Canberra Snippets

a website by Geri Bryant-Badham

Category: Writing

Content about writing & features

2017 Canberra Writers Festival

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On June 28, 2017

In Sponsored, Writing

This year’s Canberra Writers Festival included former Canberran and Doug Anthony All Stars member, Richard Fidler (the ABC’s, Conversations), and Julia Baird, host of The Drum.

A keynote event (Ministry of Truth) hosted by ABC broadcaster, Dan Bourchier, provided lively discussion from Dutch journalist, Rutger Bregman and local journalists, George Megalogenis, Tony Jones and Katharine Murphy, covering many aspects of journalism and news, ranging from “fake news” to a brief outline of Tony Jones’s recent book (set in the 1970s Australia).  … Read more.

Charlotte Wood in conversation for IWD

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On March 9, 2017

In Writing

Marking this year’s International Women’s Day, Charlotte Wood discussed her award-winning book, The Natural Way of Things,  at a National Library event.

Speaking with The Guardian’s, Katherine Murphy, Wood described her experiences of writing the book, which focuses on 10 young women waking from a drugged sleep to find themselves in a run-down, Australian sheep station where they are isolated (no computers or telephones) and subjected to cruel treatment and hard labour from their male oppressors, including having their heads shaved and being tethered together.  … Read more.

Reckoning by Magda Szubanski

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On December 11, 2016

In Writing

reckoning-by-magda-s

Reckoning by comedian and actor, Magda Szubanski (especially remembered as Sharon in the ABC’s, Kath and Kim), is a stark reminder of the horrors of WWII and Nazi occupation of many parts of Europe, including her father’s homeland, Poland. Magda provides insights into many aspects of life, ranging from her father’s experiences of being “an assassin” during the war as he helped Jewish people escape Nazis as well as her mother’s Scottish heritage and the family’s life in Scotland before coming to 1960s Australia where they settled into a new, outer Melbourne suburb (Croydon).  … Read more.

Grant and I, by Robert Forster

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On December 11, 2016

In Writing

grant-and-i

In Grant and I, writer and musician, Robert Forster provides fascinating stories of life with the Go Betweens, the Brisbane band which he and Grant McLennan formed in the 1970s. Forster’s use of language is exquisite as he traces aspects of his childhood from late 1950s Brisbane: a secure family life and education at a local primary school and Brisbane Grammar School and then teaming up at Queensland University drama school with Grant.  … Read more.

Journalism degrees

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On September 22, 2016

In Writing

Various Australian universities including the University of Canberra, University of Sydney, Brisbane’s Griffith University and Swinburne in Melbourne, offer studies in journalism.

Numbers of students undertaking such degrees are increasing apparently despite that newspaper sales, numbers of media outlets, journalist jobs and cadetships are decreasing; journalists are being made redundant and free information and news are available on the Internet.  … Read more.

Canberra Writers Festival

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On August 5, 2016

In Uncategorized, Writing

Highlights of the recent Canberra Writers Festival included:

shadow-game-book-coverSteve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann launching their book, The Shadow Game, the third in their trilogy of The Marmalade Files and The Mandarin Code. Set in Canberra and centring largely on journalist, Harry Dunkley, The Shadow Game, has been described by the Sunday Canberra Times as ‘House of Cards, Canberra style’; 

Sydney barrister, Mark Tedeschi QC, chatting with Canberra journalist, Robert Macklin, about how he fits researching/writing into his busy schedule.  … Read more.

Sydney Writers Festival

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On May 25, 2015

In Writing

 

Sydney Writers Festival

The 2016 Sydney Writers Festival was a spectacular event with presenters including: Gloria Steinem; the ABC’s Insiders Live with Barrie Cassidy, Niki Savva, David Marr, Annabel Crabb and George Megalogenis; Richard Glover; Frank Bongiorno; Magda Szubanski; Tegan Bennett Daylight; Kerry O’Brien; Stan Grant; Sarah Ferguson; Bob Brown; Gail O’Brien and Juliette O’Brien; Kate Tempest; Julian Barnes; Jeanette Winterson; and Elizabeth Harrower.  … Read more.

Stack of books

Books

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On April 29, 2015

In Writing

It’s impossible to compile a list of favourite books but here’s a few:

  • My Place by academic Sally Morgan outlines aspects of her life, but in particular, events in the lives of her Aboriginal ancestors in Western Australia and exploitation at the hands of white station owners and pastoralists;
  • Chloe Hooper’s The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island details day-to-day events and important legal issues and trials related to the tragic death of Cameron Doomadgee on Queensland’s Palm Island;
  • The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (awarded the 2014 Man Booker Prize) focuses on the experiences of Australian Prisoner of War, Dorrigo Evans, and is based on Flanagan’s father, Arch as well as the sacrifices of Dr Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop.
  … Read more.

Obituaries

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On April 3, 2015

In Writing

Dating back to the 18th-century, in England, America and Australia, obituaries seemed to have gone in and out of fashion, perhaps in line with media outlets’ budgets. What is divulged and the writing styles have also varied, with Americans more likely to be frank and colourful. As Nigel Starck (whose doctoral studies covered many aspects of obituaries) noted in The Canberra Times [Panorama], August 24, 2002, American newsrooms are better resourced and they often receive payment for obituaries where families and friends spend large sums on these columns.  … Read more.

Language

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On March 30, 2015

In Writing

Stories abound about the demise of the print media as circulations shrink and readers gravitate to social media. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2013 about having kicked her four-newspapers-a-day habit, journalist, Anne Summers, described digital as “less about news and more about knowledge”. But whether about knowledge or news, many people still like the language and style of the long form, and find that some social media writers are lackadaisical when it comes to content, attention to detail, grammar and style.  … Read more.

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