I’ve had my head down lately, trying to avoid social media (it was making me anxious) and write a book. I’m still working on both. But I’ll be working on them from Western Australia for the next month or so, as next week I take up a month-long writing residency at Fellowship of Australian Writers … Read more…
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Writers on Mondays – Hopeful Animals, Wellington
I’m really excited about being part of the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) Writers on Mondays programme this year, which includes – as well as a whole mob of great New Zealand writers – Australian writer Charlotte Wood (24 July – see programme). Writers on Mondays has been running for nearly a decade now, … Read more…
Ticket to Wonderland
Today is officially my first day waking up in Wonderland, as I (nominally) start the ten-month funding period for the Creative New Zealand Arts Grant I was awarded in May ‘towards researching and writing the first draft of a novel, Wonderland’. This is the second Arts Grant I’ve received from Creative New Zealand. The first, … Read more…
Auckland love story – AWF17
I had a wild and wonderful time at Auckland Writers Festival 2017 last weekend. This is the fifth year in a row that I’ve headed to Auckland for the festival, my second time (AWF15 was my first) as part of the programme. The festival gets bigger and better each year, continues to break its own … Read more…
‘Family Dynamics’ at Auckland Writers Festival
The programme has been launched for Auckland Writers Festival 2017, which runs from 16 to 21 May. I’ll be there — this’ll be my fifth time attending AWF, my second time as a guest of the festival. I’m in one of the Four for Fifty Readings sessions — fifty-minute events in which four writers read from their recent work. Each session is themed; … Read more…
This festive season
May is my birthday month (thus always a time of celebrations and joy to the world, right?). But this May feels extra-festive, cause for much shimmying, shaking, and leg-kicking, on the beach and elsewhere. The Hope Fault acquired by Aardvark Bureau I’ve been quietly dancing on the ceiling (and everywhere else) about this for a while, so I’m delighted to … Read more…
‘The Hope Fault: family and faultlines’ event at National Library, Wellington
I am told there are people who do not care for maps, and I find it hard to believe. — Robert Louis Stevenson I’m like RL Stevenson in that respect. I love a map. Maps, diagrams and geological bulletins (one bulletin in particular) caught my imagination and took over the reins while I was writing my novel The … Read more…
The most beautiful home movie ever made
I was sorry to hear, a fortnight ago, of the death of film director Jonathan Demme. The tweets and obits all namechecked the films he’s best known for: The Silence of the Lambs (1991, five Oscars), Philadelphia (1993, two Oscars), and (arguably the best concert film ever) Stop Making Sense (1984). But my thoughts turned first to … Read more…
‘Shelf Awareness: Tracy Farr’ interview with Maureen Eppen
Perth writer and reviewer Maureen Eppen wrote two great articles (in The West Australian newspaper back in February, and in Good Reading magazine’s April issue) as a result of our long phone interview back in January this year. I was delighted when Maureen asked if I’d take part in her new blog series, Shelf Awareness, in which writers … Read more…
2, 2 and 2: talking about The Hope Fault
I’m a huge fan of Perth writer Amanda Curtin’s work, particularly her beautiful novels Elemental and The Sinkings. I was delighted when she asked me to contribute a guest blog post for her 2, 2 and 2 series, celebrating writers and their new books. For my 2, 2 and 2 post for Amanda, I wrote … Read more…