writer | editor | artist
There was nothing, and nobody, left to save. It hurt to look at the emptiness, but it was no good turning away, or closing our eyes; because the absence was also inside us. So we walked away. What else was there to do? We packed our suitcases and put on our coats. Laced our best boots onto our feet…
This month, I was invited to participate in an online version of the Exquisite Cadaver parlour game, being hosted/published over at The Conversation. I was #7 in a series of ten writers who participated. We each received an email with the preceding entries, and were given about 24 hours to write our 300 word contribution….
The Australian Women Writers Challenge was founded in 2012 by Elizabeth Lhuede. On the AWW website, she writes: Are male authors more likely to have their books reviewed in influential newspapers, magazines and literary journals than female authors? They are according to the VIDA count, an analysis of major book reviewing publications in North America and…
Well … yes, I know. I took a little break over the Christmas/New Year period. I hope you did, too. But here’s a little something to kick of 2015. Jane Austen’s Sophia reproached her brother, Frederick, in Persuasion, saying that, “none of us expect to be in smooth waters all our days.” This, after Frederick claimed he…
Happy New Year! It’s 2015, and I couldn’t be gladder than I am to be welcoming in this fresh new year which, as my old companion Anne Shirley of Green Gables used to say, has no mistakes in it. Not that making mistakes is a problem. One of my favourite anecdotes about how important it…
It’s 2015, and this year I promised myself I would post a little bit about each of the books I read. Which is why, right about now, I’m wondering why I started the year reading Annabel Crabb’s The Wife Drought. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually liked it. I enjoy…
This Christmas, I constructed a little house out of gingerbread. It had pink glass windows (raspberry flavoured boiled lollies), and snowy white icing. In Europe, baking gingerbread was once (in the 1600s) the province of those who belonged to the gingerbread baker’s guild, except at Christmas and Easter, when anyone could have a go at…
This piece is the second guest contribution from Maria Arena: you may have already read and delighted in her earlier piece Terminus Pty Ltd. Maria’s most recent book is a young adult horror novel, Sisterhood. You can find out more about Maria and her work by visiting her online. The dressing gown catches your eye first: greying-pink,…
Follow me; this is where we were always headed. Into the darkness, into the forest. There is a stone in my pocket, but we have not come here to drown. In the distance, I hear the wolves. They do not howl; their feet pad lightly on the snow.I loved you once, but this is worse. This walking ahead into…
Today’s marvellously creepy guest post in the 200 words/200 days series is by the fabulous Lucy Sussex. Lucy is a wonderful writer, and a multiple award winner, with Ditmar and Aurealis Awards littering the shelves of her hideaway. In 2003, Lucy was awarded the A Bertram Chandler award, an award for “Outstanding Achievement in Australian…