A Midsummer Party by Antoni Jach (Transit Lounge) Esteemed writer Antoni Jach, the author of Travelling Companions, shares the inspiration for his new literary novel A Midsummer Party with Joy in Books at Paperbark Words blog Introduction The main setting for A Midsummer Party is a party in Rome and then in the last third […]
Read More A Midsummer Party by Antoni JachHigh Land by Sarah Hawthorn (Transit Lounge) Guest author post by Sarah Hawthorn about High Land for PaperbarkWords blog High Land: the story behind the story During Covid my daughter Tessa – then single – spent weeks in lonely lockdown at her home in Melbourne, whilst I was tucked away in country NSW. We’d chat […]
Read More High Land by Sarah HawthornThe Phantom Surrealist by Geoffrey Gates (Transit Lounge) “… Thus I was introduced to that gorgeous Australian surrealist, Robert J. Wake, to whom this book is dedicated. I have since understood the significance of the painting in broad historical and cultural terms, but what I saw at the time was an amorphous red bulge on […]
Read More The Phantom Surrealist by Geoffrey GatesMine by Adam Ouston Transit Lounge “… considering the situation, which was in large part where the element of terror originated, the sense that there was something else happening, something bigger than him, a secret story beneath the apparent one, for which he had no words or even capacity for understanding, more mindbloggling than the […]
Read More Mine by Adam OustonThe Season for Flying Saucers by Brendan Colley (Transit Lounge) Brendan Colley writes about the inspiration behind The Season for Flying Saucers, his artful, left-field novel for adults, for Joy in Books at Paperbark Words blog. In 2014 I was playing around with some narrative poetry, like I usually do as a warm-up before I […]
Read More The Season for Flying Saucers by Brendan ColleyCrimson Velvet Heart by Carmel Bird Transit Lounge Crimson Velvet Heart is the twelfth novel from the accomplished Australian writer Carmel Bird. It revivifies the dynasty and descendants of Louis XIV in 17th century Versailles. The following extract for PaperbarkWords blog is from the start of novel: A Child Is Born in Savoy from Crimson […]
Read More Crimson Velvet Heart by Carmel BirdConfessions of a Minor Poet by Phil Brown (Transit Lounge) “I was transplanted from a school like the one in Goodbye, Mr. Chips to one more akin to Lord of the Flies. But while my outward life tended to be surfing, partying and reading Tracks magazine, I retained a rather bookish inner life. I was […]
Read More Confessions of a Minor Poet by Phil BrownNo Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir by Mandy Sayer Published by Transit Lounge, 2025 An edited extract: Mandy Sayer on the enduring legacy of her father’s humour Dad was forever joking, even in the most inappropriate settings. Once, on the way to radiotherapy, he leaned heavily against the lift’s handrail, winked at me and […]
Read More No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir by Mandy SayerSaturation by William Lane Saturation by William Lane (Transit Lounge) is a gripping, easy-to-read dystopia for adults that explores issues of climate and other anxieties. On writing Saturation by William Lane It seems every second person wrote a novel during the Covid lockdowns. Saturation is one of these novels. The Covid crisis, along with the […]
Read More Saturation by William Lane‘Know a River’ Poem by Gregory Day from Southsightedness Published by Transit Lounge, 2025 Southsightedness is a beautiful book and artefact. Know A River Know a river any river but know a river. Know that life passes at the river’s pace that staunch limbs get snagged till they twist and easy lissome fronds go floating […]
Read More Poem: Know a River by Gregory Day
