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
