Let’s take a look at the spreadsheet as we hit the halfway mark in another exciting year. Has moving to the country made me read more? Better? Quicker? Do I just spend all my time looking out the window at birds? (Not today – today it’s so windy all the birds are in their homes, […]

I had a really good reading year, according to my reading spreadsheet. The vast majority of books I read fell into the ‘really liked it’ category. This list of the ‘best’ ones could have easily been four times as long. But ten is a standard number, so ten it is. As always, and where possible, […]

Nothing says festive season like graphs. Welcome to ‘my year in reading, unnecessarily graphed’. This year I started 104 books. I gave up on seven of them; two of them I’ve been reading for months, but I still intend to finish them. Ten of them were required reading: five were manuscripts from other writers, and […]

How exciting is the end of financial year? So exciting I forgot it had even happened. Sixteen days later I remembered I usually (OK, once) do a quick countdown of how my reading has gone in the first six months of the year. Last time I might have done the whole financial year. Who knows. […]

I’m doing a bunch of events in early August. In Adelaide: Tuesday 7 August at 6.30pm – A lecture I called ‘Inside wild minds’, looking at the predicament of wild animals, and how fiction might help us care about it. It’s on at Flinders University at Victoria Square, Room 1, Level 1, 182 Victoria Square. […]

I finally got around to updating my ‘Stories and essays‘ page, which it seems I haven’t touched since mid-2016. All my latest publications, online and off, free and paid, are now on there. In other news, I went to a brilliant workshop with Charlotte Wood at Writers Victoria yesterday, and I now feel slightly more […]

… and lacking even my usual minor attempts at layout and panache, this is my list of the best feminist books I’ve read since last International Women’s Day. Links are to reviews that go some way to talking about why I’ve chosen the books I’ve chosen. Sorry about the rushed post! Kingfishers catch fire by […]

I’m doing a few festival appearances over the next few months. First up: Adelaide Writers Week (which is next week): Catherine McKinnon and I will be talking about Invented Histories on Saturday I’m doing a ‘meet the writer‘ at Dymocks in Rundle Mall on Monday I’m chairing a session with Maja Lunde and Harriet McKnight […]

  ‘Get a hobby.’ The ‘will finish’ books are I contain multitudes by Ed Yong, about bacteria (it’s FASCINATING) and Secondhand time by Svetlana Alexievich, an oral history of the breakdown of the Soviet Union which is, huh, I don’t have a word for it. It’s extraordinary. They’re both very long and they’re both non-fiction […]

I’ve read about 100 books this year and these were the ones I liked best. Links are, where possible, to libraries where you can borrow the book (because library books are free to you but the authors still get paid). Books in bold were published this year. This list is way too long and for […]

A couple of weeks ago I went to Sydney, partly to do a talk about From the Wreck at the Thomas Keneally Centre. The Centre, at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, is a wonderful little retreat from the lunacy of the Sydney CBD, and they’re perfectly happy for you to pop in and browse […]

I’m doing a few appearances in NSW and the NSW-enclave of Canberra, as well as in Melbourne, over the next month or so. Canberra Writers Festival – Saturday 26 August You’ll never guess who I’m appearing with at Canberra Writers Festival… James Bradley and I will be talking with Dr Martha Sear, Head Curator at […]

I have a new story in Review of Australian Fiction. It’s called Amy’s twin and it’s a kind of prequel to my novella, Formaldehyde. Review of Australian Fiction publishes two stories every two weeks in e-book form. My story is paired with Wayne Marshall’s The Magicians, which is a strange and funny book. These two stories are Volume 1 […]

Annabel Smith and I are writing a series on what to expect when your first book comes out – all those questions you’re too embarrassed to ask your publisher, answered here! Part 6 is about feelings. Of course you’re going to be happy about your book getting published, but did you know you might also […]

I’m doing a few appearances over the next couple of months. Here are the details: I’m chairing a panel on emerging when old, at Willy Lit Fest (Williamstown) on Saturday 17 June. The blurb says, “It’s never too late to debut. While many people think ‘young writer’ when they hear ’emerging writer’, Jenny Ackland, Christy […]

Annabel Smith and I are writing a series on what to expect when your first book comes out – all those questions you’re too embarrassed to ask your publisher, answered here! Part 4 is about entering prizes. Is it even possible for a debut novel to win a prize? How do you know which prizes to […]

What a big weekend my small book had over Easter, with reviews in the Fairfax papers (SMH/Age/Canberra Times) and the Weekend Australian. Adam Rivett at Fairfax said “[the limits of genre] make Jane Rawson’s new novel all the more striking – two paths are likewise drawn, yet the fences that might divide them do not hold. Instead, […]

I’m just going to put these here so I can find them later…. Over the past couple of weeks, From the wreck has been reviewed in: Australian Book Review – Fiona Wright said it was ‘a deeply ecological novel…fascinating for its hybridity, its willingness to bend and blend genres – as well as perspectives and worlds. […]

I’ve done a few interviews over the past couple of weeks. ‘Published or not’ on Melbourne radio station 3CR had a chat with me about the metaphysics of From the wreck – it was the first time I’d heard someone else read the book out loud, and it sounded great! Annabel Smith asked me about […]

Happy International Women’s Day! As part of a (one-year-old) tradition, I’m listing my favourite feminist books since last International Women’s Day. Since March 8 last year I’ve read about 90 books, and around 55 of those were by women. Below are eight of my faves (in line with it being March 8), with links to […]