writer | editor | artist
A Monster Calls is a young adult novel, featuring stunning occasional illustrations by Jim Kay. The story was first conceived by Siobhan Dowd, a well-known children’s writer, but when she passed away before she could complete the work her publisher, Walker Books, commissioned Ness to complete the work. In subsequent interviews, Ness has described the…
Oops! I had this post half-written and forgot to post it on THE day. Better late than never. January 28th was the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. One of those novels that has so strongly influenced English-speaking literature and culture that it is hard to imagine how we might think about…
Recently, I read an essay by James M. Barrie called ‘Courage’. It’s not an essay so much as the transcript of a speech Barrie delivered to the ‘red gowns of St Andrews’* on May 3, 1922. The speech was given on the occasion of the students’ graduation. The year when the speech was given…
This is not really a post at all. It’s just a quote from Jenny Lawson’s blog. I’m not usually into humorous blogs, or books. But I love this bit of her post about the-year-that-cannot-be-named. Apparently, Jenny is afraid of the number … that number. The one between 12 and 14. So she decided to call…
Cool loneliness doesn’t provide any resolution or give us ground under our feet. It challenges us to step into a world of no reference point without polarizing or solidifying. This is called the middle way, or the sacred path of the warrior. When you wake up in the morning and out of nowhere comes the…
As a reader, I’m fairly hard to please. I never used to be. As a small child I would happily read cereal boxes, ticket stubs, IKEA instructions. But, these days, my tastes have changed. Lately, I’ve read some amazing books, including Lauren Groff’s Arcadia, Wade Davis’s The Wayfinders (based on his Massey Lectures), and Cate…
Maurice Sendak has passed away. Let the rumpus start. May he rest not in peace, but in some wild, affectionate place, where the monsters are his friends and he is their king. May he continue to roar his terrible roars and gnash his terrible teeth and roll his terrible eyes and show his terrible claws….
Today, I was reading Barry Lopez’s essay ‘Landscape and Narrative’ from the collection Crossing Open Ground. Lots to think about here, but two things that I want to come back to, and think about some more: A story draws on relationships in the exterior landscape and projects them onto the interior landscape. The purpose of…
Sometimes, I love reading the weekend paper. This is from an article by Lance Richardson in the travel section of SMH. The article is about visiting a working ranch in Montana: Later, recognising my struggle to fully command the horse, a fellow rider pulls up beside me and says in that vague way of the…
The best thing about being a chair at a writers festival is that free books arrive in the post. That, and the opportunity to talk to some wonderful writers about their craft, and participate in one of the friendliest writers festivals in Australia. In the last week, the following lovely books have arrived in my…