Monthly Archives: July 2012

I’m back from ‘Australia’s premier literary nonfiction festival’ – Reality Bites 2012 – feeling very inspired by the people I met and the writers I heard speak. Who knew that in the hills behind the Sunshine Coast I’d be having … Continue reading →

It seems this is the season of literary festivals. I’m heading to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast tomorrow for the Reality Bites Literary Festival, which runs from 26 to 29 July 2012, and to the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival next week (3 … Continue reading →

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2012 were announced today – and I was so thrilled that Luke Davies won the inaugural Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry for his Interferon Psalms. And that Gillian Mears’ Foal’s Bread won the PM’s award … Continue reading →

I’m just back from the opening of the Earth’s first Martian Embassy – they’ve set up shop at 176 Redfern Street, Redfern, in Sydney. I was there for the official opening of the Sydney Story Factory (SSF) by Her Excellency, … Continue reading →

I can’t leave behind my coverage of the 2012 conference of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) without mentioning the launch of Brigitta Olubas‘s new book on Shirley Hazzard and six of the many other talks that … Continue reading →

Last night at gleebooks Paddy O’Reilly launched Jennifer Mills‘ short story collection The Rest is Weight. Mills is a prolific and gifted short story writer – her stories have appeared in Meanjin, Overland, Heat, Hecate, Griffith Review, Best Australian Stories … Continue reading →

One of the highlights for me of the 2012 ASAL conference in Wellington, New Zealand, was Elizabeth McMahon‘s Dorothy Green Memorial Lecture. As Elizabeth Webby commented at the end of the hour-long talk, McMahon began with despair and despondency – … Continue reading →

I’m just back from the 2012 conference of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, which was held in Victoria University’s Rutherford House in Wellington, New Zealand, from 4-6 July. It was my first academic conference – and it was … Continue reading →