Byrskiblog

Winter Writing and Reading

Winter has come to Western Australia at last, and the temperature has dropped rapidly.  It's the sort of weather that makes you wants to curl up and read a book, but what about doing some writing as well as reading?  I'm enclosing some information on a weekend workshop for writers which I'll be running at Donelly Lakes, in the gorgeous south west of the state from 21 - 23 August.  If you click the link to download the brochure you can then enlarge it.  It's a gorgeous location (I'm attaching a link to the Donnelly Lakes chalets where we'll be staying), so as well as doing plenty of writing there will be time for beautiful walks, conversation, laughter, relaxation and delicious food. 

Download Winter Reading and Writing    www.donnellylakes.com.au 

You can also find out more from UWA Extension on 08 6488 2433 of www.extension.uwa.edu.au

If you've thought about writing, always wanted to but think it might be too late, why not start this winter. You're never to old to start writing! Here are some terrific women who wrote their first novels in their seventies.

Do you remember this Dame?  I'm sure many of you will -  yes -  it's Joan Bakewell, now Dame Joan, who was at the cutting edge of British journalism in the sixties, and was the first woman to become a current affairs presenter on BBC television.  Joan Bakewell is now 75 and she's the British Government's first official Voice of Older People.  And to prove that age is no barrier to starting a new career, she has just written her first novel.  All the Nice Girls was published this year and s set in 1942.  It captures the danger and excitement of wartime, as well as the longing that comes with separation from loved ones. I really enjoyed it and it's so inspiring to see someone trying something completely new at 75. 

And this one?

This is the late great Mary Wesley who had her first novel published at the age of 70 and went on to write nine more dazzling best sellers.  If you haven't come across her books yet you've a treat in store and you might want to start with The Camomile Lawn or Harnessing Peacocks.

And here is Mary Ann Schaffer.

            Her first and sadly her only novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society was published last year.  Mary Ann Schaffer, a retired librarian and bookseller was in her seventies when she wrote this delightful book, and sadly she died in 2008 a few months before it was published.  Guernsey in the Channel Islands in 1946 is the fascinating background for this beautiful story of delightfully eccentric people surviving the aftermath of war with love and humour.  You won't be able to put it down.

My own new novel will be in the bookshops in September, it's called Bad Behaviour and I'll tell you more about it closer to the time. 

Bye for now

Liz

Waiting for the train

 

Hi

Here I am waiting for the train -  well it was a tram really;  the tram that takes visitors from the Pemberton townsite, past the timber mill to the glorious forests and waterfalls for which the south west of Western Australia is famous.  I love this photograph -  it was taken last month and it captures so beautifully the apprehension laden state that always gets a grip on me when I have finished a book and am waiting for publication.  It's the time when I re-think all the things I ought to have done in the book and want to start re-writing it from start to finish.  Too late! Just have to grit my teeth now and hope for the best.

But the Easter break down south was lovely -  Pemberton, Margaret River and Albany -  and I have another trip south to look forward to in August when I'll be running a writers weekend retreat based at the glorious Donnelly Lakes Chalets. It's organised by UWA Extension so if you're interested you can dowload the brochure and some information about the weekend and Donnelly Lakes at the links below:

www.extension.uwa.edu.au/downloads/WinterBrochure.2009.pdf

www.donnellylakes.com.au

Back again soon.  Liz

      

Hello again after a very long silence!

After all the excitement of the Perth Writers Festival and the start of the university semester I was able to make it to glorious Cottesloe Beach on the last day of the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition last week.  I thought you might like to see these pictures of what, to me, was the most interesting and memorable exhibit.  Called 7000 Classrooms this installation is the work students at Perth's Shenton College High School in collaboration with the Hong Kong School of Creativity.  The five metre high poles connected by a single strand of rope are modelled around the image of fault line and commemorate the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.  Among the 80,000 people who lost their lives many were children in their school classrooms.   The installation extends for 200 metres along the beach and, with the passage of the sun from east to west, casts a stunning pattern of shadows on the sand.

It's a moving memorial to those lost in the earthquake and a wonderfully spontaneous and creative expression of sympathy and respect from students here in Western Australia to those in China.

    The Writers Festival has been and gone -  this year with greater success and a greater number of visitors than ever before.  I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to meet and talk with Robert Dessaix about his new book Arabesques: A Tale of Double Lives.  Robert's retracing of the steps of French writer Andre Gide, and his interpretation of Gide's life and its intersections with his own story, make this a  deeply personal and enlightening book, which is enriched by stunning artwork and photographs.

  And it was fascinating to talk with Irish author Sebastian Barry about his latest novel The Secret Scripture.  Sebastian is a wonderful story teller and our enjoyment of that event in the Octagon Theatre was enhanced when he burst into song -  with Roses Are Blooming in Picardy.

Thankfully summer has receded in the past couple of weeks and I am not sorry to see the end of it.  It has been too hot for too long as far as I am concerned and I am delighted by the arrival of mild days and cool nights and mornings.  I feel much more able to write in these temperatures and am currently mulling over ideas for another novel.  Wherever you are I hope the weather is being kind to you.

Perth Writers Festival

Hello again and all good wishes for 2009

I've been very slack with the blog recently but will try to be more disciplined in future!

First of all I'm both delighted and relieved to be able to tell you that I have finished the novel I was working on it will be available later this year.  More details later.

And I want to let you know about the Perth Writers Festival which this year has a truly impressive lineup of local, national and international writers in a greatly expanded program.  The Festival is based in the glorious grounds of the University of Western Australia, it's a terrific mix of panel sessions, readings, talks and spotlight interviews and many of the events are free.  Look at this very abbreviated list of visiting writers and I think you'll find it's hard to stay away.

There is former Director General of MI5 Stella Rimington - who now writes gripping crime fiction.

Australia's best known and most controversial thinker - Peter Singer

American novelist James McBride who will be talking about the power of language in both oppression and liberation.

And Irish novelist and playwright Sebastian Barry whose lates book The Secret Scripture was shortlisted bfor the 2008 Man Booker Prize and has recently won the Costa Prize for fiction. 

Kate Grenville and Robert Dessaix will be there and the ever popular Susan Duncan who won everyone's hearts when she was here at the festival a couple of years ago.  And from overseas -  Nadeem Aslam, Alan Weisman. Mark Kurlansky and Rana Dasgupta. 

And there are so many more - so do go to the website and browse through the program at

www.perthfestival.com.au  the program runs from 27th February to 2 March.

I'm looking forward to hosting the literary luncheon with Robert Dessaix on Friday 27th and talking to him about his glorious new book - Arabesques: A Tale of Double Lives.  And to my spotlight conversation with Sebastian Barry at the Octagon on the evening of Monday 2 March.

And I know I'll enjoy taking my pick from the other events on offer.  so perhaps I'll see you there.

 Hi there

Do have a look at the photo below.  It's the famous Shakespeare & Co bookshop on the Left Bank in Paris.

It was started by Sylvia Beach, an American woman, in the 1920s and became a meeting place for writers in the twenties and thirties, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein were just some of the writers who made it their second home in Paris.  As you can see it is heaven for book lovers, crammed with English language as well as French books. There are new and second-hand books and you   can browse for hours, and end up with more books than you can carry home.  It is just another of the wonderful places I visited on a recent trip to France and England.

Since then I've had my nose to the grindstone because it's the end of the university semester.  I also had the pleasure of speaking in the University of Western Australia Spring School last month and met a lot of lovely people after the talk.

There seems to be a terrific selection of new books around at the moment.  I have just read and enjoyed Zoe Heller's new book The Believers, (Zoe Heller also wrote Notes on a Scandal which was made into a film with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench).  And today I finished The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas - it's a fascinating and confronting book which I couldn't put down.  Next on my list is Brian Dibble's long-awaited biography of the late and much loved Elizabeth Jolley, it's called Doing Life, and the cover has a wonderful and very characteristic photograph of Elizabeth.  As I knew Elizabeth and have known Brian for more than 20 years I'm aware of the enormous amount of research that went into this book so I'm really looking forward to getting into it.

I hope you've enjoyed some good books recently -  if so do post your recommendations on the blog so we can all share them.

I'll be back soon.  Liz

Back from Paris

 Yes -  at last I am catching up and starting this time with a photograph taken a couple of weeks ago at the Musee d L'Orangerie in Paris.  I have been in France where my novel Gang of Four has been doing well and is about to be re-published in a smaller version, a livre au poche. And where Food, Sex and Money will be on the shelves next month.  It seems that French readers are really enjoying reading about Australian women's lives, and I certainly enjoyed the chance to see Paris again.

At the age of 19 I lived in Paris for a while working (very inefficiently) in the offices of the department store Monoprix, and learning French.  Paris is such an exciting city, and an ideal place to wander around and sit in cafes watching the world go by and eating too much.  The weather was simply glorious - sunshine, blue skies and as many of those wonderful buildings, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and the Louvre for example were cleaned for the milenium they looked particularly beautiful in the sunlight.

The picture above was taken in the newly reconstructed Orangerie  which accomodates Manet's famous and stunning collection Les Nympheas. The paintings are breathtaking and this gallery has a provided a peaceful and meditative space to admire and contemplate Monet's groundbreaking works of art.

I also have photos of the book shop Shakespeare & Co, started in the early thirties by Sylvia Beach, and a favourite haunt of writers including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, TA Eliot, Janet Flanner, Natalie Barney and Gertrude Stein.  So I'll post some more news and pictures before the end of the week.

Meanwhile, if you live in Western Australia I may have the chance to meet you when I speak at the University of WA's Extension Spring School on Wednesday 22nd October.  If you want to know more you can download the spring brochure at the website www.extension.uwa.au.  Or if Artrage is more your scene come along on Thursday 23rd to Gang of Four: A New Generation - an evening of wine, women and novels, at The Bakery in Northbridge.  I'll be talking there with four talented young women writers - Julienne Van Loon, Alice Nelson, A.J. Betts and Amanda Curtin, three of whom have just had their first novels published, and Julienne her second novel.  We'll be talking about writing and research, women, inspiration, being published, and much much more. You can find out more at:   www.artrage.com.au/bakery/60

 

On October 22nd I'll be speaking at the University of Western Australia Extension, Spring School.  If you'd like to come along check out the booking arrangements at this link to the brochure: http://www.extension.uwa.edu.au/

At last!

I am in serious trouble with my very patient and long-suffering friend and colleague Adrian, who looks after my website, and set up this blog.  From time to time he mentions, with a despairing sigh, that he's checked up that everything is all right with the blog.  He used to add, "It's about time you updated it again." But now it's just the sigh and silence. Guilt stricken I rush to the computer with every intention of adding a new post, and then, somehow I don't.  I suspect Adrian is at a loss to understand why a writer is incapable of keeping a blog, he's not the only one!

 For the past few months I've had my head down trying to finish the latest novel and there is still some way to go.  So it's been a very busy time, much of it spent alone in a room with a computer. 

I've been invited to speak at the University of Western Australia Spring School in October so if you'd like to come along just check out the booking details on this link to the brochure: http://www.extension.uwa.edu.au/

I've been doing a lot of reading too.  I particularly loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by  Mary Ann Shaffer.  It's her first and sadly also her last novel.  A 70-year-old-librarian, she was goaded by her book club into writing this book, but she died in December last year before seeing it in print.  It is a deceptive book because it's such fun, so finely tuned, and so entirely engaging that you don't realise you're getting a wonderfully detailed picture of life in the Channel Islands under the German Occupation. 

Another pleasure in recent weeks was Mama Mia - the movie.  I just loved all those women dancing along to Dancing Queen now I can't get those ABBA songs out of my head, they are so infectious. If you haven't seen it yet don't miss it, everyone in the cinema was singing along, it's enormous fun.

Back again soon, Liz

Hello again

I don't have much news, having been very busy with work at Curtin University, and struggling with my latest novel.  Sometimes writing seems to flow in just the way one wants, at other times it just doesn't seem to work.  I've been stuck in one of those times but fortunately I think I may now have broken through.  Things seem to be falling into place and I'm making progress again.  I hope this means that the book will be finished in time for release next year.

At the end of the university semester I spent a few days in Albany, which is such a wonderful environment for creativity, and for leisure. It is one of my favourite places and I always come home feeling relaxed, refreshed and energetic.  Apart from the spectacular scenery, which you can see from this photograph taken between Albany and nearby Middleton Beach, the air from the Southern Ocean always seem so fresh and envigorating. 

Middleton is my favourite beach in the area for both walking and swimming, and is at its best, I think,early in the morning or at sunset.  I wrote a little about Albany in Belly Dancing for Beginners.

The end of semester has given me a little time to catch up on reading and my favourite book for a very long time is Joan London's The Good Parents.  Joan is a West Australian writer and parts of this book are set in Perth in the sixties and in the wheat belt.  I really loved The Good Parents, it's a story that is truly enthralling in its portrayal of the lives of the characters.  I also very much enjoyed Sorry by Gail Jones, a story of friendship, loyalty and sacrifice which is deeply moving. 

Right now, because I'm going to Paris in September, I'm about to start The Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne. One reviewer describes it as 'like taking an exciting trip in a French balloon', so I'm really looking forward to this. I lived in Paris for a year when I was nineteen and have only been back for two very short visits since then, so I am very excited about seeing the city again.

Thanks so much to everyone who's written to me recenty.  I'm so glad you are enjoying Trip of a Lifetime and the other books, and I very much enjoy hearing from you.  I try to get back to everyone as soon as I can, so if I haven't got back to you yet I promise a message will be coming soon.  And I'll try to make sure that I don't leave it so long before I update this blog again.