Today is From the Wreck’s first official day of life. I’ve already seen it out in the wild – at Melbourne bookshops Paperback Bookstore, Readings in Carlton, Hill of Content and Dymocks on Collins Street – and I’ve heard rumours of it from Better Read than Dead in Sydney and Avid Reader in Brisbane. It’s […]

If you’d love to read From the Wreck but would really rather not pay for it (the cost of books these days!), then why not enter this Goodreads giveaway to win a free copy? There’s no cost to enter.

Yesterday I did my first interview for From the Wreck, with Elizabeth and Lou from 3RRR’s ‘Multi Storied’. It was a great little chat. If you’d like to have a listen, you can go to 3RRR’s Radio On Demand.

From the Wreck is officially out on 1 March (though I suspect its little face will appear in your local bookshop before that). But if you’re in Melbourne, come along to the launch, which is not until March 21. Details are here.

This year I started 90 books (this fact is untrue. For example, last night I started two books and stopped them within three chapters. I didn’t add them to this count. And I bet I read a couple more books before the end of the year) and finished 84 of them. Here is a picture […]

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I’ve stopped using Goodreads to review books. I thought I might read in private for a while and see how that went. So far, pretty well. Still, you have to tell people your favourite books at the end of the year, right? So, in no particular order, these […]

I’ll be talking about From the wreck at this La Trobe University symposium, on a panel with Ilka Tampke (Skin) and Kate Mildenhall (Skylarking). It’ll be held at the university’s city campus and it’s free, but you do have to book. Symposium: December 2016 Literary works have long taken historical figures as their subjects. Recently, a […]

If you’re in Melbourne and love being read to, come along to this event: Viva La Novella Readings at The Wilde  Presented by Seizure. Winners of the Viva La Novella Prize will be reading from their books. Join us for a drink and a listen to the next generation of unique Australian literary voices. Featuring: […]

My new novel, out in March, now has a cover and a blurb and all those other book-like things. You can also pre-order it from Transit Lounge. Peter Lo, Transit Lounge’s designer, is a brilliant person – this cover feels just how my book feels to me.

On 6 August, 1859, the steamship Admella was wrecked on Carpenters Reef, about 1km off the coast of South Australia. It had left Port Adelaide the previous day, making its regular trip to Melbourne. One hundred and thirteen people were aboard – 84 passengers and 29 crew. For more than a week the wrecked and […]

Thanks so much to the Spec Fic Snapshotters and to David McDonald in particular for including me in this year’s lineup: I’m flattered!

I haven’t been blogging much lately. It would be fairly ridiculous to think anyone would have noticed, but just in case you have it’s because I’ve been trying to finish a novel (I’m almost there) and write a few short stories.  Also, I haven’t had anything very thrilling to say. So apologies, but this is […]

Hello, I have a new story out, on a website that lives somewhere on the internet. They are SlinkChunkPress, and my story is ‘The Last Idea’. Go here if you would like to read it.

Avid watchers of the bookish pages will have noticed Nick Earls, who was a bloody big deal in my youth, has just released the first of a series of five novellas and has been all over the paper and virtual broadsheets talking about this thrilling new form. Inkerman & Blunt are the publishers, and it’s […]

  A quick post for International Women’s Day. Since March 8 last year I’ve read, oh, I dunno, about 100 books. Lots (most even) of those were by women. But these are my most favourite, most feminist reads of the last year. Links are to essays or interviews or other stories that focus on the […]

Yesterday I went to the office from 8-5 and wrote about electricity bills and women in energy and wind power policy and then I went to Embiggen Books and interviewed Jasper Fforde. Here’s me and Jasper talking about whether you can keep ten thousand ideas in your head at one time (me: yes, with notes; Jasper: yes, […]

This year I’m doing more writing and less talking about writing, but I am doing this neat event, thanks to Wayward Books and the super White Rabbit Record Bar (where much of ‘A wrong turn at the Office of Unmade Lists’ was written). Me and co-Viva la Novella winners Christy Collins and Marlee Jane Ward […]

Hello! Here’s an interview I did with Booktopia a while back, and which they’ve just published. They asked good questions. In writing news, I think I’ve just finished the first draft of something new. You’re probably not supposed to say that; I’ve doubtless cursed myself now. Anyway, I’m excited about doing draft two. In reading […]

Oh g’day. I’ve been doing Nanowrimo for the last month and my brain is utterly fried. Honestly, I doubt I’ll ever do it again, I think my brain is too old and brittle to deal with this kind of pressure. I can barely remember what my name is. I can, however, remember to do some […]

For the next week we’re giving away copies of The Handbook: surviving and living with climate change on Goodreads. If you’re in Australia, pop over here and fill in your details and you could win.