Writers' Walk

Walking along Circular Quay on the route past the ferries to the Sydney Opera House, I'd noticed the metal discs in the ground with inscriptions. I was vaguely aware that they commemorated the work of Australian writers...and one day I took a closer look. Yes - there were a few personal favourites; Robert Hughes, Peter Carey, Judith Wright, Thomas Keneally, and of course Dorothea MacKellar. It soon became a bit addictive. I spent a happy half-hour making sure I read them all -- though I think I missed a few. For example, I know I didn't find the new ones added in 2011.

In addition to Aussie writers, a few honorary Australians are included, by dint of having written something interesting about the country. The inscriptions give snippets of the writers' work, from 'I love a sunburnt country' to deep and meaningful, to Barry Humphries' ditty to a meat pie.

A walk along the Walk makes for a pleasant visit, and if you along a literary take a companion you can argue about who should have bene included, who shouldn't, and why.

This site gives a link to a mobile app so that you can take along a guide, though really what could be easier than wandering, reading and contemplating?

A full list  of all the plaques.

And this one? A trail of metal medallions making the original shoreline
of Sydney Cove in 1788

From Circular Quay, Sydney

Sydney Writers' Festival: one more time...

Sydney Writers' Festival

Being in Sydney in May, as winter approaches, is not all bad, no not at all. The weather is bright and mild, the sea sparkles, and it's that time of year again...a festival of books, ideas and conversation that fills five days of invigorating talk at the Sydney Writers' Festival. Do check out the link -- several of the talks and panel discussions are up there to listen to, in case you missed the bright cold days on the Harbour.

Not bad at all. 

This year there were deck chairs in the old pier for late comers (or the lazy) who missed out on seats at a favourite session. There was the usual characterful ambience of the Walsh Bay wharf district, a new 'Cafe at the End fo the Wharf' where coffee and the papers, and a panel of journalists and visiting authors could help you kick start you day, as you checked through the program for your sessions of choice.

There were politicians, journalists, poets, creative new writers and venerable established writers. There were speeches, quirky presentations, panels, discussions, and plenty of audience questions. Many were the deep and meaningful questions of live and literature debated around the cafe tables, many the cups of coffee sipped and glasses of wine quaffed. Many the books bought and authors with signing cramp. Many the famous names and the new discoveries.

Now which ones are unmissable?

Literary enthusiasts at the Wharf

Check out some podcasts from the 2013 festival here. A couple of my favourites:

IS RHETORIC DEAD IN THE AGE OF THE SOUNDBITE' AT SYDNEY WRITERS' FESTIVAL, SUNDAY 26 MAY 2013

Last year the Prime Minister electrified the world with her misogyny speech. But this was a rare exception, and few modern political speeches capture the imagination in this way. Has our political discourse been reduced to slogans? And what does this mean for our democracy? Executive Director of the Lowy Institute Michael Fullilove discussed this and more  at Sydney Writers' Festival with author and ex-speechwriter for Kevin Rudd, James Button, Federal Member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull, political journalist and social commentator Annabel Crabb and Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation Neil James. SYDNEY WRITERS' FESTIVAL 2013 CLOSING ADDRESS BY CLAIRE MESSUD In his essay, ‘Imaginary Homelands’, Salman Rushdie addresses the alienation of the displaced: ‘if we do look back . . we will not be capable of reclaiming precisely the thing that was lost . . . we will, in short, create fictions, not actual cities or villages, but invisible ones, imaginary homelands’. In this year’s Closing Address at Sydney Writers’ Festival, Claire Messud, who juggles American, Canadian and French identities and who spent her formative childhood years in Sydney, spoke about a writer’s rootlessness in the global era, and the underpinning importance of ‘imaginary homelands’ – including this one – in her storytelling.

Waiting on the speaker, Sydney Theatre

Ticket haul

Walsh Bay, Sydney: SWF has the best venue in the world.

Next year's SWF? 19-25 May 2014  Diary. Now. 

My Farthest North: An Arctic Diary

'La Vie Boheme', as you may have noticed, has been in retirement recently, consequent upon your blogger's departure from gloomy England for 'La Dolce Vita' in sunny Italy. But that's a story for another day. We come out of retirement to let you know of the publication, in a variety of ebook formats, of a new story - 'My Farthest North: An Arctic Diary'.


During three weeks in the High Arctic our heroine reaches her ‘farthest north’ as well as her ‘coldest north’. With a wry sense of humour, this fictionalised memoir introduces us to a diverse cast of characters, including polar bears, reindeers, walrus, a Polish Arctic explorer, a Russian sea captain, a quirky expedition leader ... and the shadowy Eduardo. As she journeys on, our narrator tells Eduardo about everything she is seeing, experiencing, learning and reading. We learn gradually that Eduardo is stuck in his office and couldn’t make the trip with her. Are they lovers?

In northern Norway, night disappears along with the 3G signal. Bravely facing the rickety steps down the side of the ship to the inflatable dinghy, learning to make wet landings, and how to – and how not to – approach walrus, our narrator learns a few things about herself and the difficulty of remaining cheerful in spite of a very cold butt. In Svalbard, euphoria at a polar bear sighting gives way to a ho-hum glacier expedition. In Greenland, Heidi the Inuit Girl welcomes the expeditioners in full traditional dress and with walrus canapes, and an Inuit grandmother offers roasted polar bear. In Iceland various threatened species adorn the café menus.

In reading our heroine’s journal written for Eduardo, we are eavesdroppers on her uncensored thoughts. Her bouts of bad temper and her unreasonable expectations are all here, along with her wry assessments of her fellow Arctic travellers. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to sit in a small boat above the Arctic Circle, with nothing around you but fog, the disappearing sea ice, the chance of a bear sighting and a severe bout of unrequited love, this story is for you.

Sample the book, and obtain your very own e-copy at Smashwords.

Adventures in the ice...

An interesting cast of characters...

And they say you should never work with animals....