Alex Lewis

Conventional wisdom has it that writing comes second to life. Young American journalist Elif Batuman has a different idea. ‘What if,’ she suggests, ‘instead of moving to New York, living in a garret, self-publishing your poetry and having love affairs in order to – some day – write it up as a novel for 21st century America – what if instead you went to Balzac’s house and read every w ... (read more)

The great Russian short story writer Ivan Bunin said that in the process of becoming a writer, ‘one learns not to invent, but to see clearly – to see through the clichés of habit and association that disfigure sight. To see clearly and record – that is sufficient.’ What is most interesting about this new anthology is hearing a number of young Australian writers start to put aside childish ... (read more)