Epiphany: Byron Writers Festival 2022

Byron Writers Festival 2022: Epiphany Byron Writers Festival returned in 2022 to great celebration on the lands of the Arakwal Bumberbin and Minjungbal peoples of the Bundjalung Nation. Artistic director Zoe Pollock and author Emily Brugman (whose novel The Islands has one of the best openings and setting you will be privileged to read) created […]

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Robin Klein in Letters

Letters from Robin: a voyage around my author by Jon Appleton “I do hope you continue to write when you have a spare moment – I look forward to hearing about your life in the UK. Take care and God bless – love Robin K.”  (Robin Klein to Jon Appleton in Letters from Robin) Many […]

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Are Literary Panels a Bad Idea?

David Free believes that Literary Panels are a Terrible Idea By Craig Lawn In response to David Free’s article about literary awards in the SMH 9/7/21 https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/judge-a-literary-prize-no-thanks-they-re-all-a-giant-waste-of-time-20210706-p587cu.html As a commentator, David’s role is to engage the reader. He has done this by writing a polemic piece. He has been one-eyed and controversial, but he has […]

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Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs

Book Review Fathoms: the world in the whale ‘The world as we once knew it has of course disappeared. Now too, quietly, the world as we don’t know it yet – a nature we’ve barely met – slinks away.’ (Fathoms) Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs (Scribe Publications) gives a powerful insight into whales but has ultimately […]

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Healing Lives by Sue Williams

“For all of us, it’s about making women free from suffering.” Healing Lives is Sue Williams’ powerful and moving recount of the friendship and work of Australian Dr Catherine Hamlin and Ethiopian Mamitu Gashe as they save women’s lives in Mamitu’s African homeland. Catherine, and her husband Reg, operated many times on Mamitu, who came […]

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Rising Heart by Aminata Conteh-Biger

Thank you for speaking to PaperbarkWords, Aminata. Rising Heart is Aminata’s memoir (co-written with Juliet Rieden, published by Macmillan Australia). Aminata grew up in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and experienced the horrors of war, kidnapping and rape during the country’s 11-year civil war. She was brought to Australia as a refugee because her safety was […]

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