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Mar 29

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Racing in the Street

There are songs that give me chills every time I hear them. This is one of them.

Mar 29

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Castaways, Menageries and Horses

Apologies for the extended break in transmission, which is attributable to too much travel, too much work and a week in bed with some kind of virus. Since I’m still trying to get the edits on Black Friday done and finish a story for a collection that will be out later this year, as well as trying to catch up on all the work that didn’t get done while I was away and sick, things might stay a little quiet around here for a few weeks. But I’ll definitely be getting a few things up, in particular a piece on Wayne Levin’s gorgeous new book, Akule, which I reread over the weekend, and is simply amazing.

In the meantime, you might want to check out my review of Carol Birch’s Jamrach’s Menagerie, which appeared in The Weekend Australian on Saturday. I have to confess to not having read Birch before, but there’s a lot to like in this one (not surprisingly it’s recently turned up on the longlist for this year’s Orange Prize), not least the way it manages to eschew the fairly prosaic mode of much historical fiction in favour of something much more vivid and particular. Spookily it’s also a riff on the wreck of the Whaleship Essex, a story I was complaining was following me around just the other day.

Further afield Faber have uploaded a terrific recording of Willy Vlautin reading a new story based on the characters from Lean on Pete, which comes complete with music by Richmond Fontaine. And if you’re looking for reading matter I can thoroughly recommend both Lauren Beukes’ Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlisted Zoo City (urban fantasy, set in South Africa, with gangsters, guns and muti), which is both very stylish and a lot of fun (you can read the first chapter online) and China Mieville’s new one, Embassytown, which is out soon (I’m reviewing it, so I can’t say much beyond it’s one of the best things I’ve read in quite a while). Again the first chapter is available online.

And finally, I know it’s been out for a while, but this track from The Duke and the King’s new one, Long Live the Duke and the King, still rocks my world.

Mar 10

Outspoken in Maleny

Having just spent several days having a rather fabulous time in Perth for the Perth Writers’ Festival, I’m about to head off again, this time to Queensland, to be part of the Outspoken Festival in Maleny.

As Festivals go, Outspoken is a relatively unusual one, taking the form of a season of monthly one-on-one interviews with writers, but I’m really thrilled to be a part of it, both because I’ve never been to Maleny (which is famously beautiful) and because the person doing the interviewing is the novelist Steven Lang, whose work I’ve known and admired for some time.

The event is in the Maleny Community Centre at 6:00pm next Wednesday, 16 March. Tickets are available from the Maleny Bookstore, 2/41 Maple Street, Maleny, or by phone on 07 5494 3666. If you live in the area it’d be great to see you.

Mar 3

Me and Patrick White

Just a quick note to say I’ve uploaded an article I wrote back in 2004 about Patrick White and the anxiety of influence to the Writing page. It’s not a long piece, and it was never actually published (I wrote it to coincide with the publication of The Resurrectionist, but delays in publication meant I forgot about it, so it languished on my hard drive until today) but it may be of interest nonetheless, especially given the recent announcement Random House will be publishing the first of two previously unpublished White novels early next year (if you’d like to know more about the new novels I very much recommend taking the time to read David Marr’s fabulous essay about them and White’s death that appeared in The Monthly in 2008).

You can read my piece about Patrick White here.

Mar 2

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Perth Writers’ Festival

As I mentioned on the weekend, on Friday I’m heading west for Perth Writers’ Festival. You can read the full program on the Perth Festival site, but the organisers have pulled together a great lineup of both Australian and international guests, with appearances by Andrew O’Hagan, Annie Proulx, Margo Lanagan and Armistead Maupin.

I’m doing three sessions, ‘Inspired by Nature’, with Gregory Day, Suzanne Falkiner, Adrian Hyland and Mark Tredinnick, at 9:30am on Saturday, ‘The Death of Print’, with Lev Grossman, Geordie Williamson, Angela Meyer and John Harman on Sunday at 9:30am, and ‘Capturing the World in Words’, with Stephen Scourfield and Geordie Williamson at 2:00pm on Monday.

I think it’s going to be a great weekend, so with a bit of luck I’ll see some of you there. And please don’t be shy about saying hello: I don’t get west often so if you’re a reader or a commenter it’d be great to put a face to your name.

Finally, on a slightly sadder note, I was very sorry to read on Monday that Hazel Rowley, who was due to appear at the Festival, has had to cancel because she’s extremely ill following a serious stroke. I don’t know any more than what’s been reported in the media, but my best wishes to both her and her family in what must be a very difficult time.

Mar 2

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Australian Literary Review

Just a quick reminder that being the first Wednesday of the month, today is Australian Literary Review day. As usual some of the highlights are online, including Nicholas Shakespeare on Borges, ALR Editor Luke Slattery on Belknap’s voluminous The Classical Tradition and Peter Conrad on Antonio Tabucchi’s Pereira Maintains, but the print edition also features long pieces by Geordie Williamson on the future of the book, David Free on the rise and rise of television and Anthony W. Thomas on the search for a Theory of Everything. If you’d like to know more you can check out Luke Slattery’s editorial and the full contents on The Australian’s website, or you can grab a copy for free with today’s Australian.