Vanessa de Largie was 22 in 2000 when she arrived in Melbourne to pursue her acting career. Her bright hopes were bruised at the hands of her partner — a violent and unstable man, whose weapons included his fists and psychological manipulation. More than a decade on, de Largie is a successful actress and author, whose
It’s inevitable that author Jen Craig will be asked questions about the weight loss company that bears her name. Especially since the protagonist of her new novella Panthers and the Museum of Fire is called Jenny Craig and in the grip of anorexia at the time the diet company was launched. The topic was aired,
Patrick Lenton’s collection A Man Made Entirely of Bats is a leap into the surreal, comedic, satirical, punchy and resonant. Launched on February 18, its short-short stories and micro-lit lift the spandex on super-heroes and turn over the rocks that hide strange things. The result is that rarest of birds: smart literature that makes you laugh.
Orphaned buttons corralled in a tin and a fragile woman’s poems hidden in a car glove box … in this Q&A Vivienne Plumb reveals how such details helped shape the title story of her new collection, to be launched in Sydney on August 16. The Glove Box & Other Stories will be launched at the
Dear Writer, I’m so excited that Virginia O’Day popped by this week to answer some of your curlier questions about writing fiction! Virginia is the wise narrator of Dear Writer Revisited by Australian author Carmel Bird and the book is a brilliant guide for all wordsmiths — fledgling or experienced. If you want inspiration, practical
Squealing bats in suburbia, Shakespeare’s Iago talking firkins and vespiaries, Australian writer Dorothy Hewett stuck in a railway car toilet, and a sermonette in which a Jehovah’s Witness has froth at the corners of his lips “white light humming” … Mark O’Flynn’s first short story collection explores the spectrum of human experience. “Bats squeal in the trees,
In 2012, 20,000 copies of her book A Ripple in Time were downloaded on Kindle devices in just five days. UK author, Julia Hughes, tells ABBW about shaping griffins, marketing e-books, finding inspiration in her village that has strong ANZAC connections, enjoying Aussie band, The Go-Betweens … and offering you two of her books free
What does a ghost writer do? ABBW recently interviewed Sylvia Gredig, a ghost writer and editor in Cologne, Germany, to find out. What appealed to you about becoming a ghost writer? I was given my first chance at ghost writing during my training in proofreading and editing. That was great fun and it was exciting
Courtney Collins’ novel, The Burial, has been described as a breathtakingly brilliant debut in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy. In this Q & A she tells ABBW about the female bushranger, Jessie Hickman, who inspired the book; how the question “Can a woman be free?” lies at the heart of her first novel; and how landscape can
Pip Harry’s novel, I’ll Tell You Mine, recently won a trans-Tasman award for its usefulness in a family therapy setting. In this Q & A she tells ABBW about the book’s mettlesome character, Kate, other young adult authors she admires and a non-fiction project she’s working on about dating, sex, love and relationships. Your novel
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