This Is Not A Hobby

The Emerging Writers Festival was held in Melbourne last month. They ran some great sessions about opportunities, challenges, tips and tricks for writing and publishing in Australia. Being a writer is tough. Support networks do exist, however, and it’s refreshing to feel more connected in real world spaces when writing can be such a solitary pursuit. I only went to the festival’s opening night (which was very cool), but I did write an article about writing, rejection and uncertainty as my contribution to dialogue around young people and creativity. The piece was published by Meanjin in this month’s issue:

Meanjin is an important literary journal and it feels great to have my first story for this publication – plus Sophie Cunningham’s editorial about feminism really nailed how I and others feel about negative reactions to women in various cultural spheres:

“I’ll just say this: either women can’t sing, paint, write or think as well as they used to—certainly not well enough to offset their tendency to become less beautiful with age—or we live in a culture that does not like the things women say or does not know how to hear them when they say it.”

Perfect Gift For A Man

One of my stories that originally appeared  in the Herald Sun, ‘Grandad Still Worth Gold To Me’,  has been published in the book The Perfect Gift For A Man. This collection features 30 stories about reinventing manhood – very cool.

This book came together after an online campaign (Manweek) by Reachout and Triple J to encourage men to speak about their experiences.

All proceeds go to Inspire (www.inspire.org.au), an organisation dedicated to helping Australians lead happier lives.

A free version is available but please also consider buying a copy for friends and family.