Featured News
A different story
Yesterday I met B, a bright seven-year-old with French-plaited hair and flowers painted on her fingernails. She has been doing some writing with the help of a wonderful young woman called Imogen; I read her A Girl Who Fell Into A Book; Imogen read me the latest...
All hail arts organisations
I spent quite a bit of time working in and for writing and arts organisations back in the day, and am a proud member of the Australian Society of Authors, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and others (and I will get my act together and join the...
What I’m grateful for
Bad things have been happening to a lot of people I know lately. It’s hard to know what to do at such times, apart from send good thoughts to the afflicted people, and be grateful that at this moment, I have been spared the random awfulness of events. In the spirit...
A little oasis of time
As a full time employee, the joy of Easter is not about religious significance, although as a member of a family full of Catholics and having grown up with flurries of church attendance, I’m not altogether insensible to this. No, to me a clump of public holidays means...
Ten Best Books … sort of
I hate best-of book lists. I can never include all the things I want in them, and they give you the impression that number 1 is better than number 10, or that those not on the list aren’t loved as much as those on it. Reading is not a ranked activity: it’s too rich...
Chess Nuts in reviewland
It’s always nerve-racking to receive your first reviews for a book – almost as nerve-racking as wondering if you’re going to get any. So I was very pleased that Chess Nuts has had two great reviews, last week by Jane Barry in The Courier Mail and this week by Susan...
Changing sites
I am changing blog-sites, in the hope I will get a little more functionality from this one, and in response to Sarah Dessen’s concern that LiveJournal might fold. Who knows, I might even be able to post more frequently. Previous blogs can be found here.
The life of public education
I loved my primary school. It was the epitome of what public education could and should be. I was not an easy student: I cried every day before school until I was in year three, I was painfully shy, and, when I got over being painfully shy, I was as naughty as I could...
Perth Writers Festival
Yes, it’s lazy to post pictures, but it’s all I’ve got at the moment. More of substance later! (Also, darned if I can work out how to place pictures on the page where I want them, but you get the idea.) In these photos: Morris Gleitzman, Marele Day, Kirsty Murray,...
Chess Nuts launch
It was a wonderful night. And I’ve had some wonderful launchers in my time, but 13-year-old Andrew Forbes-Macphail really showed how it’s done. For those who were wondering, I hadn’t met...