Hidden Author
WHEN DID YOU FIRST WRITE FOR ABR?
The first thing I ever wrote for ABR was published early in 1985; it was a review of Helen Garner's The Children's Bach. My association with ABR has lasted much longer than any of my romantic entanglements.
WHICH CRITICS MOST IMPRESS YOU?
The best thing I can do here is quote lines of criticism that I've never forgotten. Terry Eagleton on Wuthering Heights: 'th ... (read more)
CHILDHOOD SEX!
Dear Editor,
Shannon Burns’s splendid ABR Patrons’ Fellowship essay, ‘The Scientist of His Own Experience: A Profile of Gerard Murnane’, is rich in insights and pithy observations, plus some rather fine photographs (August 2015). Much of it resonated for me, as Murnane’s first editor; this was soon after I had arrived at William Heinemann from Penguin, aeons ago.
When G ... (read more)
Environmental times
For the second year in a row, generous support from the Bjarne K. Dahl Trust has enabled us to devote much space to environmental subjects. The highlight is a long article by award-winning author Ashley Hay, the second ABR Dahl Trust Fellow. We also survey key scientists and environmentalists about the need for action.
To celebrate this issue, ABR and the Dahl Trust will h ... (read more)
Why do you write?
For me, writing is the beginning of so much. It’s how I methodise my thoughts. How I explore issues. My books really are co-explorations with my readers.
Are you a vivid dreamer?
Oftentimes yes. My dreams can be repetitive: the same very specific geographies, the same themes. In the past few weeks they’ve been all about the last illness and death of my father, who passed ... (read more)
Jolley Prize
Welcome to our annual Fiction issue. Among the highlights are the three 2015 Jolley Prize shortlisted stories. This is the sixth time that we have presented the Jolley Prize, which is worth a total of $8,000. After reading more than 1,200 entries submitted by writers around the world, the judges – ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, poet–academic Sarah Holland-Batt, and author Paddy ... (read more)
What drew you to writing?
I can’t remember not writing – it is something I have always done. As a teenager I was strongly encouraged by some wonderful teachers and started to become much more serious about it. I have always felt this need, this pressure, to translate experience into language.
... (read more)
Why do you write?
It’s an excuse to hang around books, which is all I’ve done, one way or another, over the course of my career.
Are you a vivid dreamer?
Yes. It’s like going to the cinema for free every night. I so look forward to it. But they are strictly private screenings.
Where are you happiest?
(1) Reading in bed, with a dog at hand.
(2) In a green place, with warm rain falling. ... (read more)
The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious prizes for a new poem. The Prize – open to all poets writing in English – is named after the great Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010). The Prize was first awarded in 2005 (Stephen Edgar) and was renamed in 2011, following Peter Porter’s death. Past winners include Tracy Ryan, Judith Bishop, and Anthony Lawrence.
... (read more)
Supporting Australian writers
In the May 2015 issue our Editor lamented the low or non-payment of many book reviewers (young ones especially). Peter Rose wrote: ‘The time has come for us all to become better literary citizens – more engaged, more informed, more giving. We’re all involved: publishers, consumers, and writers.’ He committed the magazine to doubling its base rate as soon as p ... (read more)