Still Life With Cat

Yesterday I went to a meeting that was scheduled to begin at nine. It was a Public Service thing so we're talking fifteen or twenty peop...

I sit on the sofa and I read one novel after another: good novels with bad bits, bad novels with good bits, good novels in whose subject mat...

... says it all.

Among the numberless occasions afforded by life for irritation, here's one that's been getting to me lately more than usual: can any...

Stephanie at Humanities Researcher is off tonight to a winter solstice feast, where seasonal poems will be read. I will be celebrating Sols...

What with first the longlist and then the shortlist , I'm not really all that surprised that the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award has...

In the coming weeks you will be contacted by the Governor General’s office with regard to the various protocol, dress code etc associated wi...

A comment chez one of my Facebook Friends this morning regarding the much simpler '"less" v. "fewer"' issue has...

Some important aspects of the craft can be taught, but the art of writing must be taught in the same way that art is taught in art school, a...

This bloke was in Sydney last week for the Luminous festival, in a collaborative show with Brian Eno at the Opera House; did anyone see him...

The Flood Warning for Adders that freaked me out last night appears to have been downgraded to a Flood Watch. I wish I'd known that befo...

Papa Cat got carted off to hospital yesterday after some sort of heart attackish thingy. Not very big, but there is some damage. Have spent...

The first three weeks of June are my least favourite time of year. It's officially winter, it's got seriously cold, and the days are...

The term 'empowerful', for those of you not familiar with it, was coined a few years back by the incomparable Twisty Faster, a heroi...

(Actually I've never understood that expression. In my experience dogs tend to be either well or dead. It's not a big liminal zone w...

It always bemuses me a bit when people start talking about their needs , as though the mere act of declaring them were some kind of claim to...

It's been a difficult couple of weeks and it's about to get worse; in addition to the usual four novels a week I have a fifth novel,...

Currently featured in the 'Say What?' spot at the Doonesbury site (see links in sidebar) on Slate: "Let's hope that the key...

Last night Roger Woodward played the first of two Adelaide concerts organised by Recitals Australia. Tomorrow night is Shostakovich; last ni...

From today's edition of Crikey : Next week Crikey launches a new music blog from on-line legend Tim Dunlop. Music reviews, gig reviews a...