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Book review – Yothu Yindi: Writing in the Sand, by Matt Garrick

September 2, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: Yothu Yindi – Writing in the Sand

Author: Matt Garrick

Publisher: Harper Collins/ABC Books, 2021, RRP $45

Writing in the Sand was written by Matt Garrick, an award-winning ABC journalist based in Darwin. His passion and focus is issues affecting the Top End, Darwin, Central Australia and Northeast Arnhem Land, writing extensively about politics, Indigenous affairs and music. Writing in the Sand is an authorised biography of NT band Yothu Yindi, and his first book, based on interviews with current and former band members, Yalmay Yunupingu and fellow artists including Peter Garrett, Paul Kelly, Neil Finn and Joy McKean.

The author has been following Yothu Yindi since first taken by his father to see them play in Sydney’s Centennial Park, working as the bands media coordinator and forming close relationships with members and their families.

In the introduction Yalmay Yunupingu, teacher and wife of the Yothu Yindi lead singer, the late Dr Madawuy Yunupingu, speaks of her husband, through his music, carrying ‘the true colours of green and gold, Australia, and red, yellow and black, his Yolngu heart’ and his aim to build bridges between all races. She writes of his work as an educator and school principal and the seeds he planted for the ‘both ways’ curriculum and school, which sought to combine mainstream Western education with Yolngu knowledge at its heart and including all aspects of traditional culture whilst simultaneously completing a degree in Education. Reference to this work is scattered throughout the book and strongly interwoven with his musical identity. In the process, Writing in the Sand performs a valuable service spreading awareness that Yothu Yindi itself through its lead singer has accomplished more than a great Australian rock song.

Something that comes across repeatedly is Mandawuy’s commitment to his cultural responsibility to recognise the needs of all Australians. Thirty years ago Yothu Yindi released Treaty, a bi-lingual rock anthem which gave voice to Indigenous Australia’s ongoing struggle for recognition but also to the need for a new relationship between all Australians.

The band (originally named Diamond Dogs – after David Bowie) , were a mix  of young Yolngu and non-indigenous (balanda) mates singing covers from the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones and Elvis,  and their own songs in the remote Top End, over time  slowly developing a new music, splicing traditional sounds with electric, spreading messages of unity.

Writing in the Sand contains a wealth of information about the band’s Yolngu roots in Yirrkala, a former missionary settlement, from which the band’s activity and the individuals within it cannot be separated.

We are told Yothu Yindi means ‘child and mother’ and their relationship. The mother is yindi and the child, yothu, each responsible for the other. This responsibility extends to other relationships, not just parent and child. The strict Yolngu kinship system allows opposites to coexist respectfully – something implicit in the message ‘Treaty’ sends. In calling itself Yothu Yindi the band further cemented the connection between Yolngu culture and the type of music they created as the voice of intermediaries in black and white relations in Australia in a way that aimed to unite.

This is expressed in lines from ‘Treaty’ (Tribal Voice, 1991) which refers to two rivers representing different cultural laws, currently separate, and how they must come together as one – not as assimilation but with each respected equally.

Mandawuy’s background included a family and community strongly active in promoting traditional music and land rights, including his father, Munurrawuy Yunupingu, a Gumatj (a sub-dialect of the Yolgnu language) composer and fighter for land rights and older brother Galarrwuy Yunupingu, land rights activist and Gumatj clan leader.

Writing in the Sand brings together these separate parts of his life,  character and his work together seamlessly still underlined by Yolngu foundations beneath all. But Garrick also speaks of an ‘old man named Balu (who) would position himself by the campfire serenading the kids with Slim Dusty songs’. Garrick speaks of them soaking up these country ballads playing their own part in the shared Australian musical landscape from which Yothu Yindi also emerged.

‘Treaty’ was written by Mandawuy with Paul Kelly and Peter Garrett, splicing English and Gumatj language, including songs and dances that dated thousands of years, using traditional instruments such as the bilma (ironwood clapsticks) and yidaki (didgeridoo) juxtaposed with English, drums, keyboard and electric guitar. Its form is described as a meeting between western rock song tradition and djantpangarri, a popular Yolngu popular musical form.

The song initially met with a cool reception but took off in a 1991 remix, spending 22 weeks in the national charts and winning multiple awards, attracting attention internationally. ‘Treaty’ is an intertwining of white and traditional Australian musical practice and Writing in the Sand shows how the two vastly different Australian cultures come together in its making.

Yolngu Matha language is scattered throughout the work, enriching the narrative, in contrast to the usual silence of Indigenous voices and words when anything relate to their lives is written. Supporting the main text is a useful glossary of Yolngu words. There are also many previously unpublished photos from the band’s archive across a wide range of musical, political and other collaborations and events involving both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

Written in the Sand is written in the easy-to-read, densely factual style of an author with journalist roots. It is a richly rewarding exposition of the band, the song, and the Yolngu and balanda setting from which it emerged.  It is an important work that many will find both accessible and instructive of both the band and a side of Australia many know little about despite often expressing strong opinions. It is interesting as a social historical document and for its wide-ranging look at the Australian music scene.  I would recommend it to readers interested in Australian cultural history and who want to know more about what it is to be Australian.

Reviewed by: Rhonda Cotsell

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group, August 2022

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – So You Want to Live Younger Longer?, by Dr Norman Swan

August 19, 2022 / / 2 Comments

Title: So You Want to Live Younger Longer?

Author: Dr Norman Swan

Publisher: Hachette, July 2022; RRP: $34.99

Dr Norman Swan has become well known in Australia over the past three years as a prominent Covid advisor and commentator. He is the host of Radio National’s Health Report and co-host of the acclaimed Coronacast. Dr Swan’s an award-winning broadcaster, investigative journalist and producer.

So You Want to Live Younger Longer is a book that covers a wide range of topics about health as we, as a community and culture, age. He not only focuses on older people but looks in detail at what people of all ages can do to maximise living healthier and feeling younger into their older age. This is not necessarily a book about finding the perfect recipe for beating the clock; it’s a book that looks at all aspects of longevity and health over generations. It’s a body of work that balances the broad aspects of health, genetics, lifestyles, age, and culture.

The book is presented in 10 parts which makes it easy to read. Statistics and research are used engagingly to broaden and reinforce what is known and what is still being suspected or worked on. The author explores a range of general health aspects: diet and its relationship to cultural and family background, poverty and postcodes most likely to have good and poor nutritional outcomes, family genetics, mental health, and the broader healthcare system issues.

Dr Norman Swan on knowing what’s good for you

@ the hawke centre, 2021

Food, and the many different diets and approaches, are explored in a refreshing and extensive manner backed up by recent studies and research. The section on medication and pills is fascinating and well substantiated. Exercise and its benefits and relationship to staying younger as we age is enlightening and an eye opener for those of us who are less than active.  As expected, ‘Bugs, Bowels and Hormones’ in part five provides fascinating reading. There is also a small section on plastic surgery which talks briefly about the stigma of ageing, particularly for women.

There is a substantial part of the book that provides information, some detailed, on general health issues, from high blood pressure to ‘fatness’ measures, alcohol, and sex. Mental health is addressed under the label of ‘Does the Mind Matter?’ Mental wellness and its relationship to living younger longer is explored, whilst the issues of sleep and its often-overlooked importance produces surprising findings.

On a practical level there is a wonderful guide called ‘Here’s what to do in your twenties’,  Also included is what to do in your thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties. These parts are instructive and encouraging. The book focuses on prevention and avoiding pitfalls in relation to general health. Norman Swan says it’s ‘hard to live younger longer if you die of a preventable disease first’.

The end note is a short nod to current environmental changes and the abuse of medicine. Swan is quick to point out the threats to our planet and the consequence of not doing enough to address environmental issues. He says, ‘So you want to live younger longer? We know how. Just gotta do it.’

This non-fiction book is professionally written with humour and wit as well as a down-to-earth approach from a practitioner who understands the difficulties surrounding remaining healthy and ensuring we live as young as we can for as long as we can. Reading this account was reassuring and educative. For those inclined to want more reading on the topics raised in the book, the notes and the index at the back of the book span 50 pages.

Dr Norman Swan writes as entertainingly as he broadcasts. His voice is confident and trustworthy, especially when he deals with tough health messages many of us would prefer not to know about.

Reviewed by: Heather Whitford Roche

Ballarat Writers Book Review Group July 2022

Review copy provided by the publisher        

Something Overhead

August 17, 2022 / / 0 Comments

by Roland Renyi

Winner of the 2022 Pamela Miller Prize

Coffee in hand, Richard climbed up to his and Ruth’s bedroom in time for the weekly web team meeting that he chaired. He could feel the stillness of the house now that Ruth and the kids had gone for the day.

Across from the open bedroom window a skylark was trilling and coming from overhead was the almost continuous sound of the planes on their approach to the airport. They made him think of Danylo and whatever might be in the skies above him.

He looked at his monitor, strategically placed so that their bed was out of view, and sipped his coffee. He and Ruth had bought a Krups coffee maker right after the kitchen units had been put in, a funky one that actually hissed as the steam escaped. Now they had temporarily run out of money to finish off the kitchen floor. But if he was going to work from home, he was going to drink good coffee.

Brita called in just ahead of time. Sometimes he could hear church bells from the square outside her apartment in Verona.  ‘Richard,’ she said in a scolding voice, her Italian accent emphasising the second half of his name, ‘I told you not to cut your hair like that. I can’t believe that Ruth would find that sexy.’

‘Lockdown’ said Richard protectively. ‘I got used to cutting it myself. And we’re budgeting. The kitchen floor, remember.’

George’s round face popped up from his shared house in Kelowna, British Columbia. He had once told Richard that his window looked across a lake towards sloping vines. Consequently, Richard had put him under orders to place his laptop opposite a blank wall.

‘Danylo?’ asked Brita.

They had all been following the news, but Danylo’s one condition for remaining on the project team was that it was not to be discussed.

‘We’ll give him another minute’ said Richard. ‘So. Cucumber or strawberries? Aside from lemon. Which goes better with gin and tonic?’

The consensus so far was that cucumber was better with Kendricks while strawberry worked with Gordons.

Richard exhaled when he heard the ping of Danylo’s login. He looked just the same, with his pointed beard, square glasses and shaved head, a typical web designer. He was calling from what looked like a high-tech designer office, recessed lights, potted plants and abstract paintings on the wall. A bottle of Kendricks was on the shelf behind him, next to a bowl filled with limes, cucumber and strawberries.

Then with a jolt Richard realised the obvious, that the background was completely fake; a digital dream constructed by their Ukranian colleague Danylo, who had never missed a call.

‘Sorry to be late’ he said. ‘There was something…’ then Richard heard the tremor in his voice ‘…There was something overhead. But we have internet. And it’s cucumber, guys. Always cucumber.’

‘Well, that’s great – really, Danylo’ said Richard. ‘Now, there’s a problem with the functionality of table 17. Shall we start with that?’

Book review – Hovering, by Rhett Davis

August 5, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Author: Rhett Davis

Title: Hovering

Publisher: Hachette; RRP: $32.99

In 2015 Rhett Davis completed an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Hovering was written as part of a PhD at Deakin University and won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2020. Rhett currently lives in Geelong, Wadawurrung country. Hovering is an interesting and ambitious first novel.

From a writing perspective Hovering is a progressive work, exploring techniques for story telling in the social media age. It delves into several current societal issues reflecting on the current wave of uncertainty and changing values. It also explores traditional themes of family relationships.

There are three main characters in Hovering: Alice, her sister Lydia and Lydia’s son, George. The relationship between these three characters provides the main framework for the story. A fourth character, the city of Fraser, permeates the story line with its distinct persona and surreal habit of reconfiguring streets and landscapes. This touch of the absurd is an interesting metaphor, perhaps for the uncertainty in life. A clever example of showing rather than telling?

Within the story, Davis suggests the reconfiguring nature of the cityscape is a manifestation of guilt. Fraser does not belong in this landscape; it is an infringement on indigenous relationships with country, the natural order of things.

The urban upheavals of Fraser are also a useful backdrop to the stresses within the relationship between the two sisters, though the absurdity of a reconfiguring city may be challenging for some readers.

Hear Rhett Davis talk about Hovering with Maria Takolander

@ geelong regional libraries

At the heart of this story is the family/sibling relationships, tension between the sister who left home to seek her destiny and the sister who remained at home, local versus worldly views.  Alice the artist with a loathing of small town and small-minded thinking, juxtaposed with her analytical sister who has stayed behind, got a job. had a child and who analyses data in search of subtle consumer behavioural insights.

The reader is also treated to an exploration of an artist’s role in reflecting societal values.

Certainly, Davis is not the first author to spend time telling their readers what is wrong with society and yet not offer a lot in the way of remedies. However, in the final stages of the story Davis does offer a little remedial wisdom, and – spoiler alert – it has a lot to do with honest acknowledgment of one’s past mistakes and shortcomings along with a willingness to be better in the future.

Davis ticks a lot of boxes with this novel. Some of the obvious themes include Lydia being a successful single parent. Alice and Lydia are products of baby boomer parents who are living it up on manmade tropical islands – in other words, the selfishness of baby boomers. George represents the new generation, smarter and more emotionally stable than his mother and/or aunt, despite still being at school.  Land rights with accompanying white person guilt. And an insensitive irresponsible mainstream media.

If there is a legitimate criticism of this book it is that Davis has highlighted too many issues/themes, skims too shallow, but perhaps that is just a reflection of complex modern society, a society driven by hashtags, soundbites, and abbreviated comment.

I did not find this book an easy read and in parts mildly disagreeable. The use of text messaging and social media-style language complete with hash tags was challenging, though I applaud the experimentation and thought the effort to read it was worthwhile. I am glad to have read it. Hovering is well deserving of the awards it has been given.

Reviewed by: Frank Thompson

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

The quest for the exquisite sentence

July 19, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Image shows a drawing of the type known as 'exquisite corpse'

You know one when you read it. The moment when you are forced to stop scanning words in order to just sit and digest the beauty of the sentence you have just read. Not long ago, I attended Emily Bitto’s course ‘Exquisite Sentences’ at Writers Victoria. Emily Bitto is an acclaimed author, and I love the fact that through Writers Victoria you can be one of only a handful of people sitting with, and learning from, authors of such a calibre!

 Emily was a warm and approachable speaker, who provided nuggets of wisdom throughout the whole afternoon. She provided unique writing activities and drills to encourage playfulness in our writing. Creating exquisite sentences is often a role of editing; for example, reading carefully for clichés which she stated are the enemy of original, exquisite sentences. When I got home and reflected on cliché, I found my writing was overflowing with them, they were a dime-a-dozen, in fact they were packed like sardines into the manuscript (clearly, I have a penchant for clichés and puns!) But it was a useful discussion to have in mind as I embarked on the editing of my latest work.

Emily also focused heavily on the importance of verbs in our writing. Often overlooked, an interesting verb can bring a spark to your sentence and elevate it to exquisite. We practised strange combinations of verbs and nouns. I had a crow which slaughtered the quiet of the morning and a river which hauled itself through the land. Approaching writing with a sense of fun and experimentation was part of the appeal, as often I find myself getting bogged down with ‘serious’ writing. It was also an easy pick-up, as I edited, to find verbs which I could strengthen throughout each of the chapters.

I encourage you to look through the wide range of courses on offer with Writers Victoria. Some are offered online, which is convenient for regional and rural writers, but the experience of sitting in a room with other writers is almost as valuable as the course itself! I’ve always been a strong reader, but since working with Emily, I’ve taken to reading and enjoying more poetry, which allows me to feel the rhythm of words more clearly. I’m revelling in their pleasure once again.

Things to do to encourage more exquisite sentences:

  • Expand your vocabulary and collect words
  • Read constantly and widely
  • Read poetry
  • Write more (every day!)
  • Spend time writing to experiment and play, rather than for completing a ‘project’.
  • Recognise and cultivate your own unique way of looking at the world—your most valuable tool as a writer.

by Nicole Kelly, BWI member

Image: Exquisite Corpse (1938) André Breton, Jacqueline Lamba, Yves Tanguy 

Book review – Words Are Eagles, by Gregory Day

July 8, 2022 / / 1 Comment

Title: Words Are Eagles: Selected Writings on the Nature and Language of Place

Author: Gregory Day

Publisher: Upswell Publishing, July 2022; RRP: $29.99

As we slide deeper into the Anthropocene, our relationship with the non-human world becomes ever more critical. Nowhere more so than in Australia, a land particularly vulnerable to climate change, and where that relationship between human and non-human is exacerbated for a nation of migrants that carries the baggage of generations rooted elsewhere, still struggling to come to terms with the Antipodean environment and the legacy of brutal colonisation.

Helping us navigate this terrain are the likes of Gregory Day, an accomplished nature writer, poet and musician who lives in the Otways region on Wadawurrung country. Day’s first novel, The Patron Saint of Eels, came out in 2005, and alongside a string of publications since he has produced essays and a strong body of reviews.

It is the latter non-fiction that is the focus of Words Are Eagles, a recent addition to the list at boutique WA-based publisher Upswell.

Words Are Eagles is broken into three sections, the most clearly divergent being the third, a collection of 14 reviews published by the likes of the Weekend Australian and Australian Book Review. These range from a few pages dealing with the publication at hand to longer works with greater scope for contextualisation and commentary. These longer works feel a more suitable fit here, tapping the themes raised in the proceeding sections, which largely focus on Day’s attempts to come to terms with his, and our, place in the land. A notable example is a review of Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks (2015).

Macfarlane is a clear influence on Day’s works, one of many noted in the author’s introduction, for both share a focus on the ability of words to forge a relationship with the natural world. Part of Macfarlane’s practice is the collection of local descriptors for natural phenomena; Day has spent decades embracing Wadawurrung terminology, trying to adapt his European frame of reference to the indigenous.

Gregory Day talks writing with Jennifer Kloester

@ in the book cave

Day deftly uses the natural world as a mirror for aspects of the human condition. For instance, he draws parallels in ‘Whoo-hoo Thinking’ between the tree hollows of powerful owls and the hollow of grief, and how those voids are part of the respective life cycle.

The owl is a motif that recurs, alongside the ocean, the river and others, reflecting the landscape where Day has made his home.

Day’s family history features in several essays as he digs down into the how and why of the ocean’s importance to him. He tells a moth about his beachside experience with his sons, even as the moth is also an indicator for the change of seasons; he swims with a friend from childhood through a familiar stretch of river, noting the elements changed and unchanged and how the simple, quiet interaction with the natural world, sans Instagram, can bond and enrich.

Another theme running through the essays is Day’s creative process – he notes that the imaginative world is reliant on our senses, mood and feeling; he exhorts writers to ‘stay put’ rather than feel compelled to travel to distant shores to tap not only inspiration but a legacy of inspiration; and he tells of his struggle to find an access point as an artist of European heritage in this Australian landscape affected by colonisation. That friction of colonisation is illustrated by the experience of William Buckley, the escapee’s life with the Wadawurrung being a repeated reference point.

Production wise, I had some niggles. The original publication details for each piece appear at the bottom of the first page of each, not only jarring the reader but making it difficult to get a simple feel of Day’s bibliography. The essays are presented in web format – this works for some, where the composition includes discrete concepts, but overall encourages a stop-start-skip reading process. And I would have liked the title of each essay to appear in the header or footer, to allow easier navigation, especially with the longer pieces.

Such personal preferences should not detract from the sense of worth of Words Are Eagles. It’s a credit to Upswell to have gathered these evocative, effective works in the one volume to highlight Day’s contribution to the cannon.

Reviewed by: Jason Nahrung

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

ARC provided by the publisher

Book review – The Secret World of Connie Starr, by Robbi Neal

June 24, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Secret World of Connie Starr

Author: Robbi Neal

Publisher: HQ Fiction, June 2022; RRP: $32.99

Robbi Neal is no stranger to the world of writing and the visual arts. Her first book, Sunday Best, a memoir, was released in 2004, and in 2016 Robbi produced a book of Indigenous stories, After Before Time. Robbi’s third book, The Art of Preserving Love, written under the pen name of Ada Langton, was published in 2018. A trained artist and painter, Robbi has an exhibition of her paintings planned for later in 2022. Robbi lives in regional Victoria.

The Secret World of Connie Starr is a story that encapsulates the trauma of pre and post WWII when the lives of families and individuals changed forever. Sons and husbands joined up to fight for the nation and left abruptly for war. Women, children, and men who were outside eligibility to join, were left behind to continue family and community life in often reduced circumstances.  

Set in the regional town of Ballarat, the characteristics of the landscape are subtly interwoven, creating a setting and atmosphere that effortlessly allow the reader to be transported into the era of the thirties, forties, and fifties

The characters are enchanting and so very real, depicting the lived experience of the time.  Connie, quirky, different, and engaging, is the central protagonist in this story — she is unusual but those close to her accept, if not reluctantly, her odd demeanour. Finding solace in her lemon tree, she has an uncanny and outspoken manner of speaking the truth at the most inappropriate times. But Connie can also keep a secret and does so to her own detriment.

The novel is strongly connected to the Baptist Church, its mantras, beliefs, and failings at the time. Connie’s father, Joseph, is the Baptist pastor and her mother, Flora, twenty years younger than her husband, is a dutiful housewife, mother, and pastor’s wife. Flora provides a caring role to those less fortunate, needy or in distress who arrive on the family’s doorstep. Everyone is welcome and is offered a safe haven.

The Secret World of Connie Starr follows the lives of four main families: the Starrs, the Mabbetts, the Mitchells and the Findlays. These four families form the basis for the ongoing story, and whilst each family demonstrates different situations, not all are necessarily related to the consequences of the war. With the families the reader rides the waves of sadness, loss, humour, and strength. Childhood death, family violence and unexpected pregnancy are some of the issues facing them. The Starrs are no exception, and the four Starr children all respond differently to their life challenges and at times threaten to bring shame on the pastor and his wife.      

Robbi Neal has a unique style and voice that is capable of weaving boundaries between reality and the imagined — it’s this ability that allows the story to shine, and shine it does. Bravely written with confidence and honesty, this novel is rich in spirit and thoroughly engaging from start to end.   

Reviewed by: Heather Whitford Roche

Ballarat Writers Book Review Group, June 2022

Book review – The Writer Laid Bare, by Lee Kofman

June 10, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Writer Laid Bare: Emotional Honesty in a Writer’s Art, Craft and Life

Author: Lee Kofman

Publisher: Ventura Press, April 2022; RRP: $32.99

Lee Kofman holds a PhD in social sciences and a MA in creative writing. Lee, who lives in Melbourne, is a writer, mentor, editor and teacher. She identifies as a Russian-born Israeli-Australian writer and has written three fiction books and two memoirs. Lee has also co-edited works and written short pieces that have been published in Australia as well as the US, Scotland, UK, Canada and Israel.

Lee Kofman doesn’t do things by halves. In The Writer Laid Bare, she tackles the big and complicated issues of writing in a way that only an experienced and brave writer can. This book, written in her third language, English, covers themes that most writers at some time or other struggle with. The notion of ‘mastering emotional honesty’ in writing is explored in a depth that makes the book unique.

‘Nonesty’ is a term developed and used by the author to describe a writing process that isn’t honest, integrated or in touch with the complexities of the subject. ‘Artistic writing begins with self-awareness of, and honesty about our psychological landscape — all those messy emotions, thoughts and memories that make us who we are.’

Lee Kofman reads from The Writer Laid Bare

@ writing western sydney: the readings

Further to the above, Lee introduces tenets for the writer in regard to finding their subject. They are: ‘write about what is urgent’, ‘just wait’, ‘write what you need to understand’, and write ‘what makes you blush’. These are challenging and confronting notions for any writer to negotiate but steer us toward the honesty that, I believe, Lee knows so well and is the prelude to writers moving towards an accomplished and satisfying level of writing.

Covering topics in an in-depth manner, this book is structured into four parts, exploring psychological, personal, practical, and external factors that influence a writer’s life. It’s easy to read and relevant to writers whether emerging or established. The author shares and exposes her own experiences with great generosity, which allows a level of authenticity seldom seen in books on the topic of writing. Alongside the personal disclosures are the well-researched inclusions from a wide-ranging field of experts.

This book is a journey into the mind of a writer who has spent time understanding and then understanding again the enormous complexities of writing fiction or non-fiction and how the use of self and self-awareness impacts on all aspects of our writing.

The Writer Laid Bare is a wonderful contribution to writers and the writing sector in Australia and beyond.

Reviewed by: Heather Whitford Roche

Ballarat Writers book Review Group, May 2022

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – The Luminous Solution, by Charlotte Wood

May 27, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Luminous Solution: creativity, resilience and the inner life

Author: Charlotte Wood

Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2021; RRP: $32.99

Charlotte Wood is an established Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction who counts the Stella Prize and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction amongst her accolades.

The author had earlier conducted a series of in-depth interviews with writers exploring the creative process, which she later published in her highly successful book The Writer’s Room. She also explores the writing process in her podcast The Writers’ Room. Much of what she discovers from these conversations and her own practice is contained and developed further in The Luminous Solution.

The phrase ‘luminous solution’ is how the author describes that experience when a writer hits a wall with a new work and, despite all their efforts, is unable to progress, but then, inexplicably, a resolution presents itself, often involving a radical rethink of the entire work.

She gives as an example her own struggle with The Weekend, which she  ‘initially envisaged (as) a wry celebration of domestic realism’ based on the friendship of three old friends, but hit a  creative dead end, putting it aside in despair for several months.

A ‘decrepit, geriatric dog’ belonging to one of the three friends, however, kept haunting her and one day, months later, she suddenly realised its dereliction and confusion represented less comfortable, hidden aspects of the women themselves and their relationship. This was Charlotte Wood’s own ‘luminous solution’.

In the process of pinning down how this sudden illumination worked and how it could arise,  the author found other creatives – not just writers – experienced this sudden resolution and also discovered that the experience and the nurturing of it could be found in certain patterns of behaviour and background that creative people shared. 

Throughout the book she constantly references the work and practices disclosed in comments by other creatives, both Australian and international. In the process she discovers practices that were repeated, including some she realised she did herself but had not really thought about. These practices formed the foundation for and fed these sudden, inexplicable breakthroughs that often broke the practitioners’ previous approaches and/or the norms of what they were trying to achieve.

Listen to Charlotte Wood on her writing practice

at the garrett, 2019

The Luminous Solution is a freewheeling ride through a wide range of topics – writing tribes, the use of anger, humour, nature, teachers, dreams, identifying what was missing, sharing work, art,  therapeutic reading, feral writing, spirituality and religion, writing the un-writable and more – synthesising all parts into a coherent whole.

Each creative practice is developed in separate chapters. They are disparate: some internal states, some a particular environment, some ordered and routine, some involving spontaneity and letting go. But combined they lay the groundwork, fertilising the creative mind and making it possible for the sudden leaps that carry both creator and creation forward, whether it be a painting or a piece of writing.

The writing style is very close and immediate and captures a sense of a mind probing deep inside to voice something that by its very nature cannot be pinned down or reduced to a series of steps.  Capturing – naming – the ineffable. The writing voice is reflective and what could easily have been something fuzzy and disconnected comes together with a precision and immediacy that brings all separate, sometimes opposing, elements together into a coherent whole.

The Luminous Solution will appeal to those who create as well as those who simply love reading and literature and who wonder sometimes how writers come up with the scenarios, characters and outcomes that they do. Serious students of literature and those who study the practice of writing also would benefit. There is also a psychological aspect to it in her references to dreams, creativity and the subconscious that would appeal to those who are interested in a more  scientific or academic approach to the workings of the human imagination.

Reviewed by: Rhonda Cotsell

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – Dinner with the Schnabels, by Toni Jordan

May 13, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: Dinner with the Schnabels

Author: Toni Jordan

Publisher: Hachette, 30 March 2022; RRP: $32.99

Toni Jordan is an established Australian author with six novels to her credit. Amongst her well-known works are Addition in 2008 and the Miles Franklin longlisted historical novel Nine Days in 2011. Nine Days was also judged Best Fiction in 2012 at the Indie Awards. Toni has received numerous other prizes and accolades for her writing and holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a PhD in Creative Arts. She lives in Melbourne.

Dinner with the Schnabels is an entertaining, fast moving, funny and relatable story that ranges over a one-week period. Simon Larsen is having a tough time. He’s lost his job and business and he and his wife, Tansy, and their two children have moved to a cramped flat after being forced to sell their former home. Tansy now works full time and Simon spends time on the couch, his self-worth in tatters and struggling daily for motivation.

Tansy’s family, her mother, sister and brother are heavily involved in her life and add to the pressure Simon feels to get his life in order. He agrees to take on a hurried backyard landscaping job for a friend who is to host a special event for the Schnabels. Simon has from Monday to Saturday to complete the undertaking before the big occasion on Sunday.

A relative who is unknown to them arrives and Tansy takes her in despite the difficulties the family is under. Monica has alternative ideas and views about life and comes and goes at all hours. In the meantime, Simon procrastinates with the backyard overhaul but convinces his in-laws, Tansy, and himself that he is on track for completion for Sunday. He is also worried about Tansy and the future of their relationship as he discovers she is holding a secret from him.

Toni Jordan on writing

at the garret

This is a modern-day depiction of life in the fast lane and how quickly life can unravel when circumstances change. The story delves into the daily struggles, ambitions, and pressures from extended families.  Simon, Tansy and their children, Mia and Lachie, are lovable and funny and at times sad and reactive. The reader is invited to travel with them, particularly with Simon who is suffering emotionally and yet trying to pretend otherwise. His agonising, lingering procrastination brings tension and frustration as the time ticks by and the backyard work remains unfinished.

The characters are vibrant, well developed and stay in the reader’s head well after the last page is turned. There are several twists and turns laced with anticipation that keeps the story galloping along at an enjoyable pace until the very end. Does Simon make the deadline?  What happens on the day?

Toni Jordan’s Dinner with the Schnabels is relevant to current-day life and is a laugh aloud reading experience.

Review by: Heather Whitford Roche

Ballarat Writers Book Review Group 2022

Review copy provided by the publisher

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