28-August-08

1. New York Magazine: Was Hunter Thompson's Gonzo Image His Downfall?

2. Today at the festival I'm chairing at 1pm: Chekhov's Children about the short story, with Hannah Tinti, Emily Perkins and John Clanchy

3. Also at the festival to look out for today: The Common Pursuit at 7pm, with Philip Gourevitch, Julianne Schultz, Sally Warhaft and Michael Burleigh.

4. And: Historical Novels at 4pm, with Fiona Capp, Antoni Jach, Matt Condon and Simon Cleary.

5. Not to mention: The Young Americans at 4.15, with Hannah Tinti, Mark Sarvas, Anya Ulinich and Delia Falconer.

6. The book and film that have been spiralling through my subconscious so much these past few days: Kenneth Cook's Wake in Fright.

26-August-08

Click Lit: a computer program to help write a novel, thanks to DY

25-August-08

Augusten Burroughs is a real storyteller and has what's known as 'the gift of the gab'. Seeing him at both the First Tuesday Book Club screening, and then his keynote address on Friday, made me want to read his books – and his brother's.

Davids Rakoff and Sedaris with Don Watson on Friday were a real highlight – I had no idea Watson was such a wit.

So many things to go to...

22-August-08

MWF today: don't miss The Whole Shebang. Sophie Cunningham is hosting Toni Jordan, Mandy Brett, Bridie Riordan, Susan Johnson, Aviva Tuffield, David Astle, Nikki Christer, Jeremy Fisher, Joel Becker, Jenny Darling - and more... It's an intensive one-day workshop for emerging writers.

Tonight: Germaine Greer

20-August second go & 21-August-08

1. Brascoe Publishing

2. Hunter Publishers

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a great book despite its title

4. Guardian blog: You don't need adults to sex up children's literature

5. New York Review of Books: EM Forster, Middle Manager by Zadie Smith

6. Andrew O'Hagan at The Observer

7. Idlewind Press in the Nicholas Building

8. Salon: Who Will Save Public Schools?

9. Paper Cuts: The Berserk After Work Club and Perfect

Thanks to Mister Nora: Melbourne hooks the books

Big whoops for all the writers and editors and publishers and readers who will benefit from this decision, and there's plenty of opportunity to celebrate over the next fortnight. I  guess the next question is, how will it really affect us all?

20-August-08

David Rakoff is coming to this year's Melbourne Writers' Festival. Look out for him at:

Beyond Your Navel masterclass on Saturday

Don't Get Too Comfortable with Max Barry on Sunday afternoon, and

What's Funny About America? with David Sedaris and Don Watson on Saturday afternoon

19-August-08

1. Jacinta Halloran's excellent Dissection is being launched by Helen Garner tonight at the Avenue Bookshop

2. World Without Books: Indigenous Literacy Day is September 3, thanks to LP

18-August-08

1. New York Times: He Blurbed, She Blurbed by Rachel Donadio

2. The new Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing) at RMIT

3. Guardian blog: What's the point of literary agents?

4. Australia is nowhere on this list of Top 10 literary destinations, which would have to surprise those who participated in Melbourne's bid for Unesco City of Lit. Zoe and I were interviewed about it for Stateline recently. Fingers crossed.

13-August-08

1. A few MWF picks:

Genre Jumper with Kate Atkinson and Catherine Cole – 30 August, 10am

Secrets and Lies with Hannah Tinti, Joan London and David Francis – 30 August, 4pm

Writing Love with Mark Sarvas, Kathryn Lomer and Andrew Riemer – 30 August, 10.15am (for those who can be in two places at the same time)

2. Lit Mob, thanks to KF

3. The Atlantic: My Life in Sales by Ann Patchett

4. And The Perils of Literary Success by Curtis Sittenfeld

5. The Age, from 2003: The Great Escape Artist, Andrew O'Hagan

11- August-08

1. My review of Susan Johnson's Life in Seven Mistakes for the Sydney Morning Herald

2. With John Marsden's release of Hamlet next month, he may get a giggle out of this: Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition) by Sarah Schmelling at McSweeney's

3. One of the books that was shortlisted for the Vic Prem's Unpublished Ms Award in 2006 is now on the Ned Kelly's shortlist: Chris Womersley's The Low Road which I reviewed for The Age

Friday afternoon

The Vic Prem's shortlists have been announced. I had the pleasure of joining Kevin Brophy and Liam Davison in judging the Unpublished Manuscript Award, so beneath the bed are boxes and boxes of bound manuscripts (what to do with them?), some of them with scrawlies all over them.

Our shortlist is strong, and includes one ms, by Daniel Ducrou, that's already been shortlisted for the Vogel:

Daniel Ducrou, Conditions of Return

Mandy Maroney, Going Finish

Robert Power, In Search of the Blue Tiger

7-August-08

1. The New York Times: Mr Darcy Comes Courting by Maureen Dowd

2. Guardian blog: The literary legacy of New York punk

3. Michael Chabon talking about The Yiddish Policemen's Union on The Book Show

4. New Yorker: Personal History – All the Answers by Charles Van Doren, will make you want to hire out Quiz Show all over again

5. The New York Times: review of Doris Lessing's Alfred and Emily

6. Awesome Animal Farm cover

7. The Warwick Review

8. It is pretty astonishing that of the five shortlisted novels for the Age book of the year, two are published by Giramondo. I haven't read the Juchau or the Winton, but the Knox, the Coetzee and the London are all strong in such different ways.

9. Who'd have thought that A Fraction of the Whole would have been shortlisted – alongside another strong debut in The Low Road, which is more obviously a crime novel – for the Ned Kelly awards?

10. Salon: Why won't you blurb me?

11. This clip from Synecdoche, New York (2008) lets me know it's a film that will make me nervous the way Charlie Kaufman can, which I'm already looking forward to.

12. Podularity

13. I'm looking forward to the new Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap, due this November. It sounds quite different to his previous work: "In this remarkable novel, Tsiolkas turns his unflinching and all-seeing eye onto that which connects us all: the modern family and domestic life in the twenty-first century."

14. The Prime Minister's Literary Awards shortlisted authors are Mireille Juchau, Dorothy Porter, Malcolm Knox, Gail Jones, David Malouf, Tom Keneally and Steven Conte. Better start reading...

5-August-08

The Observer: review of James Bradley's The Resurrectionist, showing the UK cover