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I’m amused when women claim they are second class citizens when it comes to writing and publishing literary fiction in Australia. The story below is a classic example: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-16/stella-prize-shortlist-2023-alice-pung-chair-jaclyn-booton/102220502 There certainly were cases in the past when women writers were overlooked for literary awards. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your perspective), it’s hard to win…

I used to occasionally enter short story contests and I had some luck too. Much as I enjoy the brief glory of getting published, in the main, it was a complete waste of time. Competitions state they take all genres but genre writing doesn’t win. It doesn’t even get short-listed. Forget science fiction, horror, comedy,…

What’s not to like about the laughter and affability of Adelaide Writers’ Week? The scene of Adelaide’s grey-haired cultural cream, sitting in the sun in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, with a glass of wine and a book, invites the spirit of that most bourgeois painter, Claude Monet. These festivals are pointless propaganda exercises for…

Jon Faine, SMH February 26, 2023 I am a Jewish writer heading to the Adelaide Writers’ Week. Several Palestinian authors, whom I’m looking forward to meeting, are also invited. Two of them have uttered abusive sentiments about Israel on Twitter. They are accused of antisemitism, although their abuse seems to be directed at the Israeli…

Professional services company PwC Australia has followed the cowardice of MinterEllison and cut its association with the Adelaide Festival because of its support of two Palestinian authors whose tweets have drawn controversy and led to wrong-headed accusations of antisemitism. The firm removed its logo from the Adelaide Festival website on the weekend and issued an…

Morry Schwartz, the owner of Black Inc and Schwartz Media which publishes the ailing The Saturday Paper and his PC flagship, The Monthly, has called on Louise Adler to resign as director of Adelaide Writers’ Week, claiming she invited “authors of hate speech” to the festival. In a letter to The Australian, Schwartz said antisemitism…

In what must be a relief to Adelaide’s eastern suburb matrons, they won’t get to hear those advocating the Palestinian cause at this years Writers’ Week. Australia’s largest law firm, MinterEllison, has cut ties with the Adelaide Festival and Writers’ Week over the inclusion of two Palestinian writers, who have criticised the state of Israel…

A review of new editions of Dahl’s books have edited passages relating to weight, mental health, gender and race. The changes made by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Random House, first were reported by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Augustus Gloop is no longer “enormously fat”, just “enormous”. In the…

I haven’t read much of Will Self but we both share the belief that JG Ballard was a visionary. Self claims the British publisher’s prestigious literary list panders to political correctness, where gender and racial equality is deemed more important than the quality of literature being written. It’s not only the Brits but the Australian…

Jonathan Raban was one of my favourite writers. He died a few days ago, aged 80. He turned travel writing into a new form of art. His writing was comic, dark and incisive with prose that could leave a heart bleeding. He also wrote novels, essays and criticism. We had a love of the sea…