Critical examination of bookish events, news and debate.
This year, the CBCA’s Book Week theme was ‘Dreaming With Eyes Open’, celebrated with the rich illustrations of Jasmine Seymour. When asked about her engagement with the theme, Jasmine said it was based on how dreaming can be “now, then, and always”. This resonated with me, so when a local…
Did you know that in the 18th century, stories could only be printed and published in England if they were true? Powerful religious influences at the time otherwise deemed stories as ‘lies’ and thus ‘evil’. You can see the effect of this in the book titles published at the time,…
Wow, what an exciting month it’s been reading all the entries for the inaugural Northern Beaches Writers’ Competition! As the 2022 Northern Beaches ‘Art & Words Project’, the competition invited writers to submit both a written entry of up to 2,500 words on the theme of ‘tree’, and an image…
‘Library Lovers Day’ is next week, and so the good people at Australia Reads (where I am honoured to be an ambassador), sent me a text meme to celebrate. It made me think: why do I love libraries? A deluge of memories flooded into a list of 18 reasons I…
Visibility is a key component of any business – including cultural and creative ones! So my fabulous local council has created a map of the local area, pinpointing all things creative and cultural on the Northern Beaches: ‘Culture Map Live‘. I’m thrilled to be included on the map as an author,…
According to the Australian Publishers Association, reading changes lives! Reading affects personal and social development, happiness, behaviour, relationships, education, employment, financial well-being, health, and community and cultural participation. Improvements in literacy, at any point in life, can have a profound effect on an individual; and yet research reveals that the…
Today I was supposed to be heading to Mosman’s Barry O’Keefe Library for a ceremony celebrating the 2021 Mosman Youth Awards in Literature, for which I judged the short story entries, selected the winners for the Senior Prose section, and wrote a detailed judge’s report. Since Sydney is in complete…
