Category Archives: Books
Books
A subjective sport: The Meanjin Tournament of Books
Two months ago I went to an event at the Wheeler Centre and found myself taking part in both a feminist discussion and a social reading quest: the Meanjin Tournament of Books has been an excellent literary adventure. First, the confession: I didn’t end up reading all … Read more
Books
‘A strange kind of intimacy’: a day with Jon-Jon Goulian
The first time I heard of Jon-Jon Goulian, I was flipping through US Vogue, and a personal essay called Fish Out of Water caught my eye. I’d already become fascinated by androgyny in men’s fashion – from the ethereal beauty of Andrej Pejic to Marc Jacobs in … Read more
Books
Romance reading: a ‘confession’
I waited for the literary exorcism that never came. I’d broken the news to my family, my friends, my former colleagues at an independent bookshop, fellow students in my fancy publishing course, my one-year-old cousin, that guy I met on the tram the other day … I … Read more
Books, Interviews
History in the service of fiction: Anna Funder’s All That I Am
The first thing I did after finishing Anna Funder’s debut novel All That I Am was to order a copy of Ernst Toller’s autobiography I Was a German. Toller features as a ‘character’ in Funder’s much anticipated book. We meet him holed up in a New York … Read more
Books
On the long-awaited cultural item #2: Isobelle Carmody’s The Sending
About a month ago, a book called The Sending, by Australian writer Isobelle Carmody, was spotted in libraries a month ahead of its official release date. Far from the steel chains, security guards and on-pain-of-death secrecy surrounding the final Harry Potter book, the 756-page, penultimate instalment of … Read more
Books
I don’t wanna grow up: Gen X in the suburbs
At last, Generation X – who were threatening to be forever known as disaffected cynics with a yen for disco drugs and urgent sex with strangers in toilets – are now being taken seriously as ‘grown-up novelists’. Christos Tsiolkas’ novel, The Slap, has recently accumulated even more … Read more
Books
Let Down by Location: Why Dracula lovers should never visit his castle
Photo: Amy Roil Witches, demons, ghouls and vampires have always held sway over me. Perhaps they fuel my desire for a supernatural dark side or perhaps my Mr Hyde is simply closer to the surface than is healthy. Whatever the reason, the thoroughly evil and wizened witches … Read more
Books, Television
Australian stories: ABC TV’s The Slap
When Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap was published in 2008, it was one of those suddenly ubiquitous novels – everyone seemed to own a copy and everyone was talking about the social issues it raised. Read more
Books
Story of a Cover: Cargo
I’ve always had a nerdish fascination with book covers and the design-by-committee process through which they are made. After all, a book doesn’t start out with a cover. It begins life as text, faceless to the outside world. Typesetting, fonts, embossing and finish – all that comes … Read more
Books
The Long and the Short of It: Affirm Press and short fiction
Last year my company, Affirm Press, an emerging publishing company with more ideals than commercial sense, embarked on an initiative called Long Story Shorts. It was a commitment to publish six individual collections of stories by new and emerging writers, the last of which – Two Steps … Read more
