Hazel Edwards, do not tell me who I cannot write about

11 February 2023

Australian author Hazel Edwards, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald:

I’m not Indigenous. I’m not Muslim. I’m not a refugee. I’m not transgender. I’m not disabled. And I’m not a hippopotamus who eats cake. But as a professional author of more than 200 books across 50 years, I’ve always used diverse characters from varied backgrounds and ages in all my stories. And as a 70-ish, white grandmother, I find this diversity is increasingly being challenged. It seems to me the prevailing literary attitude is that I must not write of other cultures in which I was not raised. The term “cultural appropriation” is being used to silence potential writers.

Not sure how popular I’ll be for saying this, but I think any respectful author who has thoroughly researched their subject matter, and takes a respectful tone, should be able to write on any topic.

One Divine Night, by Mick Cummins, unpublished manuscript winner

11 February 2023

Two fountain pens on a dark brown desk, photo by Todabasura

Image courtesy of Todabasura.

Last week, former part-time social worker Mick Cummins was named winner of the unpublished manuscript prize in this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

While the prize comes with a handy fifteen thousand dollars in cash, the real payoff is the profile the win generates. After One Divine Night was included on the Victorian Premier’s shortlist in December 2022, Melbourne based Cummins says a number of publishers contacted him, asking to see the manuscript.

An approach from a publisher expressing interest in their work is a dream come true for any aspiring writer. More usually, a novice author might spend years trying to get a publisher or literary agent to take an interest in their idea.

The value of recognition like this cannot be overstated. In fact, I’d be willing to bet an unpublished writer, given the choice, would simply prefer to be named winner of an unpublished manuscript award — especially one of the Victorian Premier’s standing — and forego the prize money.

That’s because the majority of past prize winners have eventually seen their work published. Anam, by André Dao, winner of the unpublished manuscript prize in 2021, will be published by Penguin Books Australia in May 2023. Hovering, by Rhett Davis, the 2020 winner, was published by Hachette Australia in 2022.

Cummins’ odds of seeing One Divine Night in print have shortened considerably. Of his manuscript, Victorian Premier’s judges hailed Cummins’ writing as a gritty portrayal of homelessness and substance dependency on the streets of Melbourne:

The manuscript depicts drug abuse, overdose, soliciting and physical violence without relying on stereotypes or cliché. The experience of homelessness in inner city Melbourne — long overdue — is explored with nuance and depth, with elements of the storytelling recalling Mark Brandis The Rip. The relationship between Aaron and his mother is particularly memorable — unexpected yet realistic — providing emotional complexity to the narrative. The character of The Man introduces a dark, almost-crime fiction feel, driving the plot and enabling Cummins to critique (although not quite satire) the predatory nature of established male power.

Despite winning the unpublished manuscript prize, Cummins is no stranger to writing. He has written two plays previously, Window without a View, was staged at Hobart’s now closed Theatre Royal Backspace, and Perfect Madness, which showed at the Carlton Court House in Melbourne.

Cummins has also written number of Australian produced documentary screenplays. These include Thomson of Arnhem Land, The Woodcutter’s Son, and Portrait of a Distant Land. He also wrote screenplays for two docudramas, Monash: The Forgotten Anzac, and Menzies and Churchill at War, which both aired in 2008. Presently, another of Cummins’ scripts, for a film called The Hut, is in pre-production.

In a sense, Cummins’ writing career is the reverse trajectory of many other authors. They will write a book and, perhaps later, see the work adapted to other mediums, usually screen or stage.

When it comes to writing, Cummins started out with stage and screen work, and has now turned to book writing. With the praise One Divine Night has been accorded though, I wouldn’t be surprised to one day see the story as a film or play adaptation. After it has been published a book first of course.

Entries open for 2023 Australian/Vogel Young Writers Award

8 February 2023

The Australian/Vogel’s Award for Young Writers has launched the career of many an Australian author, including Emma Batchelor, Katherine Brabon, and Murray Middleton. Entries are open for the 2023 award, to Australian citizens or permanent residents, who are under the age of thirty-five as of 31 May 2023, the date entries close. To be eligible, manuscripts must contain between fifty-thousand and eighty-thousand words.

Salman Rushdie struggles to write in aftermath of attack

8 February 2023

American based Indian author Salman Rushdie says he is struggling to write again, following a violent attack in August 2022, in a New Yorker article by David Remnick:

At this meeting and in subsequent conversations, I sensed conflicting instincts in Rushdie when he replied to questions about his health: there was the instinct to move on — to talk about literary matters, his book, anything but the decades-long fatwa and now the attack — and the instinct to be absolutely frank. “There is such a thing as P.T.S.D., you know,” he said after a while. “I’ve found it very, very difficult to write. I sit down to write, and nothing happens. I write, but it’s a combination of blankness and junk, stuff that I write and that I delete the next day. I’m not out of that forest yet, really.”

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2023 Val Vallis Award for unpublished poetry entries open

8 February 2023

Entries are open for the 2023 Val Vallis Award for an unpublished poem, until Sunday 26 February 2023. Named in honour of late Queensland poet, lecturer, and opera critic Valentine Vallis, who died in 2009, the award recognises unpublished works, by Australian poets, of no more than eighty lines.

Dan Hogan, a poet based on the NSW Central Coast, won the 2022 award with a work titled Aduantas.

Update: the 2023 award winner was named on Tuesday 2 May 2023.

Microsoft launches web AI copilot, but you must fly with Edge

8 February 2023

Microsoft today announced the launch of a turbo-charged version of its Bing search engine. In short, it promises to everything ChatGPT can do, and more. And on paper, at least, it sounds impressive:

We’ve updated the Edge browser with new AI capabilities and a new look, and we’ve added two new functionalities: Chat and compose. With the Edge Sidebar, you can ask for a summary of a lengthy financial report to get the key takeaways — and then use the chat function to ask for a comparison to a competing company’s financials and automatically put it in a table. You can also ask Edge to help you compose content, such as a LinkedIn post, by giving it a few prompts to get you started. After that, you can ask it to help you update the tone, format and length of the post. Edge can understand the web page you’re on and adapts accordingly.

But you’ll need to use Edge, the browser Microsoft has been relentless foisting onto Windows users, for the copilot to function. A cunning way if ever there was one to boost market share of the Edge browser. Now did someone at Microsoft think of coupling the AI powered version of Bing with Edge, or did ChatGPT make that suggestion?

Limberlost by Robbie Arnott longlisted in 2023 Dylan Thomas Prize

7 February 2023

Tasmania based Australian author Robbie Arnott, has been longlisted in the 2023 Dylan Thomas Prize, for his 2022 novel, Limberlost. Established in 2006, the Dylan Thomas Prize recognises the best published English language literary work, written by an author aged 39 or under, globally.

The shortlist will be announced on Thursday 23 March 2023, with the winner being named at the awards ceremony on Thursday 11 May 2023.

Another reason to add Limberlost to your TBR list.

2022 Hottest 100 music the worst to dance to in a decade

7 February 2023

An analysis of songs in Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown for 2022, which was aired on 28 January 2023, reveals them to among the worst to dance to in almost a decade, say Mark Doman, Katia Shatoba, and Thomas Brettell, writing for ABC News.

The same research shows 1995 to be the worst on record for Hottest 100 danceability, though a steady rise follows thereafter. This can likely be attributed to the greater presence of electronica and dance music in countdowns from the late nineties onwards, as those genres began to flourish.

The winning track — Flume’s Say Nothing, featuring MAY-A — was also the least-dancey track to win the countdown since Muse’s six-minute, prog rock epic Knights of Cydonia in 2007. Data also shows that the average tempo of the 2022 Hottest 100 was the second-fastest on record since counting began back in 1993.

At this stage the drop in Hottest 100 song danceability looks more like a blip. The long term trend shows a rise, even if 2022 danceability is markedly lower than the peak recorded in 2019.

Lystra Rose’s 2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards speech

7 February 2023

Queensland based Australian author Lystra Rose won the Indigenous Writing Award for her debut novel The Upwelling, at the 2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, which were presented last week in Melbourne. Take a few minutes to listen to her acceptance speech:

I was the first person in my Indigenous family to be counted as human under Australian law. Let me say that again. When I was born I was the first person in my Indigenous family to be counted human under Australian law.

Remarkable words. Read them again.

What if 2001: A Space Odyssey was directed by George Lucas?

4 February 2023

Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey is remixed with George Lucas’ 1977 space opera Star Wars, by YouTuber Poakwoods, and this is the result.

Truly awesome.

Also, it seems hard to believe from the third decade of the twenty-first century that less than ten years separate 2001: A Space Odyssey and the first Star Wars film.

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