Category Archives: Uncategorized

A favourite book from my childhood was Anthony and Antimacassar by Mary and Rowland Emmett. It was first published in 1943; one of my parents must have bought it. Perhaps when they were in England in the early 1950s. Rowland … Continue reading →

Here’s the talk I gave at M.A.D.E as part of the Melbourne Writer’s Festival on Sunday. My Verity books are junior novels aimed at readers –who seem to be mainly girls – of around 10 to 12 or 13. They’re … Continue reading →

The CBCA Book of the Year awards were announced this week, and I’m so pleased for all the winning and honour book authors. I loved The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett, which I thought was an old-fashioned children’s … Continue reading →

Graeme Simpsion, author of the best-selling romantic comedy The Rosie Project, came to Castlemaine Library last Thursday evening to give a talk. I was there to sell books for Stoneman’s Bookroom, and though I wasn’t unduly grumpy about getting home … Continue reading →

When you’re a very small child – say three or four – you can at last walk and talk and take part in the world, but you don’t have perspective. Everything is new. Almost anything is possible or at least … Continue reading →

Sometimes it’s hard to find the right book for your mood. This week I’ve tried a couple of crime thrillers and put them down after 30 or so pages. Next I started a literary novel translated from the Swedish and … Continue reading →

I’m just back from a family holiday in Canada. We were there for most of May – catching up with old friends and covering a lot of ground. We spent time in Vancouver, in Guelph (which is about an hour … Continue reading →

Last week, I read three sad books in a row. Why? Oh, I don’t know. They were there on the shelf and I didn’t realise that I was diving into a sea of tragedy and loss. They were all  non-fiction, … Continue reading →

Op Shops are great for books. There must be people who are forever refreshing their shelves because you can find not just new and new-ish novels but classics that you’d think would just keep their own permanent spot like perennial … Continue reading →