This semester, I’m teaching a writing course called Fairytales & Other Forms. Every week, we read a fairytale in various variants, and the writers in the course are asked to write their own (new!) version. The students are second year undergraduates, who are totally amazing. Every week they surprise and … Continue reading
— In honour of World Poetry Day We are on the way to the meeting when one of the poets calls and asks us to pick up beer on the way. Although we are on the phone for a while (the fields of the Lockyer Valley flashing past us, fading … Continue reading
I did shoplift something once, when I was a teenager. I went to K-Mart with my best friend and (deliberately) dropped the stolen goods into a milkshake I had purchased especially for that purpose. I don’t remember what the item was that I stole. Intended to steal. In the end, … Continue reading
I don’t know why I remember that argument with my mother so precisely. We have fought many times, over the years, with increasing frequency. I keep waiting for things to ease off. To reach that moment I have heard about when she sees me as a woman, and I see … Continue reading
So, some amazingly wondrous news. I’ve been invited to join the jury for the 2016 James Tiptree, Jr. Award. I would like to ask you to help me and my fellow jurors find the BEST works for the award this year. You can do this by clicking on the link below … Continue reading
This is a tiny, tiny extract from my current work-in-progress. A novel whose draft title is The Book of Ruth. It is the story of a family growing up in a small riverside town in northern New South Wales after the Second World War. Beth, lying belly down on the pier, her … Continue reading
You know that I like bunnies, right? In fact, I quite like all the woodland creatures, but rabbits, or hares, or bunnies have always appealed to me. Perhaps this can be explained semi-magically: they’re said by some to be one of the animals strongly associated with my sun-sign (Virgo). Maybe … Continue reading