Column: Books and Writing
On the road with Caravan of Comics
‘Australian comics have been around for decades. But it has been in waves and visibility has always been a problem. I’ve been in it long enough to see several waves come and go,’ says Bruce Mutard, who has been making comics in Melbourne for over 20 years. … Read more
Interviews
Colin Batrouney on Creative Writing for Beginners
Creative Writing for Beginners tracks eight weeks in the lives of two young flat mates Joel and Nomee. They each seek ambitious careers (in writing and acting respectively) and soon learn how their fates are determined. In addition to vivid descriptions, the novel pays a healthy respect … Read more
Column: Books and Writing
Whose master’s voice?
One of the earliest pieces of advice I heard as an aspiring writer was: find your voice. The call was everywhere: at conferences, in classes and in the pages of how-to books. But I always found the concept hard to grasp. I simply didn’t know where to … Read more
Column: Books and Writing
A good noise: Dailies 3
A Silent Army publishes it, but the cover is certainly hollering at me. The personality in the cursive/lowercase/uppercase font of the title gets my attention first. Behind is a mountainous tableau hatched in colour, complete with a waterfall, a dead tree and a highway billboard promising ‘new … Read more
Column: Books and Writing
The fine print
Yesterday I received a letter from Bendigo Bank in which the sender signed off with the phrase, ‘Remember, at the Bendigo it starts with U.’ The letter, (no pun intended) sent my eyes rolling. What a corporate thing to do: mangle our language in an effort to … Read more
Comics and Graphic Novels
For mature readers
It’s 1994 and I’m walking up Bourke Street. Imagine for a second that this is a comic: I’m pictured in black ink, mid-stride, just left of a doorway. The sign for Minotaur (my local comic shop) is visible over a flight of stairs inside the door. Above … Read more
Art
There ever you are, where are you?
I see tarmac and the horizon. Clouds diffuse the light outside the huge window. A toddler is squealing, leaving his lunch in a line of prints across the massive window. I hear the flow of people in the hallway near my seat. I think of travel and … Read more
