books

Family, Friends & Festival Fun.

/ brisbanefrannie / 5 Comments

Adelaide has really turned it on. The heat! And the fun.

It’s 36 most days but so dry compared to the humidity of Brisbane.

So we kept the pace up at Writers Week.

I found the session on the relationship authors have with their editors very enlightening.

I really enjoyed the authors panel on the relationship with their editor. Madison Godfrey. A young poet, Anjum Hasan, a novelist, poet, shirt story writer and editor & author of the well received History’s Angel. Another got my list! The third was author Kate Grenville a favourite author of mine.

Each author spoke about how an editor is essential. They all said editors start with a little massaging! To soften the impact of the toughness needed to give a good edit.

Following this there was a panel discussion on publishing. Three agents spoke about the world if agents and punblushinv house. Miranda France, Vanessa Radnidge and Jeanne Ryckmans. As expected there was a line up of people, most of whom had written books and were dealing advice on how to get published.

I couldn’t help but think of my Instagram friend Shelley Dark. A funny woman with a keen eye for photography, and a passion for writing. Shelley has been working on a book for sometime now and it’s finished. But where is the publisher? Perhaps some of the hints I picked up at this session might help….

1. Put your manuscript in a draw for at least a year. 2. Don’t give up. 3. Get an agent. 4. Don’t send to an agent and a publisher at the same time. 5. Don’t get an editor to edit before an agent has seen it. 6. Don’t use AI to help write your book.

The session with Mark Brandi, Una Mannion and Lucy Treloar was good. It was on Genre: do rules apply. They discussed their books and the area of genre they were sometimes assigned by their publisher. As murder mystery thriller are all good sellers that tag is often put on covers. Even though the book is not about that! Misleading. They all said their readers were often disappointed the books weren’t thrillers or mysteries!

I listened to Anjali Joseph with Claire Nichols from the ABC book show. She’s a new author for me but I think I’ll read her book Keeping in Touch set in Assam in India.

Anjali Joseph

A few favourite sessions were with Pip Williams author of The Bookbinders of Jericho. She is entertaining and interesting all at once.

Kate Grenville has written another book about a family member. This time her Grandmother. Dolly Maunder. It’s now on my list.

Kate Grenville

And the always entertaining William McInnes had us laughing hard. He’s an entertainer and his books are always a delight to read.

There were many more authors, commentators & journalists on ( Lisa Miller & Leigh Sales were entertaining ) a few I missed one or two not so great but it’s all terrific.

It’s the best Writers Week in Australia. In my opinion!

Sunday 28th. Day 2 of the Writer’s Festival

/ brisbanefrannie / 4 Comments

A slower start this morning.

One of my favourite authors, Maggie O’Farrell is on first – but live streaming from the UK. You could pay a small fee and watch from home. So that’s what I’ve done.

Tonight we’ll watch from the comfort of the lounge with a glass of wine in hand.

I was on the bus by 9.55 for the 20 minute run into town. Marg lives in Highgate and it’s a quick run into the city. It’s a lovely area. Lots of trees, parks, sturdy houses with stone work and great gardens.

Again, a good choice of speakers. I started with Dr Julia Baird. She’s on The Drum and is a fine author. I read her biography of Queen Victoria but it’s her book Phosphorescence she was talking about today. It’s a memoir of finding joy when your world turns dark. It’s been described-as a book of wisdom and wonder when things don’t go right.

I’ve read it and loved it. So much to think about. It’s a book you would return to over and over.

Julia presents as a down to earth woman, obviously intelligent and a survivor of a terrible illness.

I loved her talk.

Next up was a choice of Malcolm Turnbull or Meg Mason.

I thought I’d heard enough over the years from Malcolm – though he is a fine speaker. I wanted to hear Meg Mason.

I’ve just finished her book Sorrow and Bliss. I’ve chosen it for BookClub so was keen to hear her speak.

Meg Mason on the right

She and fellow speaker Luke Horton spoke about their books where their main characters have mental health issues.

Luke Horton’s book The Fogging is about the disintegration of a relationship where the main character suffers from anxiety.

Megs books character, Martha has an undiagnosed mental health illness. She’s a complex character who is likeable but frustrating.

Meg read aloud from her book. It’s funny despite it’s subject. She talked about her character Martha, and I understood a little more about her.

Play this video.

The next session was about words. I read Pip Williams book The Dictionary of Words and loved it. It’s about Esme who is present in Oxford while her father and other lexicographers prepare the very first Oxford English Dictionary Set in 1901 it’s a fascinating tale of what goes into the dictionary and what is left out.

The other speaker Sue Butler worked for many years as editor of Australia’s Macquarie dictionary and saw the inclusion of many new words.

Under the trees… a world of words.

A great discussion. I should point out I regularly listen to a podcast called A Word in your Ear with Brisbane’s Roly Sussex. It’s a great discussion of words.

By now my afternoon of books was over. I was off to The Spire. My niece Vashti was performing in Saxism, a saxophone quartet. We had an hour sitting in a beautiful church in Beulah Park listening to great music. From Bach to John Denver.

Talented Vashti with her bass sax.

A great afternoon. Then home to listen to the live streamed interview of Maggie O’Farrell. Her book Hamnet, a story of Shakespeare and the son he lost in the great plague. Such a wonderful book. And the discussion with Maggie led by Anton Enus a newsreader from SBS was great.

More tomorrow.