New Zealand author Joanne Drayton launches her new book The Queen's Wife TONIGHT as part of Auckland Pride Month's Samesame but Different LGBTQIA+ Writers and Readers Festival. Congratulations, Joanne! I reviewed the book for NZ Booklovers. Here is my review: ‘Life is a game of chess. You should try playing it with two queens.’ So…
Leunig the Living Treasure
If there was one Australian author I would recommend that you read before you die, it would be Michael Leunig. He is described by Wikipedia as a cartoonist, poet, and social commentator, and was declared an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1999. What on earth do you have to do…
The Bank of Words
Robert Southey said: "It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn." Short fiction - good short fiction - can have an emotional impact and resonance not found in quite the same way in longer fiction. That is why I love it. The trouble is, it's fecking hard…
Write true, write cheap
Consider the following sentence: The green grass was full of doctors, all dressed in their dazzlingly white surgical coats. Now consider Sylvia Plath's version: The Lawn was white with doctors. (from The Bell Jar) I don't think you'll even have to think about it when I ask: Which is the better sentence? But what about…
A Festival-Goer Field Guide
The Auckland Writers and Readers Festival kicks off tomorrow. I have spent the equivalent of a small Third World country's debt buying tickets to the various workshops, author talks and seminars on offer. I can't wait. They're a funny lot, W & R Festival-Goers. It's worth the admission price just to sit outside the various…
Patricia Bell, Author 