In my previous post, Five Faves: Writers from the West, I shared the names of five books (and their writers) that I enjoyed this year. But there are so many more on my To Read list, and I seem to be adding titles faster than I can finish them. Here are just a few of those I hope […]
I’ve heard it said that Western Australia’s isolation disadvantages our writers and artists. Yet there is so much creative talent here that I believe I could spend 2015 reading writers from the West, and still not finish a long list of great books. For now, though, here are five books (and their writers) that I read in 2014 […]
Welcome to Six Degrees of Separation, where authors Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith provide the name of a book and invite us to link it to six other books in any way we choose. This month’s chain begins with The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flannagan, which won the Man Booker prize this year. […]
Last week, I retreated to Denmark, a town in Western Australia’s Great Southern region, with the hope of making progress on my current writing project. While I was there, the local bookshop hosted a wine and cheese night for visiting authors, Deb Fitzpatrick and Brooke Davis. We were enthralled and entertained as they spoke about books, writing and the […]
You’ve probably heard the theory about ‘six degrees of separation’, the idea that we can find a connection to anybody else in the world in six steps or less. Now, writers Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman have created a literary version, where they provide a book title, and then link that to to six other books in any way it suits them. Since I’ve been […]
The fragility of life was slammed home last month when a fellow HeartKid family lost their three-year-old son, Xander, suddenly and unexpectedly. His parents, Craig and Sarah Nicholls, held a moving memorial service beside a lake. At their request, family and friends wore bright colours. The sun shone, birds sung and children blew bubbles. The day was a celebration of having […]