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People are still reading and buying books but small, independent bookshops are going to the wall. Lockdowns are doing what Amazon and Booktopia threatened to do. Lindfield Bookshop in Sydney closed a couple of years ago as did Pages and Pages. Dymocks in Lane Cove closed when the landlord retook possession. I think Dymocks in…

I read Paige Clarke’s article in the SMH recently and it started me thinking – and not for the first time – that Australian literary culture is in deep, deep shit. Clarke’s a good writer. She writes from the heart and that’s good enough. She may even be a great writer just as long as…

The winner of the 2021 Miles Franklin Award is Amanda Lohrey’s novel The Labyrinth. Written as thigh-slapping yarn, using humour, irony and satire, it’s a work that holds a mirror up to the values of Australian publishing industry. “Erica Marsden buys an old shack in a secluded community on Australia’s south-east coast. She’s there because…

Anyone who has loved a dog knows the pain of watching them die. Georgy is my 13 year old ‘Labweiler’ (Labrador Rottweiler cross). She has travelled far and wide with me and is my best friend. She’s got bad hips and shoulders and sleeps a lot now. Georgy is a lesson in courage when facing…

“Learning how to think” really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot or will not exercise this kind of choice in adult…

Welcome to my writing blog. Much of my writing in the last 30 years has been for the media, political parties and business. Even so, I managed to find time to write short stories and a few poems. I will include new short stories on this website. I will also occasionally make comments about the…