Dry River Writings
‘Who is your greatest literary influence?’ It was at the launch of my novel Garnet at the Cobargo RSL Hall in March. It’s one of those basic questions you expect as a writer and, for me, the answer was easy. Her prose, her humility, her humanity, her powers of observation. The stuff she notices. The…
I was having lunch with Heather O’Connor at the Sundeck in Bermagui recently when a woman approached our table. Heather smiled and said to me, ‘Do you know Kathryn? Lois Irwin’s daughter. She’s visiting from California.’ I did – I remembered her from her father’s funeral. ‘Mum’s just finished your book,’ Kathryn said to me….
For anyone who read my memoir, Long Road to Dry River, and is interested in a bit of backstory, The Brevity Blog (US) has kindly published a short (very short) essay I wrote about a light bulb moment in the writing, and my precious aunt who brought it about.
With the first email on 13 March, my writerly ego to the fore, it was clear: Nobody Owns a Fire, I conceded, was a half-decent story and it just took the right judge to bathe it in the glory it deserved. And of course the Foundation needed some documentation – my residential address, my phone…