A Beautiful Mind

Working my way through the 2022 Women's Prize shortlist, I spent a wonderful day reading Meg Mason's novel Sorrow and Bliss (2020). 

Shortly after her 40th birthday, Martha and her husband Patrick separate. Now alone, Martha reflects on her life trying to figure out what happened. Patrick has been part of her family for as long as she can remember, since attending her aunt's annual Christmas lunches while visiting from boarding school. She cannot imagine life without him. 

With her sister Ingrid, Martha grew up in an eccentric family of creatives. Her mother repurposes found objects into sculpture while her father is a poet who has never been able to capitalise on his early success. Their mother is mercurial and her volatile personality keeps her family at a distance. Likewise, Martha has suffered from a debilitating depression since childhood. She has regular crashes into a darkness which take a long time to recover from. This unnamed mental illness also impacts Martha's feelings about motherhood and causes her to sabotage the good things in her life. 

This is a character-driven story about grappling with mental illness and how it impacts families and friends. Despite the subject matter, I found this novel to be intelligent, witty and in parts laugh-out-loud funny. An unreliable narrator, Martha's first person account is razor-sharp, as she shares her dark thoughts, the mundane aspects of life and clever asides. 

I especially loved the relationship between the two sisters - the way they communicate in emojis, help each other at their worst moments, and have an unspoken shared history. Mason also depicts the broader family with clarity and empathy, with wonderful characters like Aunt Winsome, Martha's parents, the cousins, and the devoted Patrick.  

New Zealander Meg Mason is the author of Say it Again in a Nice Voice and You Be Mother. She now lives in Sydney.  

Sydney Writers' Festival 2022 - Day Three

Joined by my festival friend, we saw three sessions on Sunday 22 May 2022. This was the day after the federal election, and while the full results were still being tallied, it was clear that the Morrison government had lost and that there would be a new Labor government. The whole day felt more hopeful and the election was clearly on the minds of many speakers as we looked forward to a new government and a kinder, gentler nation.

Where Angels Fear To Tread

This session was about defamation and how defamation complaints can be used to censor and silence journalists. I thought this would be an interesting panel given the high profile defamation cases underway here (Ben Roberts-Smith) and overseas (Johnny Depp/Amber Heard) and the recent discontinuation of the Craig McLaughlin case. 

Erik Jensen, founding editor of The Saturday Paper, chaired this panel. Hannah Marshall, a partner at Marque Lawyers, was on hand to explain the legalities of defamation and the reforms needed to support public interest journalism. Investigative journalists Kate McClymont (SMH), best known for uncovering high profile scandals like Eddie Obeid, and Chris Masters (Four Corners) who is one of the journalists being sued by Ben Roberts-Smith, were able to give firsthand accounts of being defendants in defamation cases. 

While they could not speak about current cases, they were able to speak about past cases. McClymont spoke about Obeid, McLaughlin and other cases she has been involved in. McClymont and Masters spoke about the personal toll defamation actions take on journalists and their families. Masters exposed the corruption in the Queensland police force in a 1987 Four Corners program which lead to the Fitzgerald Inquiry on corruption in Joh Bjelke-Peterson's government. This also lead to a decade long defamation case against Masters and the ABC, which they eventually won but was exhausting for all involved.

Jensen said that as an editor, the defamation laws stand between the public and the truth. The panel spoke about the chilling effect that defamation actions can have on journalists and how they have had to learn how to do things differently to protect sources (e.g. using coding in their notes), and the importance of getting multiple on-the-record sources to confirm before publication. McClymont said that you need to approach stories as though you need to prove them in a criminal court. The costs of defamation can be crippling, with Masters arguing that the costs are leverage and that 'economic principles outweigh editorial principles'.

Marshall spoke about some of the reforms proposed to defamation law in an effort to be more balanced. She said that in Australia the balance is in the favour of the plaintiff, making it difficult and costly to defend a case. Often times the cases are brought about by a 'whiff of criticism' but the case itself can do more harm to the plaintiff's reputation than the original story which gave rise to the complaint.

Overall, a great session with lots of thought-provoking discussion. 

Radical Inclusive Rebellious

We bought rush tickets to see this fantastic session. Gamillaroi/Torres Strait Islander actor and writer Nakkiah Lui brought together a panel to showcase authors she is publishing under her new imprint Joan Press. Joan is named after Lui's grandmother, a storyteller and mentor, who was the 'person who taught me not to be invisible'. As such, Joan Press has been created to publish voices who are often excluded from storytelling. Lui introduced two authors who read from their works. 

Maddie Godfrey is a poet who has performed at the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. Their debut poetry collection is How To Be Held (2018) and Joan will publish the forthcoming Dress Rehearsal. Maddie read a number of poems, including one titled 'Harry Styles is Interviewed on a Beach, and the Horizon Aligns with his Sighs'.  [After the session my festival friend and I were approached by an elderly man who wanted to know who Harry Styles was - we did our best to explain.]

Cartoonist and graphic artist Sarah Firth shared her debut work - a collection of graphic essays Eventually Everything Connects, which will be published by Joan. As she read an except called 'Joie de Vivre' aloud, we were able to see the Joie de Vivre illustrations on her website. Firth was delighted to be picked up by Joan, as other publishers rejected the book as it could not be easily categorised.

Sessions like these are fantastic for introducing new authors. I am so pleased we attended.

I was wrong

Our last session for the festival was about changing your mind and admitting your mistakes, especially in a culture which discourages confessing errors. Four speakers were invited to share where they were wrong about something and what they had learned.

Writer and performer Paul McDermott spoke first. He was absolutely hilarious and admitted that he has wasted much of the past three years writing songs about how much he hates Scott Morrison. He sang verses from a number of his songs, including 'Scomo no homo' to the laughter of all present. While humorous, his presentation reminded us of all the missed opportunities and failures of the previous government.

Professor Marcia Langton spoke next. Langton is widely respected for her work on Indigenous issues, having been involved in many government policy reforms over decades of activism. Her presentation was heartbreaking as she listed all of the enquiries and investigations she had been part of that she thought would lead to change. For example, she genuinely believed that the 1980s Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody would lead to substantive change, but she was wrong as few recommendations were enacted. She said the same of the Stolen Generations reports, juvenile justice inquiry and many more. Langton was also involved in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. She concluded with her hope that new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will adopt this statement and that she will not be wrong. 

Author, activist and feminist, Jane Caro, delivered an impromptu speech on various times she was wrong. Warm and witty, Caro spoke about the need to reflect and change your mind. Caro was followed by David Marr, one of my favourite thinkers and writers. Marr argued that  'a frank admission of error is an important thing' and spoke about how the press and the public are so quick to see a change of mind as weakness. He spoke about the Morrison government and their targeting of marginalised people (e.g. trans youth). He also spoke about some of the mistakes he had made as a young journalist and what the errors taught him.

Well, that was the end of my time at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival. It was great to be back, attending events like this, after living like a hermit for the past two years. With COVID precautions in place, respected by most attendees, I was able to safely attend and feel relaxed in the space. I come home with many memories and a stack of books to read. Special thanks to my festival friend for being a great companion and choosing such good sessions.

Read more about my time at the Sydney Writers' Festival here:

• Day 1 - Includes Sean Kelly, Judith Brett, Jackie Huggins, Melissa Lucashenko, Sarah Krasnostein, Richard Fidler, Sisonke Msimang and Clare Wright
• Day 2 - Includes Barrie Cassidy, Jennifer Down, Hannah Kent, Garry Disher, Damon Galgut and Larissa Behrendt
• Day 3 - Includes Chris Masters, Kate McClymont, Nakkiah Lui, Marica Langton, Jane Caro and David Marr

Sydney Writers' Festival 2022 - Day Two

Joined by my festival friend, we saw four sessions on Saturday 21 May 2022

Barrie Cassidy and Friends: Election 2022

When this session was pitched, organisers had expected the federal election would have been held the week prior, so Barrie Cassidy and his panel of eminent journalists could dissect the outcome. As it happens, it was held on the morning of Election Day so the session was more speculative.

Cassidy was joined by Fran Kelly (ABC), Niki Savva (SMH) and Amy Remeikis (The Guardian) for an interesting discussion about the election, the leading candidates and the media.

They began with seminal moments in the campaign and spoke about Albanese forgetting the employment figures during week one, Morrison's crash tackle of a child on a soccer pitch, and the Catherine Deves retraction. I greatly admire Savva's analysis of Morrison's character and his poor performance as prime minister. 

Amy Remeikis, who is one of my favourite people on the planet, spoke about the rage she still feels at Morrison over his inability to understand the anger of women at his lack of empathy for Brittney Higgins, and his failure to engage with women's issues unless his wife explains them first. Remeikis spoke about the rise of the independents who have come to the fore due to the decade of inaction on climate change and Morrison's failure to govern.  

While much of the panel's focus was on the six week campaign, Cassidy brought them back to the fact that the election is not about the campaign but about the three years that preceded it. The panel was highly critical of the Morrison government's achievements in office. 

There was a lot of discussion about the role of the media in the campaign. Cassidy was scathing about the bias of Murdoch press. The panel talked about the gotcha questions, the debates and about the travelling press pack. There was a real sense of disappointment in the media coverage and a need for a post-mortem to unpack how the media can improve for future campaigns.  

It was excellent to see Barrie again (I miss him on Insiders!) and this panel was a great start to the day.

Jennifer Down and Hannah Kent

I am a huge fan of Australian author Hannah Kent. Her novels Burial Rights (2013), The Good People (2016) and most recently Devotion (2021) are such beautifully written stories. I admire the way she blends historical facts in her fiction to craft compelling narratives.

Kent was appearing in a few sessions at the Sydney Writers Festival, but I chose this one as she was appearing with Jennifer Down, author of Bodies of Light (2021) which was shortlisted for this year's Stella Prize.

Susan Wyndham asked these authors about the pressures of writing their third book (as so often the second book causes the most challenge). Both authors said that writing their current novels was very much like a debut. Kent described the process of writing Devotion and how it took so much longer than she expected as during the period between books two and three she became a parent. 

Down talked about the challenge of writing her novel when she works full-time, so she crams her research and writing of this book in her leisure time. Given the difficult subject matter of her novel, this meant spending her down-time in some dark places exploring the impact of trauma.

I found this session fascinating as they described the research they undertake to underpin their novels. Down explained her approach is very much like a magpie or bower bird, collecting random bits of material until she finds something that sends her on a path to follow. Similarly, Kent does extensive research. When she found a ship captain's firsthand account of travelling to Australia on the Zebra in 1838 she was inspired and ended up setting a third of her book on the voyage.

After the session I spoke to Hannah Kent while she signed my copy of Devotion. 

Small Towns, Big Secrets

We had a gap in our program so my festival friend and I bought rush tickets to attend this session, not knowing the authors. Dr Kate Evans (ABC) chaired the panel of Australian crime novelists including Garry Disher, Hayley Scrivenor and Dinuka McKenzie (who was a delightful last minute replacement for Aiofe Clifford). 

Dinuka McKenzie is the author of The Torrent (2022), her recently published debut. Her book is set in a fictional town in northern NSW which is inundated by a flood. A heavily pregnant detective, a few weeks shy of starting maternity leave, investigates the death of a young man.

Hayley Scrivenor is a debut novelist of the newly published Dirt Town (2022). Set in a fictional town in NSW, the story revolves around a girl who goes missing on the way home from school and a detective who seeks to find out what happened. 

Garry Disher is an established crime writer best known for his Wyatt series, the Challis and Destry novels, and the Hirschhausen series. He is a three time winner of the Ned Kelly award. His latest novel is The Way it is Now (2021) is about a burnt out cop who has to investigate a crime, which brings back past memories.

Dr Evans began by asking the writers what attracted them to set their stories in small towns. Each author had created a fictional town based on real places they were familiar with so they could infuse their stories with rich depictions of the landscape. Each author gave a description of their fictional town and told a bit about the story they had written.

Disher talked about how many crime novels are rooted to place. For example Ian Rankin's Rebus series is deeply Edinburgh and Michael Connelly's Bosch series is completely Los Angeles. Disher explained that in his novels, and those of many other Australian writers (including the panelists, Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, Sarah Bailey etc), feature investigators that are either outsiders or are people who have left the community and then returned, creating a tension with locals as they are seen as not belonging. 

This was an interesting session and it was lovely to be introduced to new authors. I really enjoy Australian crime novels and while I await the next Harper/Hammer/Bailey, I now have new titles to explore. [I am currently on holidays and have started reading Bitter Wash Road - the first in Disher's Hirschhausen series.] 

Limits of Imagination

Our last session for the day was on representation and creativity: Who has the right to tell certain stories? Sisonke Msimang chaired the panel which featured Aboriginal writer, filmmaker and lawyer Professor Larissa Behrendt (After Story), Chinese/American/Australian author Paige Clark (She is Haunted) and 2021 Booker Prize winner South African Damon Galgut (The Promise).

This was a fascinating discussion, at times uncomfortable, with panelists debating whether questions of the right of representation inhibit the creative process. Should authors only write what they know? If so, does that limit creativity?

Galgut spoke about how if he wrote a character of a different culture/gender/background to his, he should be judged on the quality of the portrayal and if it came across as inauthentic or implausible he should be critiqued, but he should not be barred from attempting to write about difference. Galgut talked about how every book you read gives you another version of the world. The audience roared with laughter when he said 'you can tell which of our politicians and leaders read books'.

Clark talked about how her collection of short stories feature characters that are like her, but said that ten years ago she may not have been able to write this as she would not have had the same opportunities.

Berhendt spoke about how for so long First Nations people have been denied a voice and have been written about by non-Aboriginal authors, portrayed as caricatures. She spoke about the current renaissance of First Nations authors and how important it has been for these authors to write their stories.

Sisonke Msimang asked really insightful questions and addressed head on the issue of white men's anxiety that diverse representation in literature makes less room for them. Msimang said, 'there might be some things to lose, but it doesn't have to be a loss.' Indeed there is far more to gain from diverse voices instead of cultural appropriation.

I really enjoyed this panel. It was challenging, thoughtful and considered. After hearing Larissa Behrendt speak about her novel After Story, I am really keen to read it. Following the session I spoke with Damon Galgut as he signed a copy of The Promise for me.

That's a wrap of Day Two of my SWF. Time to race home and watch the election results, before coming back for the final day tomorrow.

Books in my collection signed by authors today:

• Damon Galgut - The Promise
• Maxine Beneba Clarke - How Decent Folk Behave
• Hannah Kent - Devotion

Read more about my time at the Sydney Writers' Festival here:

• Day 1 - Includes Sean Kelly, Judith Brett, Jackie Huggins, Melissa Lucashenko, Sarah Krasnostein, Richard Fidler, Sisonke Msimang and Clare Wright
• Day 2 - Includes Barrie Cassidy, Jennifer Down, Hannah Kent, Garry Disher, Damon Galgut and Larissa Behrendt
• Day 3 - Includes Chris Masters, Kate McClymont, Nakkiah Lui, Marica Langton, Jane Caro and David Marr

Sydney Writers' Festival 2022 - Day One

For the first time since 2019, I have attended the Sydney Writers' Festival, attending ten sessions over the three days. It was great to be back, with this my first major event outing since COVID began. 

Here's a run-down of my first day at the Festival - Friday 20 May 2022  

The Theatre of Politics

I was keen to attend this session with Emeritus Professor of Politics, Judith Brett, and journalist Sean Kelly, author of The Game, perhaps the best portrait of a politician I have ever read.  Essayist James Ley led them in a discussion about the performance of politics. 

They spoke about the rise of television and how this has brought about a change in the way politicians and the media behave. As Brett pointed out, before TV there were only grainy photos of politicians, viewed from a distance, and this served a different kind of leader. Now, leaders become characters and play a role. There is a public self and a private self, and a strong sense of performance. Social media has compounded this performance.

This session took place the day before the federal election, so there was the opportunity to compare and contrast Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. 

Kelly spoke about how Morrison is a 'flat character' who portrays himself as a daggy dad who makes a weekly curry and loves the Cronulla Sharks. This manufactured image allows him to play PM - donning high vis and appearing in a succession of political stunts (tossing a ball, washing a woman's hair, welding!). When the real Morrison comes to the surface we see a petulant bully. They discussed how Morrison conceptualised the role of Prime Minister - not as a leader for everyone, but only as a leader for those who voted for him. He turned his back on the arts, the university sector, and others. 

In contrast, Albanese is not an alpha male, he is a different kind of politician. Brett and Kelly spoke about how Albanese was aiming for substance over style, looking for the greater good instead of self-interest. 

This was a really interesting discussion. Unfortunately the speakers were let down by the poor sound quality - crackling mikes, drop outs - that continued throughout the session.

But Not Forgotten 

In this session, Sarah Krasnostein, Jackie Huggins, Melissa Lucashenko and Clem Bastow paid tribute to writers who passed away in the previous year. Each delivered moving tributes which demonstrated the impact the author had on them.

Jackie Huggins spoke about bell hooks, who passed away in December 2021 at age 69. hooks wrote about race, class and gender and was influential in Huggins' life. As a young Aboriginal rights activist, Huggins was inspired by hooks' works Ain't I A Woman? (1981) and Feminist Theory: From Margin to Centre (1984). Huggins had the opportunity to meet hooks and interview her, and they formed a lifelong relationship. Huggins claims she would not have been able to write her landmark book Sister Girl (1998) had it not been for hooks. It was wonderful to hear this tribute. bell hooks was instrumental in my life as well, having read her works during my undergraduate women's studies degree. In particular I loved her writings on representation and popular culture like Outlaw Culture (1994) and Reel to Real (1996).

Miles Franklin Award winning author Melissa Lucashenko paid tribute to Keri Hulme who passed away on 27 December 2021. Hulme won the Booker Prize in 1985 for her debut (and only published) novel The Bone People. Lucashenko began by reading from Hulme's poetry collection Strands (1993) and spoke about how Hulme was an unconventional author who didn't fit the mould of a Booker Prize winning author and chose to follow her own path. She recounted a time when she met Hulme at a writer's festival a few weeks after Lucashenko had published her first work. After this session I spoke with Lucashenko while she signed a copy of Too Much Lip (2018) for me. I told her how I read her novel Steam Pigs (1997) when I first came to Australia and how much it meant to me.

Author Sarah Krasnostein spoke about the influence of Joan Didion, who died 23 December 2021 at 87 years of age. Best known for Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968), The White Album (1979), Play it as it Lays (1970) and The Year of Magical Thinking (2005), Didion was a keen observer and intellectual. Krasnostein described Didion's ability to express time and place in her writing, and how she captured California and the cultural shifts of the 1960s and 1970s. After the session Krasnostein signed a copy of her book The Believer (2021) for me.

To wrap up this session, Clem Bastow paid tribute to songwriter and lyricist Stephen Sondheim who passed away on 26 November 2021. Sondheim write the lyrics to West Side Story (1957) and is best known for his musicals Company (1970), Follies (1971), Sweeney Todd (1979), Into the Woods (1987) and Assassins (1990). Bastow spoke about how she has autism and she used echolalia to repeat words from Sondheim's songs over and over again. Bastow sang examples from various songs to showcase the wit and complexity of Sondheim's lyrics. She was brilliant, funny and entertaining. I reckon Sondheim would have been chuffed with this tribute. 

Friends, Romans, Countrymen: Great Oratory and Speechifying

My final session for the day was on oratory and the importance of great speeches. Laura Tingle was unable to emcee this session as she was busy with the next day's election, so ABC's Sarah Kanowski took on this role. 

The three speakers - Richard Fidler, Sisonke Msimang and Clare Wright - were asked to present a speech that resonated with them. Professor Clare Wright was first up, and she donned an apron featuring the words to Julia Gilliard's misogyny speech which became known as the 'apron of truth' and was worn by each speaker as they delivered their speech. 

Professor Wright delivered a speech by Vida Goldstein in 1903. She was the first woman to stand for Parliament. The speech she delivered had a lot to say about political parties (Goldstein was an independent) and about women's suffrage.  Wright explained how this speech was not written, but she had transcribed it from media reports at the time. There were some uncomfortable parts of this speech, particularly in relation to race, but as Wright explained people we admire not be wholly admirable when viewed with a contemporary lens. It was a timely speech, delivered the night before independent Zoe Daniel won the seat of Goldstein, named after Vida, who was never elected despite multiple attempts but paved the way for generations of women. 

Richard Fidler has a keen interest in the history of the Czech Republic and has recently published The Golden Maze, a biography of Prague. He delivered a speech originally given by Vaclav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia on New Year's Day 1990 just after he was elected. Havel was a playwright who became the first democratically elected President after the fall of communism. In this speech he spoke frankly about the dark days that preceded his election and the realities that the country is facing. Havel told his people that they cannot blame the past regime for all their woes as they were complicit in allowing that regime to continue. There were eerie parallels with a speech that could be given today, and we did not then know that 24 hours after Fidler shared this speech we would have our own regime change in Australia.  The full text of the speech is available online.

The final speech chosen by Sisonke Msimang was Sojourner Truth's 1851 address 'Ain't I a Woman?' delivered to the Women's Rights Convention. Truth was born into slavery and she eventually escaped to freedom where she became an abolitionist and human rights activist. When the women's suffrage movement was gaining momentum in America, Truth's speech was a reminder to white women that they cannot win their rights by oppressing black women. Msimang delivered this speech in a moving and empowering way. Again, this speech had contemporary resonance as women are still fighting for equal pay, status and we have such a long way to go in addressing racial inequality.

Thoughts on Day One

It was great to be back at the Sydney Writers Festival for the first time since 2019. The COVID-safe protocols allowed me to feel relatively safe attending such an event - although admittedly I avoided attending anything at Town Hall as I am not ready for that big a venue yet. I attended solo today, but my festival friend is joining me on Saturday and Sunday.

The set up at Carriageworks has improved so much since the first SWF was held there years ago, when there were acoustic issues and so many events were held at the nearby Seymour Centre. While I still miss having the festival at Walsh Bay, it was nice to have the improved Carriageworks venue. The centralised book signings, food trucks and Glebebooks shop were great.

It was a cold and wet day in Sydney. On my way in to Carriageworks for the festival, despite an umbrella and raincoat, there was no way to keep dry. But fortunately, I had put all my books inside a wet bag so they survived the weather. 

Books in my collection signed by authors today:

• Sean Kelly - The Game
• Sarah Krasnostein - The Believer
• Melissa Lucashenko - Too Much Lip
• Chloe Hooper - Bedtime Stories

Unfortunately I missed Evelyn Araluen, but I am sure I will see her at a future event.

Read more about my time at the Sydney Writers' Festival here:

• Day 1 - Includes Sean Kelly, Judith Brett, Jackie Huggins, Melissa Lucashenko, Sarah Krasnostein, Richard Fidler, Sisonke Msimang and Clare Wright
• Day 2 - Includes Barrie Cassidy, Jennifer Down, Hannah Kent, Garry Disher, Damon Galgut and Larissa Behrendt
• Day 3 - Includes Chris Masters, Kate McClymont, Nakkiah Lui, Marica Langton, Jane Caro and David Marr

Miles Franklin Award Longlist 2022

On 23 May 2022, the longlist was announced for Australia's most prestigious literary awards, the Miles Franklin Award, with twelve authors vying for the $60,000 prize. Richard Neville, Librarian from the State Library of NSW, said on behalf of the judges: 

“This year's longlist, drawn from a robust pool of entries, reflects the thematic richness and the formal adventurousness of the contemporary Australian novel, as our writers respond to our times. Diverse in every sense, it extends from world of realism to novels in a more experimental vein, proving that the nation's storytellers are continuing to test the boundaries of what the novel can do.” 

Let's check out the Longlist:

Michael Mohammed Ahmad - The Other Half of You

Bani Adam carries the weight of expectation. His family expects him to marry the right kind of girl and be the right kind of Muslim. But Bani wants to decide for himself, even if he makes mistakes or goes against the wishes of his family and faith. Ahmed's previous novel, The Lebs, won the 2019 NSW Premier's Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.

Larissa Behrendt - After Story

Jasmine is an Indigenous lawyer who takes her mother, Della, on a literary tour of England. This trip is an opportunity to bring them closer together and reconcile the past. When a child goes missing on Hampstead Heath, Jasmine recalls the disappearance twenty-five years ago of her older sister. Having heard Larissa Behrendt speak about this novel at the Sydney Writers Festival last weekend, I am keen to read it.

Michelle de Krester - Scary Monsters

This book is written in a flip format, where you read from the front to the middle one narrative, then flip the book over and read it the other way. The first narrative is by Lili, a South Asian migrant to Australia who is teaching in France in the 1980s. She worries about a creepy neighbour and the treatment of North African immigrants. The second narrative is by Lyle, who lives in a near-future radically right-wing Australia. He and his wife live in fear of repatriation so shun their past and embrace the consumerism and individualism of Australia. De Krester won the Miles Franklin Award twice previously: Questions of Travel (2013), The Life to Come (2018)

Jennifer Down - Bodies of Light 

Maggie Sullivan is institutionalised, growing up in a foster homes and group facilities after her father is jailed. Neglected and abused, by 19 she is diagnosed with depression and trauma. The novel follows Maggie into adulthood, when she is forced to encounter her long buried past.  I heard Jennifer Down speak at the Sydney Writers Festival last weekend and found her extremely impressive. While I reckon this will be a challenging novel, due to the subject matter, I am interested in reading it and becoming acquainted with this author.

Briony Doyle - Echolalia

Emma Cormac is struggling with her life and suffering postpartum depression. From the outside, she has everything anyone could ever want - a marriage to the stoic Robert, three small children and a prestige home. Emma's depression deepens, and when something happens to one of the children, Emma unravels. Doyle is the author of the novel The Island Will Sink and a memoir, Adult Fantasy.

Max Easton - The Magpie Wing

In this debut novel, Easton spans the 1990s to today in the suburbs and inner city of Sydney. Helen, Walt and Duncan are looking to escape their complex family histories and forge new lives for themselves as they enter adulthood. 

John Hughes - The Dogs

Hughes is the acclaimed author of The Remnants, Asylum, and most recently No One, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2020. In The Dogs, Michael Shamamov is running away form life's responsibilities. His marriage has failed and he has barely seen his son or his ageing mother. A discussion with a nurse at his mother's nursing home leads him to realise that the needs to stop running away and instead reconnect. 

Jennifer Mills - The Airways

In 2019, Mills' novel Dyschonia was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. In her latest novel, The Airways, she focuses on two characters Adam and Yun. Adam is a Greek-Australian living in Beijing. Adam is haunted by Yun's disembodied voice over something that happened between them years before. Described as a 'powerful, inventive and immersive novel' which unsettles 'the boundaries of gender and power, consent and rage, self and other, and even life and death'.

Alice Pung - One Hundred Days

Set in Melbourne in the 1980s, Karuna is the only daughter of an Australian man and a Philipino mother. When sixteen year old Karuna falls pregnant, her mother confines her to their fourteenth story housing-commission flat. Her mother wants to keep her safe and ensure she doesn't get into any more trouble. In the claustrophobia of her confinement, the mother-daughter relationship is at breaking point as they struggle for control. 

Claire Thomas - The Performance

Bushfires rage in the nearby hills, coating the city streets with ash. Three women attend a performance of a Beckett play. Margot is preoccupied by thoughts of her ailing husband. Ivy is distracted by a man snoring beside her. Summer can't concentrate as she is concerned about the safety of her girlfriend in the bushfire zone. By the time the curtain falls, they have a new understanding of their world. I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend, and have somehow never gotten around to reading it. Will make it a priority now. 

Christos Tsiolkas - 7 1/2 

Seeking solitude to write a book, a man arrives at a house on the coast. In the quiet, he recalls his childhood, his early experiences with sexuality. He tries to write a novel about Paul, an American former porn star who returns home to partake in an offer he cannot refuse. This autofiction is a mediation on beauty. Tsiolkas is the critically acclaimed author of seven novels including Barracuda and Damascus. He is best known for The Slap (2009), which was longlisted for the Booker prize.

Michael Winkler - Grimmish

In 1908 Italian-American boxer Joe Grim toured Australia, losing fights but winning fans who marvelled at his physical resilience. This genre-defying book unfolds through conversations between the narrator and his uncle. JM Coetzee called it 'The strangest book you will ever read this year'. Sounds intriguing...

At this stage I have not read any of these novels, but I do have several of these titles in the queue to be read.  Regardless, I will guess that the following authors will make the shortlist: Berhendt, Down, de Krester, Hughes, Thomas and Tsiolkas. 

The Shortlist will be announced 13 June 2022 and the winner will be revealed on 20 July 2022.

Colonial Correspondence

In 2020 Australian author Kate Grenville published A Room Made of Leaves, a fictionalised memoir of Elizabeth Macarthur. I enjoyed that novel and became very interested in Mrs Macarthur, as her life and contributions to early settlement life in Sydney were overshadowed by her husband John. He was a mercurial man, often regarded as the 'father of Australian wool', who put a great strain on his family through his long absences and difficult temperament. 

Grenville's novel is a wholly fictional work, but the impetus for that book came from Elizabeth's own letters. Now, Grenville has compiled and edited a collection of Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters (2022) so that readers may hear from Elizabeth directly. In this selection, Elizabeth Macarthur writes to her mother and friends in England, later to her sons, and in reading these letters we better understand the challenges of Elizabeth's life in the early days of settlement.

The Elizabeth Macarthur we come to know through her correspondence is a devoted mother and grandmother, keen botanist, and a shrewd business woman. Each letter is prefaced with a commentary from Grenville, often providing the context for writing or giving insight into how the letter related to Grenville's novel.

It must have been so daunting for young newlywed Elizabeth to contemplate moving from England and all she had known, to the far side of the world. In a letter to her mother dated 8 Oct 1789, she writes about how she tries to soften the blow of the great distance, telling her mother "...it is much the same, whether I am two hundred or more than many thousand miles apart from you."

Initially I was perplexed by this collection, preferring the fictional Mrs Macarthur to the one found in these letters. But as I read, I became more and more fascinated by both the woman and the letters themselves. The correspondence back and forth from England was the lifeblood of the community, read by the intended recipient and passed around to family and friends to give news of the colonies or homeland. As such, Grenville argues these letters may be a form of fiction too, wherein Elizabeth didn't share her true self, but a version of herself she chose to present. 

Many of Elizabeth's letters detail the ships which carried correspondence back and forth -  "I hope you will have received my letter, dated August 1790, which I sent by the Scarborough transport, by way of China" - or the person the letter has been entrusted to see safely delivered. Oftentimes letters are in response to ones received many months previously, or written in haste when a ship announces a sudden departure. 

While I enjoyed reading many of these letters, it is her ones to her sons Edward and John which carry the most weight. In these letters she gossips about mutual acquaintances but also tells of their father's increasing mental illness. I knew John Macarthur was ill-tempered, but I didn't realise he suffered from debilitating depression. It would have been such a challenge for Elizabeth, especially as her husband worsens, when mental health was so misunderstood.  

In a letter to her son John on 18 Dec 1826 she writes "Your dear father is gone to bed not in good spirits.... He is suffering again from one of those fits of despondency which are sure to succeed extraordinary exertion and over-excitement." The day before she had written to her son Edward, "You will observe from my letter to John that your dear father has had a severe attack of his old tormenting complaint, with all the accustoming attendants of despondency and low spiritless". As Elizabeth copes with her husband's 'gloomy apprehensions', the family suffer a tragedy when their son John dies in April 1831. Elizabeth had not seen him since he was a young child, sent back to England for schooling. The grief at this loss is evident in her letters and is only magnified by her husband's volatility. 

I enjoyed reading this collection, especially having read Grenville's novel A Room Made of Leaves. It is wonderful to hear about Elizabeth's life in her own words. 

Stella Prize Winner 2022

The winner of the Stella Prize was announced this week with Goorie-Koori author Evelyn Araluen awarded the prize for her debut collection, Dropbear. 

Using a mix of poetry and essay, Araluen critiques a nostalgic view of Australia. She explores language and identity, inviting readers to adopt a different perspective.  The judges report that 'Araluen's brilliance sizzles when she goes on the attack against the kitsch and the cuddly: against Australia's fantasy of its own racial and environmental innocence.' She bears witness to the present, and hopes for a decolonial future. 

The Chair of the Judging Panel, Melissa Lucashenko, said:

"When you read Evelyn Araluen's Dropbear you'll be taken on a wild ride. Like the namesake of its title, this collection is simultaneously comical and dangerous. If you live here and don't acquire the necessary local knowledge, the drop bear might definitely getcha! But for those initiated in its mysteries, the drop bear is a playful beast, a prank, a riddle, a challenge and a game. Dropbear is remarkably assured for a debut poetry collection, and I think we can safely say it announced the arrival of a stunning new talent to Australian literature." 

Araluen received the award and its $50,000 prize money. She will be a guest at the upcoming Sydney Writers' Festival.

Women's Prize Shortlist 2022

The 2022 Women's Prize shortlist has been announced!  The six titles on the shortlist are:

• Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason
• The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak
• Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead
• The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki
• The Bread the Devil Knead - Lisa Allen-Agostini
• The Sentence - Louise Erdrich

When the Longlist was announced in March, I predicted that Edrich, Shafak, Ross and Shipstead would be on the shortlist. Leone Ross missed out for This One Sky Day, but I was right about the others. Not bad guess work when there were 16 excellent titles on the longlist!

I have started Great Circle, and have The Sentence, The Island of Missing Trees and Sorrow and Bliss on my bedside waiting their chance to be read.  I have the others on order with my local library, but won't likely get them for a while.

To learn more about these shortlisted titles, there is a summary on each book on my blog, and the judges have released a short video announcing the shortlist below. You can also read interviews with the authors on the Women's Prize website.

The winner will be revealed on 15 June 2022. Better get reading!

The Social Network

In 2010 Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for her remarkable novel A Visit from the Goon Squad. It was unlike anything I had ever read. Egan cleverly played with form and style, creatively writing with wit and intellect. Each chapter was its own short story, with memorable characters who appear in each other's narratives. Linking these stories were themes of music and the passage of time. The sheer delight I experienced reading (and re-reading) Goon Squad was profound, a high I have been searching for ever since. 

My cravings have been satisfied with Egan's latest novel The Candy House (2022). While not exactly a sequel to Goon Squad, it is more like a companion piece. Written in the same non-linear way, the interlinked chapters reconnect readers with beloved characters, woven in a tight tapestry that is only fully visible when you zoom out at the end. 

Instead of the backdrop of music, technology is the temptation of The Candy House. Bix Bouton, founder of social media giant Mandala, has developed a new product called 'Own Your Unconscious' where you can download your entire memory bank to a cube and review past events you may have forgotten or not registered at the time. If you choose, you can upload all or parts of your memory to the 'Collective Consciousness' where others can view it. Even if you choose not to engage, you may appear in other people's memories of shared experiences. While some characters engage willingly with these tools, others (like Chris Salazar and his company Mondrian) are 'eluders', fighting against this loss of privacy, endeavouring to disrupt invasive technology. While this may sound like a dystopian sci-fi story, it is actually a tautly written meditation on human connection.

Egan has an incredible ability to write in a diverse range of styles. One chapter is written as a series of emails between a number of different characters. Another is as an instruction manual to a field agent on a mission. We learn of the 'algebraization' of people's experiences, and the way in which human behaviour can be counted, predicted and compartmentalised. We learn about language, the 'word-casings' of overused words that have lost all meaning. While some styles and chapters worked better for me than others, I loved becoming reacquainted with characters like Sasha, La Doll, Lulu,  Lou, Lincoln and more, as we explored the near future in the digital age. 

Readers do not need to have read A Visit from the Goon Squad to enjoy The Candy House, but your reading experience will definitely be enhanced by reading both. It takes some time to get used to the way these novels work, but an open-mind and a willingness to experiment will definitely reward readers. 

My review of Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad is also available on this blog.

To Have and Have Not

I first heard about Miranda Cowley Heller's debut novel, The Paper Palace (2021) a few weeks ago when it was longlisted for the Women's Prize. Reading a brief synopsis, it sounded like it was the story of a love triangle, which didn't really interest me. But then I read a rave review, so I decided to read the first chapter and see if it was worth my time. I am so glad I did as The Paper Palace is a wonderfully engrossing novel. 

Eleanor 'Elle' Bishop seems to have the perfect, privileged life. She is fifty years old, married to a devoted husband, and has three lovely children. She lives in New York but holidays at her family's rustic cottage/camp at Cape Cod, known as the Paper Palace. The book opens with Elle taking an early morning swim on the lake and reflecting on her actions the night before. Last night she had sex with her oldest friend Jonas, while both of their partners were nearby, unaware. Over the next 24 hours, Elle must choose whether to stay with her husband Peter or upend her life to pursue Jonas, her childhood love. In order to understand the choice that Elle eventually makes, the reader is taken back over the past fifty years to learn about Elle's life and her relationship with each man.

The Paper Palace features richly drawn, complex characters. Elle's standoff-ish older sister Anna is hardened by their early life. Their opinionated mother Wallace is a fascinating woman, unlikable yet delightful. Their absent father fails the girls repeatedly, henpecked by his partners. The odious step-brother Conrad and his unobservant father Leo. The uxorious Peter, brooding Jonas and so many more. Elle herself is complicated and contradictory and as the narrator of this tale, her recollections of the past shape her present and the decisions she makes for the future. 

This novel was so much more than it first appeared, shocking the reader with each reveal of family secrets buried deep. There are dark themes in this novel, but each flashback is mercifully short, written in punchy prose.  I was swept away by the story, keen to find out what happened next. The writing is strong, evoking a sense of time and place, especially of the deep woods of the Paper Palace.  I also loved the ending of the story, which I shall not reveal here. 

This is a strong debut by Miranda Cowley Heller and I look forward to seeing what she does next. I am delighted to learn that this novel has been optioned for a TV series. 

Stella Prize Shortlist 2022

The 2022 Stella Prize Shortlist has been announced! The twelve nominees have been whittled down to six finalists in the running for this important literary award.

The 2022 shortlist is as follows:

• Evelyn Arluen - Drop Bear
• Eunice Andrada - Take Care
• Jennifer Down - Bodies of Light
• Lee Lai - Stone Fruit
• Elfie Shiosaki - Homecoming
• Anwen Crawford - No Document

In compiling this shortlist, the chair of the judging panel, Melissa Lucashenko says:

“The 2022 Stella Prize shortlist is big on emerging voices writing in unconventional ways - from regions, positions and literary forms that transcend the mainstream. These authors are writing back, insisting that 'other' lives - First Nations lives, poor women's lives, queer lives and Filipina lives - matter on the page, just as they do in everyday affairs.” 

For more information about these titles, see my post on the longlist.

The winner will be announced on 28 April 2022. I haven't read any of these books, but I will be seeing Jennifer Down at the upcoming Sydney Writer's Festival so that book is at the top of my list. 

The Colour and The Shape

On 24 January 2000 my brother Mark and I saw the Foo Fighters on their 'There is Nothing Left to Lose' tour at the Metro theatre in Sydney. The Metro is a great venue for gigs, small enough that fans can get up close to the stage, and large enough to enjoy the atmosphere of a like-minded crowd. Mark and I would rush down to the stage front to thrash and head-bang to our favourite songs, then retreat to the back to catch our breath, before lunging into the crowd once more. It was an awesome concert, solidifying my love of the Foo Fighters, and creating a memory of an incredible shared experience with my brother.

It was no surprise then, that Mark gave me Dave Grohl's The Storyteller (2021) for Christmas - a perfect gift. Subtitled 'Tales of Life and Music' Grohl tells stories about his lifelong passion for music from his childhood, through to his days with Scream, Nirvana, the Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures. 

To enhance my reading experience, I downloaded the audiobook so Grohl could tell his stories in his own voice as I read along. His storytelling was rich and warm, adding a depth to the words on the page. It also made him seem more personable and familiar, like an old friend sharing stories.

The Storyteller is a fascinating book.  Grohl shared anecdotes about aspects of his life, tales from tours and recording studios, but never resorts to gossip. This is not a behind-the-scenes, tell-all. Rather, it is a collection of vignettes from a most extraordinary life, told with humour, empathy, humility and intelligence. 

For me, The Storyteller, instantly threw me back to my past. The music Grohl loved and the bands he toured with, was the soundtrack of my life. I spent much of the nineties attending Lollapalooza and various other gigs and festivals, attending live music events wherever I could - Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Rage Against the Machine and on and on... It was such an incredible period in music.

In one chapter he recalls a tour with Scream in June 1990 which included 'two of my favourite cities on earth, Montreal and Toronto' and describes how much he loves travelling in Canada. As a Canadian, I beamed with pride reading his thoughts on my homeland: 'Because, let's face it, Canadians are fucking awesome. Laid-back, genuine, and funny as all hell. I defy anyone to walk one city block without making a fast friend in Canada' (p99). True!

What comes through in the book is how deep Grohl's love of music is. Of course, he is an incredible artist, but beyond that he is a mega fan. He shared memories of collaborations and experiences with Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, Joan Jett, AC/DC and many other legends he has shared a stage or studio with - a who's-who of music in the past thirty years. He shares many moments where he cannot believe he is in the presence of a legendary musician for whom he has such admiration. 

But beyond music is family. Grohl talks with great pride about being a father to his three daughters. He is incredibly close with his ever-supportive mother, who keeps him grounded. He has deep friendships, many from childhood, and he values these relationships tightly.  It is his family and friends that have kept him humble and down-to-earth.

You don't have to be a fan of Dave Grohl's music to enjoy The Storyteller, but I would defy anyone to come away from reading this book without becoming a fan of the man himself. 

ADDENDUM

A few hours after I posted this review, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died in Bogata Columbia, where the band was touring. Hawkins, age 50, had been with the band for 25 years. In The Storyteller, Dave Grohl describes Hawkins as 'my brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet'. They were 'an unstoppable duo, onstage and off, in pursuit of any and all adventure we can find'. My heart breaks for Dave, the band, and the Hawkins family. He was a remarkable talent.

A League of Her Own

The League of Nations was founded in 1920 following the Paris Peace Conference at the end of the First World War.  Based in Geneva, the League aimed to prevent wars through disarmament, resolution of disputes between nations and collective security. Despite its promise, The League of Nations was ultimately ineffective, failing to prevent several conflicts, including the second World War. It was replaced in the 1940s by the United Nations. I hadn't given much thought to the League since my undergraduate days, but memories of my studies came flooding back as I read Frank Moorhouse's remarkable novel Grand Days (1993). 

In this fictional account of the League's early years, plucky young Australian Edith Campbell Berry travels to Geneva to take up a role in the newly established organisation. On the train from Paris she meet Major Ambrose Westwood, a British officer at the League. Their flirtation over dinner is the start of a fascinating relationship. Edith is determined to live according to her morals and has created a list of rules to live by which guide her behaviour (such as the 'Way of Companionable Confession' in which one tells a minor confession to someone in order to bring them into closer confidence). Over time Ambrose challenges her thinking by introducing her to 'Weimar' experiences like underground night clubs, which expose Edith to other ways of being. 

Edith is an idealist who has tremendous faith in the League's ability to bring about world peace. Throughout the novel she mixes and mingles with characters both fictional and real. She works closely with Sir Eric Drummond, Secretary-General (1919-1922), was mentored by John Latham (Australian politician), had her image drawn by Hungarian caricaturist Emery Kelen, and has an opportunity to hear a lecture by birth control advocate Margaret Sanger. This blending of fact and fiction brings the story to life and is a testament to Moorhouse's extensive research. 

Edith's commitment to her organisation extends to her designing of uniforms for League staff, and creating stationary and document holders for meeting attendees - which promptly get stolen as keepsakes by delegates, much to her chagrin. But her commitment often blinds her to the League's failures, and Moorhouse does a great job of explaining how things work in this bumbling bureaucracy.

The novel has much wry humour, often in the form of witty dialogue, and Edith finds herself in some strangely comical predicaments. But Grand Days also has darkness as nationalism is on the rise in parts of Europe. Modern readers will find the racism and sexism of the 1920s confronting, but also concerning as these sentiments echo a hundred years later. 

Grand Days also follows Edith's sexual awakening. Her relationship with Ambrose challenges her traditional views. Impromptu encounters with a black jazz musician in Paris and a provocative woman spark her curiosity. She also experiences sexual violence when a club she visits is raided. These encounters allow the author, through Edith, to reflect on race, eugenics, sex and sexuality.

Moorhouse has crafted a coming of age story which shows the evolution of a woman, of Australia and of an international institution. It is quite remarkable how he has inserted Edith into real events to explore 1920s Europe. 

I greatly enjoyed reading Grand Days. At almost 700 pages it does take some commitment, but it is well worth the journey. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this fascinating time in history. Reading it against the backdrop of war once again in Europe, the failures of diplomacy, and the rise of nationalism, one wonders what Edith would think today. 

This book has been on my 'to be read' list since 2016 when I met Frank Moorhouse at the Sydney Writers Festival. During that session he was speaking about his admiration of George Eliot (also a favourite of mine) and how well Eliot would have got on with Edith. When he signed a copy of Grand Days for me we spoke about the trilogy and he said that people often just read the sequel Dark Palace, so he was pleased that I was starting at the beginning. He said he hoped I would enjoy it. Well, Frank, I certainly did. Thank you!

The Edith Trilogy consists of Grand Days (1993),  Miles Franklin Award Winner Dark Palace (2000) and Cold Light (2011). I am definitely intrigued to follow the adventures of Edith Campbell Berry and look forward to continuing this series.