From the Burdekin Writer's Festival in Far North QLD where a croc-wrestling bush poet got into a fight outside the local and had to be taken to hospital by an eminent historian (who says writer's fests are boring?)... to a film crew descending on the property to talk books and farming ...followed [...]
If you enjoy history ... Many of you know that all of my novels to date have relied heavily on the Alexander Family archives which date back over one hundred and twenty years and cover station life from the 1880s on. As you can imagine with such a rich resource my interest in history was [...]
When I began thinking about my new novel, The Great Plains, I was mindful of my own rural background and as with my previous works I wanted to be able to draw on rural Australia and our fascinating history. My aim was to write an epic narrative that told the story of two lands, two [...]
Being a writer has its positives and negatives. The negatives include a healthy amount of doubt about the quality of your work, a feeling that, hopefully drives you to refine and polish your words until they shine. But my main quandary is one of twin passions competing for my time. When I'm holed up in my [...]
The Great Plains, will be released November 3rd and as always it's with mixed feelings that I introduce another baby, my fifth novel in as many years, into the world. Excited, anxious and hopeful spring to mind when it comes to describing my general state of anxiousness this afternoon, as tomorrow I start a three [...]
Don Watson use to be Paul Keating's speech writer which probably makes you wonder how he could write in-depth about the bush. He did however grow up in the bush and apparently he did a far bit of research for this work which is more episodic revelation than linear narrative. The work is touted as one [...]
The Great War that erupted in 1914 remains the single most cataclysmic event this nation has suffered, in terms of both numbers of lives lost and the impact to the Australian economy. With our country less diversified back then we relied on imports. But trade routes ceased or were extremely limited by the war and [...]
A sneak peak at the cover of my new novel. The Great Plains will be published November 2014. I'm really excited about this work. As part of the research for the book I toured Texas and Oklahoma on a research trip last year. My mum came with me to help out with the note-taking as I [...]
I had the pleasure of reading Maris Morton's first novel A Darker Music which I read prior to publication and endorsed whole-heartedly. It's a terrific book, which went on to win the inaugural Scribe Cal Fiction prize for 2010. Her latest offering should prove equally enjoyable. Here Maris joins me to talk about The Herb Gardener. " Thank you, Nicole, for inviting [...]
Author Tracy Chevalier had a 16-year relationship with Vermeers Girl With a Pearl Earring before she ever decided to write her novel of the same name. She purchased a poster of the painting when she was in college, and then brought it with her and hung it every place she lived for the next 16 [...]