My third collection of poetry, Marriage for Beginners, is being launched by Aileen Kelly at La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton on Sunday, 22nd November at 3.00pm. Light refreshments will be served and the book will be available, of course, at the special launch price.
I'd love to see everyone there!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Check out -
Radio National, The Book Show - Ramona Koval interviewing Lloyd Jones about his short story collection, The Man in the Shed. Jones' comes up with a slightly new definition of the short story in this interview - but listen for yourselves - it's interesting to hear an author talk about short stories and the writing craft required by this exacting form.
Also have a look at children's writer, Kirsty Murray's, blog about ceramics, history and parallel importation.
Also have a look at children's writer, Kirsty Murray's, blog about ceramics, history and parallel importation.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
It's been a long time
between blogs! But I'm back with some news. First of all a blog to watch. Secondly - for those of you who don't know, my novel, The Wish Pony, was awarded CBCA Honour Book, Younger Readers. The winner was Glenda Millard with Perry Angel's Suitcase and Morris Gleitzman was the other Honour book with Then. The awards ceremony was held at Sea World on the Gold Coast, oddly appropriate for me as that is where my latest sequence of poems ends!
Thirdly - Jane Gardam has a new novel out, The Man in the Wooden Hat. Yes, it's a companion novel to her masterpiece, Old Filth. How wonderful! Can't wait to read it.
Thirdly - Jane Gardam has a new novel out, The Man in the Wooden Hat. Yes, it's a companion novel to her masterpiece, Old Filth. How wonderful! Can't wait to read it.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Hey there
Tomorrow in Myth and Symbols we'll be looking at Sherman Alexie's wonderful short story, 'What You Pawn, I Shall Redeem', so Nicki, Denis, if you're reading this it would be wonderful to have you along - and anyone else who wants to brave a 9.00 am class.
Poem of the week - learning, 'The Cinnamon Peeler's Wife' by Michael Ondatje. I thought it was about time I learnt another love poem and I particularly like this one. Dorianne Laux wrote a poem, obviously inspired by it, with a female voice - 'The Shipfitter's Wife' and I wrote one 'The Auditor's Wife' inspired by Laux's poem. The Year of Learning Poems continues....
Poem of the week - learning, 'The Cinnamon Peeler's Wife' by Michael Ondatje. I thought it was about time I learnt another love poem and I particularly like this one. Dorianne Laux wrote a poem, obviously inspired by it, with a female voice - 'The Shipfitter's Wife' and I wrote one 'The Auditor's Wife' inspired by Laux's poem. The Year of Learning Poems continues....
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Workshopping tips
I wrote these for Writing for Children, Picture Books last year and have rediscovered them after some prompting from my Gippstafe colleagues.
Different people have different approaches to workshops and are capable or want to give different levels of feedback. The biggest rule is really to respect the material the writer presents. It's not up to the workshop to do a massive structural edit, rewrite the story or, indeed, to do a close line-edit. Participants in the workshop make suggestions - always acknowledging the story as presented. These suggestions should have the common aim of wanting the material to live up to its best possible potential.
So, for example, comments on grammar could be just 'check your grammar, there are some wonky bits' as opposed to anyone going through and doing a line-edit on the story. Structural comments could include, 'it seemed to me that the resolution was a little too open-ended' or 'the characters seemed a little flat and could have been better developed'. Those general comments should be backed up by more detailed explanations: 'I think it would be wise to have the resolution stem from the actions of your protagonist, rather than by chance' and 'Perhaps some more details about how your character identifies with their family would help us understand her more.' It's always a good idea to go from the general to the specific as people tend to comprehend that more readily.
Different people have different approaches to workshops and are capable or want to give different levels of feedback. The biggest rule is really to respect the material the writer presents. It's not up to the workshop to do a massive structural edit, rewrite the story or, indeed, to do a close line-edit. Participants in the workshop make suggestions - always acknowledging the story as presented. These suggestions should have the common aim of wanting the material to live up to its best possible potential.
So, for example, comments on grammar could be just 'check your grammar, there are some wonky bits' as opposed to anyone going through and doing a line-edit on the story. Structural comments could include, 'it seemed to me that the resolution was a little too open-ended' or 'the characters seemed a little flat and could have been better developed'. Those general comments should be backed up by more detailed explanations: 'I think it would be wise to have the resolution stem from the actions of your protagonist, rather than by chance' and 'Perhaps some more details about how your character identifies with their family would help us understand her more.' It's always a good idea to go from the general to the specific as people tend to comprehend that more readily.
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