jennystapledonwriter

A friend and I have established a tradition for the Sydney Writers Festival. We agree on a day we will attend then I select the sessions and my friend brings  lunch. In 2017, I called her with my three session selections. ‘Just buy one ticket for the Helen Garner one,’ she said. ‘I’ve read nothing […]

As we enjoy a reprieve from the bushfires along the east coast of Australia and marvel at the sight of rain, for those of us not directly affected by the fires, it’s time to take a breath. For many, this will mean long hours watching the annual tennis spectacular of the Australian Open. Whether or

Less than a week to Christmas and I’m looking forward to some lazy summer days of reading. What could be better than stretches of time immersed in another world. Reading is not just an escape from the current craziness of politics and threats of extreme weather. It expands our imagination, creates the beauty and peace

Christmas is coming and I’m sure you are looking for books to give as gifts or to read on holiday. In the last month or so I’ve read a variety of books, most given or lent to me by friends, others borrowed from the library and one received from a Faber writing course.  It’s been

Title: Careful, He Might Hear You Author: Sumner Locke Elliott Publisher: Text Year of Publication: 2012 Originally published: 1963 ISBN: 9781921922244 Pages: 299 Street library in Beachport, South Australia where a copy of this book was spotted In August this year, Writing NSW and the State Library of NSW hosted a panel discussion on the work of Sumner

Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favourite novelists. An American writer with a scientific background, she writes with a deftness of touch and absorbing storylines about serious issues like the questionable impact of missionaries, the impact of climate change on the natural world, and the attraction people feel for strong leaders even if those leaders

Last week the shortlisted writers for the National Biography Award gathered in the State Library of NSW. Congratulations to the winner, Behrouz Boochani for his book No Friend but the Mountains, written on Manus Island where he has been detained as a Kurdish refugee for six years. No Friend but the Mountains also took out

I heard about Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow from a visiting American whose book group had just read it. “You will love it!” she said. As I was about to set off on a solo drive up the coast, I thought I would experiment with listening to A Gentleman in Moscow as an audiobook.

At a First Friday Club meeting this year at Writing NSW in Rozelle, one of the aspiring writers in the audience asked Angela Mayer, the speaker and a publisher, to give advice about submitting manuscripts. Her response was: “It’s not so much a matter of beautiful writing. I look for narrative tension. The first pages

One of the big questions of our time is how to overcome loneliness. When I’ve had to spend time away from my family, I always take my Kindle or a book or two. When I feel lonely, I read. It’s like a conversation with the author, even if it’s one-sided. It’s a form of human