged out of their tiny island by mining excavation on the inside and rising sea levels on the outside. She made the point that the guards of war refugees today could become climate refugees tomorrow.

Articulate, intelligent and compelling, Klein delivered a wonderfully crafted speech. She spoke of empathy and human dignity, and made a plea for all of us to be kinder to the people around us. Klein's presentation has been filmed and uploaded on to YouTube, which is well worth watching. She also has a documentary film of This Changes Everything coming out soon.

I knew of Naomi Klein as she was a year or so ahead of me at University of Toronto. In 2000 I picked up a copy of her bestselling No Logo (2000) and was really impressed by her analysis of branding and globalisation. So I was delighted to talk briefly to her after her presentation and have her sign both No Logo and This Changes Everything for me while we spoke of Toronto.


Journalistic Freedom - Peter Greste
A week ago the Egyptian court finally handed down its verdict in the retrial of the Al Jazeera staff Peter Greste, Mohamed Famy and Baher Mohamed, sentencing them to three years. Today I had the pleasure of hearing Greste speak about his ordeal and about the threats journalists face around the globe.

Greste spoke with Mark Colvin about how he ended up in Egypt, his arrest, his time in prison and his release. He spoke about how journalism has changed over the course of his career. In early days being a journalist was dangerous because of the situation journalists were often found in - war zones, natural disasters etc. Now journalists are often targeted by kidnappers and assassins and used as bargaining chips.

He reminded the audience that he has been convicted and is still fighting to clear his name, and fighting to have his colleagues released. His session was a powerful reminder that journalism is not a crime and that social media can be used to bring about positive change.

Shame Culture - Jon Ronson
I had heard of Welsh Journalist Jon Ronson and his books - The Psychopath Test (2011), The Men who Stare at Goats (2004) - for a number of years. But it is his latest book, So You've Been Publicly Shamed (2015), that interested me in this session.

Ronson's presentation focussed on shame culture in the internet age and how public humiliation has become rampant on platforms like Twitter. His presentation focussed on how a mob mentality can take over and people can use the anonymity of Twitter to shame others. He pointed to examples like Justine Sacco who posted a joke tweet before boarding a flight to Africa, and landed to find that she was trending on Twitter, being shamed as racist and fired from her job.


Ronson and Jon Safran spoke about shame culture and how easy it is to be caught up in the mob mentality. The audience questions were interesting, particularly about whether shaming can ever be a good thing - citing the example of MP Bronwyn Bishop's travel expenses.

I am quickly working my way through Ronson's book and will blog about it shortly (Update: read review). His presentation is also available on YouTube.

What I Believe 
The last session for the day was an interesting discussion featuring Frank Brennan, Peter Doherty, Malarndirri McCarthy, AC Grayling, Helen Razer, Adrienne Truscott and Jon Ronson.

I had expected it to be a panel discussion with interaction among the guests. Instead each person was given ten minutes to deliver a monologue on their beliefs. This was interesting but I found it went on a bit long. The highlights were Frank Brennan and AC Grayling. I have linked all of the speakers to the YouTube video of their presentations.

Day two of FODI will feature Peter Doherty, AC Grayling, Martin Ford and others.

My previous festival experiences can be seen on this blog:

• FODI 2014
• FODI 2013

A Night to Remember

This week I had the great fortune of seeing the Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Present. Directed by John Crowley, the ensemble cast included Richard Roxburgh, Cate Blanchett, Chris Ryan, Jacqueline McKenzie, Toby Schmitz, Marshall Napier, Susan Prior and many more.

Set in Russia in the mid 1990s - as evident in the fashion, music and dialogue -  Anna (Blanchett) has invited a gaggle of friends to her country house to celebrate her 40th birthday weekend. Among the partygoers are her adult stepson Sergei (Ryan), his new wife Sophia (McKenzie), disillusioned school teacher Mikhail (Roxburgh) and his wife Sasha (Prior), obnoxious doctor Nikolai (Schmitz) and his young girlfriend Maria (Anna Bamford). Unknown at the outset, there are a number of past relationships, secret infatuations and unfulfilled desires among this group.

Anna is at a crossroads. Recently widowed by the death of "The General" she finds herself alone, at 40, with many debts. Consequently she has invited two wealthy older men to the party, Yegor (David Downer) and Alexei (Martin Jacobs) with the hopes of perhaps snaring one of them to secure her future.

From the moment Blanchett walked on stage it was clear that The Present was going to deliver a terrific evening of theatre. Over the next three hours the audience laughed aloud at the witty dialogue, absurd scenarios and drunken antics of the partygoers. I had not expected so much hilarity - the party scene alone was worth the price of admission.

Crowley's staging was brilliant allowing overlapping dialogues, and displaying the highs and lows of the gathering. The sets were clever and the music was perfect - The Clash's 'London Calling' and Haddaway's 'What is Love' among the highlights.

Andrew Upton has done something wonderful in adapting Anton Chekov's untitled play, commonly known as Platonov. He has made it feel fresh and contemporary, and very Australian despite it's Russian setting. The dialogue, peppered with slang and curse words, is sharp and savvy.

Blanchett and Roxburgh are definitely the drawcards and the do not disappoint. Roxburgh channels his Rake with Mikhail's womanising, drunken antics. Blanchett is incredible, delivering such a range of emotions, that it is hard to keep yours eyes off her. But both of them respect the ensemble nature of the play and allow the rest of the cast to showcase their talents.

The Sydney Theatre Company produce such great work and has been blessed to have Upton and Blanchett at the helm these past few years. They will be missed when the leave Australia later this year.

My review of the Sydney Theatre Company's Macbeth, starring Hugo Weaving is also on this blog.

Good as Gold

Joan London's The Golden Age (2014) is a beautiful gem of a novel. Set in 1954 in Peth, Western Australia, at a children's polio convalescent home, The Golden Age is the residence of infants and young children who are recuperating from their illness. Days are spent learning to walk again, attending to school lessons, and a lot of time lying in bed in the heat of Perth's summer.

At 13, Frank Gold is the oldest resident and doesn't quite belong. Transferred from the local hospital's Infectious Diseases Ward, his arrival at The Golden Age is beautifully described: "He felt like a pirate landing on an island of little maimed animals. A great wave had swept them up and dumped them here. All of them, like him, stranded, wanting to go home" (p.2).

Frank is used to not fitting in. He and his family fled Hungary during the second World War and arrived in Perth. His parents Frank and Ida did not know what to make of the strange parochial outpost on the other side of the world and missed the charms and customs of their European home. But young Frank worked to fit in, catch up in school, and become increasingly Australian.

Frank is a poet and sees beauty and poetry in all things. He carries a prescription pad around in his pocket and as he wheels himself around the convalescent home he finds places to escape and moments to compose his verse. What inspires him most is Elsa, another resident, with whom he forms in intense relationship.

There are so many things I loved about this novel. London's writing style greatly reminds me of Alice Munro, my favourite short story writer. London writes in a mature voice with crisp, concise prose. Her words create a dreamy sense of nostalgia and are evocative of an earlier, simpler time.

Each chapter is almost like a short story. Through these vignettes she gives insight into the lives of nurse Sister Penny, Ida's experiences during the war, a trip with convalescing children to the sea. She captures moments in time and brings them together to create a marvellous whole.

I also loved how Australian this novel is. She depicts the landscape, the language and the culture of Australia in a way that made me want to send a copy of this book to all my Australian friends overseas.

My only quibble is with the imagery on the cover of this edition - a photo of a young man on a train. I thought perhaps this was supposed to be Frank, but he takes no train journey in this book so I don't get it. I should have asked Joan London about the cover when she signed my copy at the Sydney Writers' Festival in May. Oh well...

The Golden Age was deservedly shortlisted for numerous awards in 2015 including: The Stella Prize; The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction; The Literary Fiction Book of the Year; and, The Miles Franklin Award. It was joint winner of The NSW Premier's People's Choice Award.

In Cold Blood

On Friday 22 July 2011 Anders Behring Breivik brought terror to Norway. He set off a bomb in the heart of Oslo's government sector before driving north, alongside the picturesque Tyrifjorden to Utoya Island, where he executed teenagers and staff at a labour youth camp. By the end of the summer's day he had murdered seventy-seven people and turned himself into the police.

In the aftermath there were many questions. Who was Anders Breivik? Was he a madman or a terrorist? Could this have been prevented? And above all, why did this happen? 

Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad set out to uncover the answers to these questions and documents her findings in her latest book One of Us - The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway (2015). 

At the Sydney Writers' Festival in May 2015, I attended a session where Seierstad spoke about this book. When I met Seierstad afterwards at the book signing I told her that I was unsure whether or not I wanted to read this book. The subject matter is so uncomfortably horrible, and I didn't want to give any attention to Breivik. But Seierstad is such an impressive writer, I decided to give this book a read.

The first section of the book paints a picture of Breivik as a troubled child in a dysfunctional home. A loner, abandoned by his father, at home with a mother who did not know how to parent, Breivik becomes isolated. He tries but fails at many things - becoming a graffiti tagger, operating businesses (selling fake diplomas) and becoming a mason. He does not fit in anywhere and spends five years as an adult in his room playing video games. This section of the book was a bit slow for me, largely because I had heard Seierstad describe his history at the Writers' Festival. 

She then goes on to talk about Breivik's 1500 page manifesto on the Islamisation of Western Europe which he tried to send to thousands of email addresses on the morning of the terror campaign. Breivik was no writer, and his declaration is essentially a cut-and-paste of various blogs and websites he has prowled and quotes he has misused. He calls for an expulsion of immigrants in a rant against multiculturalism, feminism and the Labour party.

Seierstad at the Sydney Writers'
Festival in May 2015

The chapter titled 'Friday' describes the day of the terror in graphic detail. It is a compelling story of mayhem and innocence lost. It builds to a climax, almost like a mystery thriller, and is deeply emotional - feeling frustration at the bungling of the police, disbelief at the relentlessness of the attack, disgust that it is so easy to buy guns and bomb materials online, fear alongside the children running for their lives, dispair as the parents await news of their children's fate.  It is masterful writing and an extraordinary feat of journalism.

The court case and the sentencing follow (amazingly, he was sentenced for just 21 years). Breivik was found to be responsible for his crimes. He now resides in prison and complains about the poor conditions of his confinement. He never achieved the fame and glory he was seeking. Nor did he reverse multiculturalism through fear, but rather pulled the people of Norway together against hatred.

Reflections one year on from the survivors and the families who lost loved ones are heartbreaking. What I really appreciated was how Seierstad shifted the focus from the narcissistic Brevik to his victims. Meeting Bano Rashid, Simon Saebo, Anders Kristiansen, Viljar Hanssen and others throughout the book made a deep impression. So many young lives, with so much promise, now dead or wounded. Their families' loss is profound and unending. The message that resonated at the end of the book is one of community, belonging and resilience as a response to terror.

Meticulously researched, cleverly written, One of Us is a compelling book reminiscent of Truman Capote's classic In Cold Blood (1966).  I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in journalism as Seierstad delivers a masterclass in storytelling. 

The Booker Longlist

On 28 July 2015 the Man Booker Prize Longlist was announced. Thirteen titles are on the longlist from authors around the globe.

There are a number of familiar faces like Anne Enright (winner in 2007 for The Gathering) and previously shortlisted authors Tom McCarthy (2010) and Andrew O'Hagan (1999). But there are also a range of first time authors like Bill Clegg, Chigozie Obiama and Anna Smaill.

I am currently reading Anne Tyler's A Spool of Blue Thread (2015) and enjoying it immensely. I do have a soft spot for Ms Tyler, having loved her Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982).

I have heard great things about The Fisherman by Chigozie Obioma. The story of four brothers in Nigeria who go fishing on a forbidden river, as told by the youngest brother.

Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings sounds fascinating. Based on the 1976 attempted murder of Bob Marley, it tells the story of Jamaican politics and culture from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Here is the longlist:

• Did You Ever Have a Family - Bill Clegg (USA)
• The Green Road - Anne Enright (Ireland)
• A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James (Jamaica)
• The Moor's Account - Laila Lalami (USA)
• Satin Island - Tom McCarthy (UK)
• The Fisherman - Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria)
• The Illuminations - Andrew O'Hagan (UK)
• Lila - Marilynne Robinson (USA)
• Sleeping on Jupiter - Anuradha Roy (India)
• The Year of the Runaways - Sunjeev Sahota (UK)
• The Chimes - Anna Smaill (New Zealand)
• A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler (USA)
• A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara (USA)

The six book shortlist will be announced on 15 September,  with the winner announced on 13 October 2015.

Go hard or go home

Every nightly newscast for as long as I can remember has had a story about war in the Middle East. In the 1990s I recall the fighting under the first President Bush and, even though I was living safely in North America at the time, the distant war seemed very close to home. Since 9/11 and the War on Terror, there has been a constant battle waging and it has been hard to keep up and make sense of it all. Why are people killing each other? What role does religion play? How real is the threat at home? When will it end? So many questions, so few answers.

I heard David Kilcullen speak at the Sydney Writers' Festival and he spoke with such clarity and sense that I was keen to read his Quarterly Essay, "Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State" (2015, QE58). Kilcullin, an expert in counterinsurgency, was an adviser to General Petraeus and Condoleeza Rice. He is extremely knowledgeable and passionate, and has written a very interesting, if confronting, essay.

However, this Quarterly Essay is not an easy read. The first half was so dense with the historical underpinnings of the current 'crisis' that I regularly had to stop, go back and re-read to ensure I understood what he was talking about. There are a lot of acronyms and names to remember. But it was important that he took the time to spell out the motivations and alliances of all the main players in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Northern Africa and beyond, as it shows the complexity of a situation that is too often simplified by politicians and the media.

During the aftermath of 9/11, Kilcullen advocated for a policy of disaggregation to 'dismantle, or break up, the links that allow the jihad to function as a global entity." (p7) Instead, President Bush chose an us/them strategy with his 'axis of evil' speech that served to bring groups together against the West. Disaggregation would have 'rendered bin Laden irrelevant, so it wouldn't matter whether he lived or died.' For America, however, bin Laden needed to be dealt with despite his marginalisation.

Turning to Iraq and Afghanistan, Kilcullen likens 'the invasion of Iraq to Hitler's invasion of Russia' (p13) in that Iraq held no immediate threat when Bush invaded, and resources were needed in Afghanistan but were redeployed against Saddam Hussein. As things play out in Iraq, and the new President Obama was in need of an exit strategy, Kilcullen felt 'they were conflating leaving Iraq with ending the war.... the hard reality is that once you're in a full-blown insurgency, your choices are tightly constrained: you either leave well, or you leave quickly' (p31).

Kilcullen then looks at the rise of ISIS (p61) and asserts that IS is on the verge of becoming a State as it meets all the common criteria of statehood. I did not realise how big IS has become, how much land it occupies, how many people live in its territory. The chapter on IS was fascinating, not least of all because Prime Minister Tony Abbott has ramped up the rhetoric to a fever pitch with his nightly rants about death cults. So I was keen to understand the way in which IS evolved and what its motivations are.

Looking at a 'strategy for the future' Kilcullen says there are four threats: 1) domestic radicalisation, which we have seen in events in Ottawa, Boston, Sydney, France and elsewhere; 2) foreign fighters, largely a question of border security; 3) the effect of ISIS on other groups (e.g Boko Haram); and finally 4) the war IS is waging in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

Kilcullen argues we need to go in hard, militarily on IS with different rules of engagement. He writes, 'this is a case when the job will become much harder, require much more lethal force and do more harm as time goes on: we have to go in hard, no, or we'll end up having to go in harder, and potentially on a much larger scale, later - or accept defeat' (p80). There does not seem much political will in the West for following this advice, but I imagine there are many politicians, military leaders and strategists who have read this Essay and are contemplating their next move.

Having absorbed this Essay, Kilcullen answered many of my questions, but also opened my mind to many more. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, but in the meantime things will get a lot worse before they get better. We will wait and see, which unfortunately may be the worst thing we can do.

Also included was correspondence related to the previous Quarterly Essay, QE57 Dear Life by Karen Hitchcock.

Arsenic and Old Lace, Revisited

In January 2015 I read and reviewed Caroline Overington's Last Woman Hanged (2014), the true crime story of convicted murderer Louisa Collins. I greatly enjoyed the story of the legal battles to convict Collins and the insights into Australia's judicial history.

Historian and genealogist Carol Baxter has published her own account of the trials and execution of Louisa Collins in Black Widow (2015). I attended Baxter's book launch on 10 June and heard her speak about the impressive research she had done to uncover the story and her interest in this part of Australian history. Not only did she mine the archives and comprehensively scour news reports and transcripts, but she also sought expert advice on colonial law to confirm her understanding of the court proceedings in the context of the time in which they occurred.

Black Widow unfolds like a murder mystery, starting with Collins illness and death. If the reader was unaware of Louisa Collins fate, the court room dramas of two inquests and four trials would leave the reader anxious as to whether or not she would be convicted. At the book launch Baxter was keen to ensure she did not give too much away so that the reader would find out for themselves that Collins was convicted and sentenced to hang.

The focus on Collins' legal battles is extremely interesting. Against the backdrop of state politics, the rising women's movement, and the overseas horror of the Jack the Ripper murders, the Collins' case is of historical significance. Baxter compares the public sentiment towards Collins as that of Lindy Chamberlain in more recent times, which was an interesting parallel.

Originally to be called The Lucretia Borgia of Botany Bay, publication of Black Widow was delayed and the title changed when Overington's book was published first. The six month gap between the books has allowed for each to be assessed independently, but also compared where required.

The similarities between the Overington and Baxter books are obvious - both concern the same case and have used much of the same primary sources for their research. I preferred Baxter's writing style to Overington and enjoyed the way in which the story unfolded in Black Widow. However, I do not share Baxter's conclusion that Collins committed these murders beyond reasonable doubt. Overington presented compelling evidence of other means of arsenic poisoning and pokes so many holes in the case that it I remain unconvinced of her guilt.

Baxter considers Collins to be 'Australia's first serial killer' but I am not convinced. Firstly, how many deaths does one need to be responsible for in order to be a serial killer?  Even if she did kill both of her husbands, I would have thought two murders does not a serial killer make.

To be convicted of murder there needs to be both actus reus (the guilty act) and mens rea (the guilty mind). With the death of her first husband, Charles Andrews, there is a motive for murder (to be free to be with Collins) but the murderous act is largely circumstantial. With the death of her second husband, again there is circumstantial evidence of the guilty act, but what is the motive?

Regardless of whether or not she actually committed these crimes, the legal case against Collins was fundamentally flawed and the fact that she had three hung juries before conviction is an unprecedented abuse of the legal system.

I am happy to have read both these books and would recommend them both... although I would encourage a gap between reading so as to enjoy each independently.

My review of Overington's Last Woman Hanged is also on this blog, as is a summary of Overington's session at the Sydney Writers' Festival on capital punishment.

A Trip to Italy

Watching news from this year's Cannes Film Festival, I was intrigued by a new Todd Haynes film staring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Carol (2015) is based on a book by Patricia Highsmith, published first in 1952 as The Price of Salt under pseudonym Claire Morgan. So I started combing my bookshelves to see whether I had this in my collection. Instead I found The Talented Mr Ripley (1955) which I immediately started to read and could not put down.

Tom Ripley is a small time scammer living in New York. He is rather unhappy and unsettled, with no real friends or employment. One day he is approached by Mr Herbert Greenleaf, owner of a shipping company, who wants Ripley to travel to Mongibello  Italy to persuade Greenleaf's son Dickie to return to America. Ripley has only a passing acquaintance with Dickie but is keen to be funded to travel to Europe.

In Italy, Ripley meets Dickie, befriends him and explains the errand he is on for Dickie's father. Dickie is happy in Italy - painting, swimming, and spending lazy afternoons drinking with his friend Marge Sherwood. Ripley quickly immerses himself in Dickie's world, much to the dismay of Marge and eventually Dickie himself.

Things turn sour and, when Ripley feels Dickie is about to unfriend him,  Ripley kills Dickie on a boating trip. He then assumes Dickie's identity, moves to Rome, living off the regular cheques sent from Dickie's trust fund, and cutting off ties with Marge and others in Mongibello.

Ripley, as Dickie, then has to hide away from people in his old life and is constantly afraid of being discovered. When the police begin to try and track down Dickie, Ripley shifts between being himself and pretending to be Dickie. It is a high stakes game he is playing, as the police begin to suspect Dickie has been involved in criminal behaviour or has killed himself.

The novel quickens pace as Ripley struggles to stay ahead of the police, Dickie's friends and family, and his own paranoia. Will he be caught? Will he inadvertently give himself away?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the complex character Highsmith has created. Ripley is not just a common sociopath. He loves art, literature and language. He longs to fit in, but he is uncomfortable in his own skin and wants to be someone else. He is gay, but in a time when this was not accepted, he cannot be himself. He longs to be loved, if not as Ripley then as someone else, even though he knows he can never really escape being Tom Ripley.

In 1999 Anthony Minghella adapted this novel for the screen in a beautiful, critically acclaimed movie staring Matt Damon as Ripley, Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge and Judd Law as Dickie. I have not seen that film since it came out, but I remember it for its beautiful scenery and compelling performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman (as Freddie Miles) and Cate Blanchett (as Meredith Logue - who does not appear in the book). I will have to watch this again now that I have read the book to see whether it matched my memory. Now that I have traveled to Italy, I am keen to see it again and be reminded of the places I have been.

Highsmith continued the Ripley tale in a series of novels, known as the Ripliad:

• Ripley Under Ground (1970)
• Ripley's Game (1974)
• The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980)
• Ripley Under Water (1991)

It will be interesting to see how Ripley has fared over many years and how Highsmith has written this character over almost forty years.

Sydney Writers' Festival - Day 4

Sadly we have come to the last day of our 2015 Sydney Writers Festival. It has been a wonderful few days and I suspect that this will become an annual event.

We had a short Sunday planned at the Festival, and here's what we got up to on 24 May 2015:

Reading History Through People

Mum has a particularly keen interest in Australian history and so we were thrilled to attend this session in which Tom Keneally and David Hill spoke about how to make history engaging through the stories we tell.

Keneally is a living legend. Most people know him for his novels like Booker Prize winner Schindler's Ark (1982), The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith (1972), and the more recent Shame and the Captives (2014). But he has a comprehensive catalogue of non-fiction as well, including his three volumes of Australians.

David Hill is an Australian non-fiction writer known for his works 1788: The Brutal Truth of the First Fleet (2008), Gold - The fever that changed Australia (2010), and The Great Race: The Race between the English and the French to complete the first map of Australia (2013). His latest book is The Making of Australia (2015).

Keneally and Hill are a delightful pair and as they took to the stage and got themselves sorted, Keneally joked that they were a "geriatric comedy duo." There were certainly a lot of laughs, as the two men bantered for an hour about various figures from Australian history - some well known and some unknown. There was a lightness about this session, but they also brought history to life.

Hill said that "telling the story through villains and heroes makes it much more interesting" and proceeded to tell us about the logistics of the First Fleet and some of the individuals involved. They both spoke about the changing role of women and how much of Australian early history has been recorded from the perspective of the white military officers, but very little from the poor, women, or the Indigenous people they encountered when they arrived in Australia. Hill said these officers had a "disparaging view of the lower class" and this was reflected in their accounts.

"The flappers were a serious phenomenon" said Keneally, as for the first time in history women were able to shorten their skirts, bob their hair, drink with men and "initiate sexual dalliance." They spoke about the first Miss Australia, a woman named Beryl Miles who, as Keneally explained was "the girl we want to bear future Anzacs" in a time where there was an emphasis on eugenics.

Thomas Keneally, David Hill and Suzanne Leal

Hill went on to talk about the Fairbridge Farm, the subject of his book Forgotten Children (2007) and explained how British children were taken from the UK and brought to Australia as child migrants. Keneally said it was a case of two problems and one solution: the problems of too many poor in Britain and needing white stock to colonise Australia could be solved with child migration. Children as young as four were taken away from their homes and transported to Britain. Hill himself was one of these children as he and his two brothers were taken from his mother, when he was only eight years old. Fortunately for Hill his mother soon followed and the family was reunited, but for many others they were subject to neglect and horrific abuse. Fairbridge Farm only closed in 1974, so it is still a contemporary problem and not some secret from our past.

The two authors spoke of the role compassion plays when writing history and along the way told the stories of William Buckley, Henry Parkes, Molly Meadows, John Hudson, the Petrov Affair, Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin, John Curtin and Charles Kingston.

During question time, they were asked who they would like to have a cup of tea and a chat with. Keneally said "My hero of this story has to be Lachlan Macquarie" and the other person was Captain Bligh.  Hill said Deakin and Caroline Chisholm. They were also asked who they thought was the greatest Australian: John Curtin according to Keneally; and Gough Whitlam for David Hill.

The two authors were so incredibly knowledgable, witty and informative that I would have loved to stay with them all day and learn all that I could. The hour flew by and it was time to go.

After the session we went along to the book signing. David Hill signed a copy of Forgotten Children: Fairbridge Farm School and its Betrayal of British Child Migrants to Australia (2007) for me, and The Making of Australia (2015) for mum.  We spent some time chatting with Tom Keneally as he signed a copy of Schindler's Ark (1982) for me and Volume 2 of his Australians: Eureka to the Diggers series for mum. He said he is hard at work on Volume 4 of the series, so we will have to get reading to catch up.

Other Adventures
Spotted a number of people today including: Jason Steiger, Sonja Hartnett, Tommy Weiringa, Maxine McKew, and Christina Lamb.

The sessions I wanted to see today but did not are:

• Douglas Coupland: Writing that Defies Modern Culture - Canadian novelist and artist talking about popular culture. 
• Co-Conspirators - Journalists Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb talk about what they love to read.
• Corruption Uncovered: Kate McClymont and Linton Besser - On corruption and politics. McClymont is an incredible journalist who has been a leading force behind the exposure of the Obeid family corruption.
• Dangerous Women - This was a free panel in which Kelinde Wrightson, Xanthe Mallett and Caroline Overington  talk about infamous women.
• Evie Wyld: All the Birds Singing - Winner of the 2014 Miles Franklin Award, Wyld was speaking at the festival today. I bought the book months ago but still have not read it!

Today was Family Day - with a lot of activities and events for children which is a terrific way to encourage reading in young people.

Final Thoughts

So ends our SWF for 2015. A couple of thoughts overall about the Sydney Writers Festival:

• Ticketing: It would have been great to have the full program published and then a gap of time before the tickets went on sale, to allow more time to plan attendance and to liaise with others to map out our Festival. We rushed to get our tickets (which was necessary as some sessions sell out quickly), but I would have liked more time to sit down and plan our festival. Fortunately it was possible to buy some tickets at the last minute to see some interesting sessions.
• Passes: Some sort of bundling like day passes or discounts on bulk purchases would have been great. This is done at other events (e.g. buy 5 sessions, get 15% off) and would have been welcomed by those of us wanting to see more paid sessions.
• Free Sessions: These are a great way of giving public access to some terrific speakers. Unfortunately though, they are hard to get into because people line up for hours. But with a well planned schedule it can be done.
• Venue: Sydney Harbour is always beautiful and the venue was a lovely spot. The shuttle buses from Circular Quay to Walsh Bay were an excellent idea, especially given the number of seniors in attendance. Some of the volunteers managing the buses did their best, but some could have been better briefed about how to manage queues. The free sessions in Sydney Dance Theatre One were a bit hard to hear because of the ambient noise and the racket coming from the neighbouring cafe.
• Program: I loved the diversity on the program - there truly is something for everyone. I also liked that a number of authors were speaking more than once so there were plenty of opportunities to see people.

All in all, it was a wonderful event and I will definitely be attending again next year. The highlights from the 2015 Sydney Writers' Festival for me were:

• Julia Gillard: On Standing for Something, which I was fortunate to attend on 1 May 2015.
• Richard Flanagan: A Celebration
• Kate Grenville: One Life
• Helen Garner: Lives and Writing
• Tom Keneally and David Hill: Reading History through People
• Just being among lovers of literature in an incredibly festive atmosphere.

Sydney Writers' Festival - Day 3

Saturday 23 May 2015 is Day 3 of our SWF. It is a little bit quieter than the first two days with only two sessions planned. But we arrived early and I was able to secure tickets to see Asne Seierstad for half price, so a bargain as well as a delight!

Caroline Overington: On Capital Punishment

We begin our day with a free session with journalist and author Caroline Overington. Mum and I had both read Overington's book Last Woman Hanged (2014), the true story of Louisa Collins who was hanged in NSW for murder. The book is very strong in making a case against capital punishment, a view I share. 

Overington spoke passionately about capital punishment and how wrong it is. She started with showing excerpts from a film about the execution of 14 year old George Stinney in 1944, a verdict which has recently been overturned as a gross miscarriage of justice. She then talked about the recent deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Indonesia and of the reaction here in Australia to their murders. She cited facts and figures from research on the ineffective deterrent value of capital punishment. It was a fascinating presentation, by a journalist who knows her stuff. 

Caroline Overington

Overington then took questions from the crowd. As she lives in California now, she was able to give an interesting perspective on the thoughts about capital punishment in America. Questions included whether there were certain types of crime for which the death penalty was suited and about the psychological impact on the executioners. I wanted to ask her about 'death qualified' juries in the US, as in the recent case of the Boston marathon bomber, but did not get a chance.

After the session mum and I spoke to her briefly at the side of the stage. She had messaged me on Twitter as I said I was attending, so I introduced  myself and told her how much we enjoyed her book and that I had reviewed it on this blog. Mum mentioned that Carol Baxter has a book on Louisa Collins coming out soon, and Overington said she was aware of this and looks forward to it. I did not realise that Overington had written so many novels, as I knew of her only as a journalist,  so I might check out her fiction one day.

Extremism: What are we dealing with?

We next went to another compelling free session in which Jenny Brockie moderated a discussion with David Kilcullen, Mohsin Hamid and Anne-Azza Aly on fundamentalist behaviour. This was a fascinating session on the individual motivations for joining up with Islamic State, the Western response, and what to do when people involved in extremism want to come home.

Dr Aly is a respected professor and terrorism expert from Curtin University in Western Australia who has been researching how to counter violent extremism. She is the author of Terrorism and Global Security: Historical and Comparative Perspective (2011). She has been involved in working with Muslim youth on developing a counter narrative to the one used by violent extremists.  

Dr David Kilcullen is an Australian counterinsurgency expert who advised American General David Petraeus and US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice. He is the author of several books on guerrilla warfare including The Accidental Guerrilla (2009) and Out of the Mountains - The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla (2013). Kilcullin also wrote the latest Quarterly Essay on Islamic State, which arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

The two were joined by Mohsin Hamid, the Pakistani author of international bestseller The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and made into a film in 2012. I missed Hamid's opening address at the Festival - "Life in the Time of Permawar" so was delighted to see him today. Having a writer of fiction join this panel provided an interesting perspective and Hamid made some interesting points which grounded the discussion.

The panel discussed the reason why individuals are heading to Syria to support Islamic State. Kilcullen said that there is no one single, simple explanation. He said "one thing I am struck by with ISIS is the number of people involved" as well as the number of women. He cited the speed with which this generation of violent extremism is occurring and said "this is a different model, in addition to the traditional model of someone feeling marginalised.... now, I liken it to pedophile grooming where they reach in and groom extremism." He said they are now using social media well and have a jihadist dating service which is attracting younger men and women to the cause.

Aly said "we are consistently looking for a profile, some kind of psychology" but it is not that simple. She questions our use of the term radicalisation as it is often used for a range of behaviours. The example she gave was of the Nazis at one end and then skinheads who "latched on to the motifs and symbols of neo-Nazi groups" but these two groups are not the same. She called for the involvement of young Muslims in trying to understand this radicalisation and said that we should "admit that we don't get it and talk to people who do."

Hamid stressed the need to understand the story behind why people engaged in this. He said that young people have a "strong desire to matter" and may join this cause in the same way that volunteers joined the Spanish Civil War decades ago. He also reminded us that there isn't a single Islam and one of the challenges is that, in the West as well as in IS, there is a notion that "the Muslim aspect of your identities the strongest aspect; it is the Muslim in you that matters most" which feeds into this idea of a single Islam. He also made a plea for considering the way in which we view migration and cited "the virulent demonisation of the migrant" and the manner in which we treat people differently.

Brockie, Kilcullen, Aly and Hamid

The panel talked about the solution for the current IS problem. Kilcullen said that a military solution to"kick seven kinds of crap out of IS" was needed to actively contain the situation, however he said the "military can never solve these problems, but we can set the conditions to allow politicians to solve this."

Hamid said the best thing we can do in Australia is to be less afraid. He reminded us that there are people in the world living in conflict zones that have real reason to be scared of violent extremism, but in Australia we do not. He likened it to being afraid of sharks in Switzerland.

I really enjoyed this lively panel discussion, and I learned a lot about what is happening in Syria from the panelists. After the session we were able to attend a book signing and Hamid signed my copy of The Reluctant Fundamentalist so that was a real treat.

Asne Seierstad: Dissecting a Crime 

One of the sessions I didn't buy tickets for in the first round was to see Asne Seierstad, but I really wanted to attend her session so went to the box office first thing in the morning and picked up two tickets for her session.

Seierstad has recently published One of Us (2015) about Anders Breivik and his mass murder in Norway which I was uncertain whether or not I wanted to read about this. On the one hand I am curious about the motivation for this atrocious act of barbarity, but on the other I don't want to give Breivik any more oxygen by reading about his crime. Seierstad said she wrote the book to try and get to the bottom of the question "Who are we dealing with?" and over the next hour, through her interesting presentation, she convinced me that I wanted to read her book.

Asne Seierstad and Anne Manne

Anne Manne interviewed Seierstad about the book, and took us through a narrative of Breivik's life, telling us about his dysfunctional family and unhappy childhood, disengaged youth and his constant need for attention. She shared the horrors of the day in which he committed his crimes and the meticulous research she had conducted in preparing this book.

Seierstad at the book signing.

The session was all very interesting and so I purchased a copy of her book (actually, I started reading it on the bus ride home and I am gripped by the story and her writing). After the session we were able to meet her as she signed copies of One of Us and my old dog-eared The Bookseller of Kabul. This is one of the things that makes the Festival so great; that you can actually meet and talk with so many wonderful writers.

Other adventures
Today was a busy day of author spotting at Walsh Bay as we saw Ramona Koval, Dr Karen Hitchcock, Robert Dessaix, David Marr, Scott Bevan, Zoe Norton Lodge, Shaun Micallef and many more. Mum also picked up a couple of books she wanted to read - a David Hill and a book by Kate Grenville.

Other sessions held today that I would have liked to have attended include:

• A Life of True Crime - in which Asne Seierstad, Julie Szago and Virgina Peters talk about the inhumanity of the worst among us. 
• How Enid Blyton Changed My Life - Robert Dessaix talks about how Blyton's stories encouraged his creativity.
• On Hipsters - Dr Fiona Allon talks about the rise of the hipster.
• Les Murray: Waiting for the Past - on his new poetry collection.
• Give me back my pre-internet brain - Richard Flanagan, Douglas Coupland, Sally Andrews and Adam Spencer talk about our reliance on devices.
• The Golden Age of Television - Starlee Kine, Daniel Mendelsohn and Shaun Micallef on TV.  

So ends Day 3 at the Sydney Writers' Festival... One more to go, with a short day on Sunday.

Sydney Writers' Festival - Day 2

It is Friday 22 May 2015 and Day 2 of our SWF begins. It is a horribly wet and cold day - perfect for curling up on the sofa with a mug of tea and a good book, not great for tramping about the piers, standing in line and trying to keep dry! But there are too many good sessions to see, so armed with umbrellas and anoraks we ventured out to the festival.

Linda Mottram, ABC 702

Our first stop was to sit in on a broadcast by Lindra Mottram at ABC radio 702. She was talking with Sahar Amer, author of What is Veiling (2014) and Dr Mehreen Faruqi, a member of NSW Legislative Council for the Greens party, and the first Muslim woman in an Australian parliament. This was a fascinating discussion about the veil in its various formats, whether it is oppressive, its history and attempts to ban the burqa. Then Richard Fiedler came on to chat with Norman Doidge about neuroplasticity, which would have been fascinating, but we had to move on to catch our next session.  

Helen Garner: Lives and Writing

We begin our day listening to Helen Garner in discussion with Tegan Bennett Daylight. Readers of this blog will know how much I enjoyed Garner's latest book This House of Grief (2014) about the trial and conviction of Robert Farquharson. This was, without doubt, one of the most engrossing books I have read in the past year. 

Unable to attend Garner's session at the All About Women festival in March, I was thrilled to hear her speak at SWF. During her session, Garner began by reading from her debut novel Monkey Grip (1977) which she said she had not looked at in 25-30 years as it would be "too mortifying". After reading the richly evocative passage, she exclaimed "Hey, that's not bad... But it has an awful lot of adverbs in it."    

An interesting discussion ensued with Daylight, who remarked on the pace of the story. Garner stated that "as a woman I always felt I didn't have people's attention for very long... No one was going to pay attention to me long enough to say things slowly." She likened it to the feeling of running across a stage, and said that she always talks fast and tends to "gabble". 

Garner struggled with her second book. She wrote one that wasn't publishable. She said "I produced this pathetic thing, and in my heart I knew it was crap." But she salvaged the best bits and turned them into the stories "Honour" and "Other People's Children". 

She spoke about Cosmo Cosmolino (1992) and how it was received. She says that there is a character like her in all her novels.

They then turned to her non-fiction with The First Stone (1995), Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004) and her most recent book, This House of Grief (2014). The discussion of the Farqaharson case was fascinating, as she said she faced criticism for refusing to portray him as a monster. While what he did was horrendous, "what you see is not a powerful monster, but rather a pathetic figure, a lost soul."   

After the session mum and I spoke to Helen and got her to sign my copies of Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004) and The First Stone (1995). I told her how I read Cinque in law school and how I have sent it to many friends. Mum asked her where she did her writing and she said she rented a room, as writing at home has too many distractions. 

When Journalists Become the News

This was an open session at SWF in which journalists talk about their work and what happens when the tables are turned and they become the story. In attendance were Maxine McKew, Sarah Dingle, Peter Lloyd, and Christopher Warren (from the Walkleys).

McKew became the news when, after decades as a journalist, she turned to politics and ousted Prime Minister John Howard in 2007. She talked about how she had a "golden ride" from the press but how different it was when she got into office.

Dingle also chose to become the news when she elected to be interviewed about being a child born from a sperm donor and her search to find her father's identity. 

Lloyd did not willingly become the news, but rather found himself in the spotlight when arrested in Singapore for drug possession. 

All three spoke about the importance of knowing who you are, and understanding that the journalists are just doing their jobs. McKew said that she had changed and that you "become more guarded... You are only going to get a version of me."

This session was interesting but I found the room very noisy with the clatter of dishes from next door and the sounds of water rushing through the pipes very distracting. We also had a really long queue and had to wait around 40 minutes to get in. So while it was good, there were also a number of negatives.

Anna Bligh: Through the Wall

I was keen to attend this session in which Bligh spoke about her memoir Through the Wall (2015). Bligh was the first female Premier of Queensland and is very much a trailblazer. She has written this book about her career and her battle with cancer. 

At SWF Bligh talked about the three themes of her book - leadership, love and survival. She spoke about the Australian ideal of egalitarianism and said the "gap between those people who can realise the opportunities of this country and those who are prohibited is growing." This gap "should worry us all". She pointed to the difficulty the federal government had with the last budget as indicative of this ideal and the desire for "a sense of fairness in our economic circumstances."

She talked about ambition and being warned by a close colleague about being seen as to ambitious. Bligh said "if we are talking about male leaders we see ambition as a positive quality... But for women the word ambition has ambiguous qualities."  Ambition "seems to be at odds with what we see as feminine." But she says we won't see more women in leadership unless we encourage ambition in women. 

Bligh spoke of the Labor party, the union movement and the challenges of modern political parties. She is proud of her handling of the 2011 floods, in which she demonstrated tremendous leadership and empathy. She also acknowledged her failure to communicate the need to privatise some government assets. In terms of a quieter achievements she cited adding a year of schooling for Queensland students to bring them in line with the rest of the country.

Bligh's session was reminiscent of Julia Gillard's session - both strong, resilient, intelligent, Labor leaders who were trailblazers. Bligh acknowledged she was the first in Queensland, but said it was the second, third and fourth women premiers that take it "from novelty to normal" and embed female leadership. 

Other adventures
I also had a small splash at Gleebooks, picking up copies of Helen Garner's The Spare Room (2008), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid, Not My Father's Son (2015) by Alan Cumming and Farewell Kabul (2015) by Christina Lamb. Plenty of good reading and blogging to be had from these titles.

The sessions I wanted to see today but did not are:

• Don Watson: The Bush - in which Watson talks about his book The Bush: Travels in the Heart of Australia
• In the Age of Google, What's the point of schools - Maxine McKew, Jennifer Buckingham, John Marsden and Rebecca Huntley talk about education and change
• WWI: With the benefit of hindsight - Ross Coulthart and Harvey Broadbent on WWI
• Australians: Flappers to Vietnam with Tom Keneally - about the third instalment of his history of Australian people.
• Growing Up and Other Disasters: Cumming and Barr - Actor Alan Cumming and Damien Barr talk about their childhoods
• Michael Mori: In the Company of Cowards - about his life as a military defence lawyer.
• Malcolm Knox: The Wonder Lover - about Knox's new novel.
• Anne Manne: On Narcissism - how consumer culture is distorting relationships
• The Book Club - a recording of the show with Jennifer Byrne

So ends Day 2 of SWF. We have an early start tomorrow!