It was on a balmy evening in Mozambique that I discovered my love of writing groups. I was working there as a volunteer teacher. With lots of free time and few distractions, I hoped to revise a manuscript I had …
The writer laid bare
On Saturday 20th August 
I’ll be talking in Brighton Library about memoir writing. And also about all that other ‘stuff’ – love, migration, religion. Will love it if you can join me.…
Alcohol, insanity & other methods for unblocking writer’s block
Writer’s block, as I discussed in my previous post, is a common, and debilitating, phenomenon among writers. The good news is it is possible to fight this condition, but the trick is to find what works for each of us. …
The popular blogger Karen Andrews began a podcast series that is interviews with creative people. In her recent podcast she spoke with me about such stuff as favorite books, how my childhood shaped my creativity and more.…
The challenges of writing historical fiction: a guest post by Linda Weste
Recently I gave a reading from Nothing Sacred, a work of historical fiction set in late Republican Rome, in Canberra, at the once-residence of historian Manning Clark whose A History of Australia is regarded as the best-known general history of …
This week began wonderfully with the simultaneous (!) arrival of the new issue of The Big Issue with my short memoir in it + just printed copies of the forthcoming anthology I co-edited with Maria Katsonis. Can it get better?…