Rosemary Puddy presents and produces The Book Podcast, in which she talks to Australian women writers of fiction and non-fiction about their books and their writing process. As Rosemary puts it on her website: The Book Podcast is inspired by the The Stella Prize … a major literary award that celebrates Australian women’s writing and … champions cultural change Kicking off … Read more…
The Life + Loves of Lena Gaunt
‘7 Australian novels you should read’ by Lucy Treloar
Australian novelist Lucy Treloar, author of the wonderful Miles Franklin and Walter Scott shortlisted Salt Creek (published this year in hardback in the UK and US by Aardvark Bureau), recently listed ‘some of her favourite Australian novels’ for Reader’s Digest UK. Here are a few books that I’ve read and loved; their styles, genres, and settings as rich … 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…
Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive – a 2016 countdown
Let’s face it, 2016 has been a crap year for the world. And politically, 2017 scares the poop out of me (though let’s hope New Zealand seizes the opportunity later this year to #changethegovernment). But in writing terms, for me 2016 was a great year, and — with my new novel due out in a … Read more…
Portland Book Review – The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt
Dick Weissman gave The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 4.5 stars in his review this month for Portland Book Review. …a complex and lyrical novel about the life of an Australian musician who becomes an early exponent of the theremin. ★★★★1/2 — @PDXBookReview Read the review online Follow Portland Book Review on Twitter or Facebook
‘Tracy Farr, inaugural Mildura Writer in Residence’ interview
In Mildura Living Magazine‘s Winter 2016 issue, Rebecca Butterworth’s interview with Tracy Farr touches on food, writing, family history, and inspiration from landscape and people. …the striking intimacy and sense of community of the festival itself; delightful and surprising resonances, and support not just from everyone there for the weekend of the festival, but from the Mildura arts and wider … Read more…
New York Times reviews The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt
On its US release, Alison McCulloch reviewed The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt for the New York Times Book Review, Sunday 26 June 2016 (in print 26 June, online 24 June). What’s immediately intriguing about Lena Gaunt isn’t Lena Gaunt but the fact that she plays a theremin…And Lena Gaunt isn’t just any theremin player. She’s … Read more…
Lena Gaunt by any other name
Names are funny things, important things, and they fascinate me; indeed, my second novel, The Hope Fault, is at least partly about names and naming. I spend a lot of (aka too much) time mulling over character names in my writing. I love to name my chapters, too, title them rather than just giving them numbers … Read more…
The merry month of May
O, the month of May, the merry month of May, So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green! ‘The Merry Month of May’ by Thomas Dekker (1599) The month just past (So frolic. Much gay. Many green. Wow.) would’ve warranted a celebratory skip around the maypole, if it hadn’t been a bit chilly … Read more…
Foreword reviews The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt
On its US release, Stephanie Bucklin reviewed The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt for the Summer 2016 issue of Foreword Reviews, a quarterly magazine featuring reviews of books from independent and university presses. From reflections on technology and art, to questions of addiction and control, the novel moves expertly from a portrait of Lena’s life to … Read more…