Kiama author Ryan Butta will officially launch on Tuesday July 30 The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli at Bouquiniste Cafe, where he spends time writing, reading and drinking coffee with owner, good friend and fellow author Clayton Comber.The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli is based on the life of Harry Freame, the first Australian soldier to win the distinguished conduct medal at Gallipoli. Telling Harry’s story is right up there as one of Ryan’s proudest achievements, not just because it was the second of his non-fiction books to be picked up by a commercial publisher. “I always wanted to be commercially published. That's like a validation thing for a writer for some reason,” explains Ryan.His pride is linked to the fact Ryan was able to give Harry Freame the recognition he deserves as one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers. Renowned war correspondent and historian Charles Bean called Freame the “finest scout at Gallipoli” and “the most ubiquitous soldier on the peninsula”. But Harry doesn’t feature in your typical ANZAC histories. Freame was born in Japan and had an Australian father and Japanese mother. He was raised as a Samurai, under the Bushido code - the seven principles of righteousness, loyalty, honour, respect, honesty, courage and consistency which samurai warriors live by. “Harry was loved by the troops he fought alongside,” says Ryan. “Men rallied behind him, he was a leader of men. When it came down to it, our troops relied on his intelligence to launch attacks. Harry would crawl around on his belly and map the Turkish trenches, their defences, the number of machine guns they had. He was captured in the trenches at one point and managed to escape. He was wounded so many times his body was covered in scars.”Harry, who died in 1940 just before WWII broke out, was buried in an unmarked grave in Sydney. But thanks to Ryan, and his meticulous research, people are now able to hear Harry’s story and understand that the ANZAC legend is much richer and more nuanced than the historical snapshots we often hear about.“It was tragic and very emotional to read about what these young men went through when I was researching this book,” says Ryan. “They had no idea about the horrors they would face. And it wasn’t just young British Australians out there on the battlefields of Gallipoli. There were Africans from the French colony fighting alongside ANZACs, there were Indigenous soldiers, Maori soldiers, Sikh soldiers, there was the Zionist mule regiment doing all the transport. So it was a very multicultural fighting force, I’m not sure that comes through when we talk about the ANZAC legend.”Ryan was not only able to tell Harry’s story in The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli but he was also able to ensure that Harry received the recognition and burial that he deserved as a decorated war hero.Ryan wrote several emails to the Australian government, including petitioning the Prime Minister, to push for Harry’s service to be recognised. Last month his long fight to honour Harry came to fruition. Thanks to Ryan, Harry now has a plaque honouring his sacrifices on his gravesite. “I hope I have done his story justice,” says Ryan.  You can hear Ryan speak about The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli from 5.30pm at Bouquiniste for a Q&A with Clay. Stay tuned to hear more about how Ryan “amplified” the Anzac legend in the next print edition of The Bugle on August 9.

‘Watch out old man!’ Tom recognised the youthful voice and the familiar clatter of skateboards along the variegated footpath behind him. He stumbled a little in the half-light as the line of scruffy skaters accelerated around him.Tom stopped, took a few breaths and gently steadied himself for a moment against the cold metal lamppost. He pulled his beanie down over his ears. It was cooler than he had expected. Then, in calm acceptance of his declining agility, he shuffled over to the dilapidated bench seat beside a long planter box. Drawing up his walking stick and placing it comfortably across his lap, he wriggled along a few inches to settle for the best view of the plaza. What an ideal setting for an early evening of priceless entertainment! He watched as the skaters dispersed in all directions before gracefully choreographing themselves into a synchronised team to then regroup around the top of the terraced slopes to the sunken auditorium. ‘Take the jump!’ came a cry from Blue Tee-Shirt to Red Cap, who appeared to be the leader.Red Cap paused for a moment, then gathered speed and flew across the steps. His board glued to his naked feet. His smooth landing set into play a continuous flow, along the same route, of effortless leaps from the rest of the wiry pack.The still of the twilight was abruptly broken by distinct squeals and cries of delight from the opposite side of the plaza. A group of young teenies, brightly coloured tank tops widely dislocated from thigh-hugging denim skirts, hovered tightly together, creating a vibrant, giggling backdrop.Peacock feathers rose among the skater set and Blue Tee-Shirt, Red Cap, Odd Socks, Black Wristband and the rest of the troupe readied themselves to put on a more spectacular show. Twists. Turns. Spins. Slalom around the benches. In, out and around the radiant spotlights created by the lamplights above. Down the steps and up again. Around the slopes and back again. Into the shadows and out again. A final flurry; a line leisurely re-formed; a quick acceleration, and the motley skaters disappeared into the night beyond. Teenies in tow.‘Tom?’ A voice and a hand holding a bulging paper bag appeared from behind him. Tom didn’t move or say a word.‘Thought I might find you here. We closed the bakery early as we were just about sold out. Happens every Saturday’ Tom took the paper bag and the warm voice continued: ‘Some chocolate éclairs I kept aside for you. I thought you might like them with your tea.’Tom nodded and grinned a grateful thankyou. He tucked his newly acquired supper securely beneath his arm. Gently steadying himself onto the pavement with his walking stick, Tom hesitated for a moment or two, took another deep breath then leisurely, through the growing darkness, made his way home.

On Saturday July 20, The Bugle went to two author talks, held at the Kiama Pavilion, as part of the Kiama Readers’ Festival 2024.Both talks were filled to the max with interested festival goers, reflecting the festival’s success. The first talk was with Andra Putnis, who recently released her book Stories My Grandmothers Didn't Tell Me: Two women's journeys from war-torn Europe to a new life in Australia (Allen and Unwin, 2024). It’s about the secret lives of her two grandmothers who lived in Latvia during the Nazi and Soviet occupation during WWII.Putnis’ engaging and introspective talk analysed the reasons why older generations feel unable to share their past lives with the younger generation.One of the highlights was the story of how one of her grandmothers would mail scarves from Australia to her mother in Latvia so that she could sell the scarves for money.Putnis talked about how she imagined her grandmother spending hours at the stall trying to find the perfect scarf, which would bring her mother the most money, and how the other people at the stall had no idea what her grandmother was doing.“Writing this book has made me far more interested in hearing people’s stories,” said Putnis. “What don’t I know about the person standing next to me at the shops?”The second talk featured journalists-turned-crime fiction writers Michael Brissendon and Chris Hammer, mediated by The Sydney Morning Herald book reviewer Sue Turnbull.The talk mainly centred around the two writers’ switch from journalism to crime fiction. They both spoke of how crime fiction brought them more freedom, allowing them to do things they couldn’t within the confines of journalism.“In fiction, you can touch on greater truths then maybe you can in journalism,” said Hammer.“You can resolve things and put the world right,” said Brissendon.Hammer’s novel The Seven (Allen and Unwin, 2023) and Brissendon’s Smoke (Affirm Press, 2024) are both available for purchase.

The successful 2024 edition of the Kiama Readers’ Festival 2024 attracted almost a thousand book lovers, who braved the wild weather to hear from a wealth of talented authors.A gala dinner with newspaper columnist, social commentator and novelist, Jane Caro was one of the highlights. Foxground journalist and author Diana Plater had the “great privilege” of interviewing Caro to discuss the Walkley Award winner’s wide and varied writing career. Caro discussed her book The Mother, a work of fiction exploring the devastating impact of coercive control and domestic violence on families. Plater also talked to Caro about historical fiction and the writing process, particularly the amount of research required.“I also have elements of history in my books, including my non-fiction and memoir, and I find the research component absolutely fascinating,” says Plater, who is in the midst of writing her second novel – The Cedar-getter’s Granddaughter – based on the South Coast in the 1800s. “But writing a novel is a lot harder than journalism. Anyone who thinks it’s easy to dash off a novel has no idea!”Festival organiser Perrie Croshaw admits her first foray into organising the event, as president of the Friends of Kiama Library, was “a baptism by fire” but says the festival was a great success. The gala dinner and the opening session at Burnetts on Barney, where guest speakers including local author Fiona Weir discussed permaculture, kitchen gardens and cooking from scratch, were both sold out. “The Kiama Leagues Club did a great job serving 150 lucky patrons who secured a ticket for the gala dinner with Jane Caro on Saturday night,” says Croshaw. "We had such high demand for the gala event, we could have done two sittings at the Leagues club. In fact, we could have done two or three extra sessions at Burnetts on Barney Garden Centre as well. So many people want to come to Kiama in winter to hear their favourite authors talk.” Along with avid readers, the Kiama community is filled with talented authors including Diana Plater and Kiama author Ryan Butta, who emceed the gala event with Caro.Plater’s most recently published novel, Whale Rock, is based on her experience as a journalist living and working in Nicaragua in the 1980s and reporting on the aftermath of the Sandinista revolution, where a group of leftist revolutionary guerrillas and intellectuals overthrew the right-wing dictatorship in 1979. Whale Rock was awarded Gold for Popular Literary Fiction in the 2019 Global Ebook Awards. “Whale Rock is about hidden trauma but it is ultimately a tale of redemption and rebirth,” says Plater. “It is about the serious issues facing Australia today – immigration, the state of the media, politics, the environment and giving First Nations People, particularly members of the Stolen Generations, a voice. But it’s also about love and friendship and dancing.” Ryan Butta will release his second non-fiction book – The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli – on July 30. Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Butta in The Bugle, exploring the inspiring story of the first Australian soldier to be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal after his heroic actions at Gallipoli.Butta will also be a guest later this year at the Friends of Kiama Library author talks, so keep an eye on the Kiama Library or their socials for more information.“Our Friends of Kiama Library volunteers worked so hard to put on this festival,” says Perrie Croshaw. “If we had just a few more volunteers signing up to help us for the next festival, we could move mountains! In the future we would love to include more author talks over more days, run poetry slams, run writing workshops, get nature authors to take us on birding walks, or watch whales with other nature writers. The possibilities are limitless.” 

Pencil October 25-27 in your diary as The Berry Writers Festival is back with a blockbuster line-up of international and home-grown authors, including Nobel Prize winning novelist JM Coetzee, and popular Australian writers Michael Robotham and Sally Hepworth.Tickets for the three-day festival will go on sale next month after the full program is announced on August 15.More than 60 well-known and emerging authors will join the festival and share insights into their work and the world of books and publishing.The Guardian editor David Marr will deliver the opening address. Novelists Alice Pung, Madeline Gray, Jessica Dettman, Ceridwen Dovey, Hayley Scivenor and Yuwaalaraay storyteller and performer Nardi Simpson, are among the talented fiction writers, who will talk about their craft.Journalist, author and Gold Walkley award winner Chris Masters will discuss his latest book, an investigation into the case against Australia's most highly decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith.Conversations That Count will feature 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame chatting with teacher and author Daisy Turnbull about risk, reward, friendship and contentment.Mary Cunnane, the festival’s artistic director, and a former publisher and literary agent, said this year’s festival program will be bigger and even more diverse than the inaugural event in 2022.“The 2024 Berry Writers Festival will deliver a weekend of memorable experiences,” she said. “Words open the world and allow us to tell our stories and understand the lives of others.”The festival will also include a special Schools Day on October 24. Children’s book authors Kirli Saunders, Nathan Luff and Maryam Master will visit primary schools in Berry and nearby communities to share their stories.A collaboration with the South Coast Writers Centre, New Voices of the South Coast: A Showcase for Debut Writers, gives new and emerging local literary talent a platform to showcase their work on the final day of the festival. Berry Writers Festival president James Robinson said the much-loved event was for “writers, readers and people who believe in the power of storytelling, sharing ideas and healthy debate”. Access to pre-sales is now available at: berrywritersfestival.org.au.

Foxground journalist and author Diana Plater has the “great privilege” of interviewing Jane Caro on Saturday night at the Kiama Readers’ Festival gala dinner! Diana, a former political reporter and war correspondent, will join Caro on stage at Kiama Leagues Club to discuss the Walkley Award winner’s wide and varied writing career. Caro is a regular newspaper columnist, social commentator and novelist, whose book The Mother explores the devastating impact of domestic violence on families. It is an issue Diana is keen to delve into when she interviews Caro, whose novel may be fictional but its topic - coercive control and family violence - is all too real for the one in four women who experience it. “I want to ask Jane why she thinks this keeps happening, and what can be done about it,” says Diana. As a fellow novelist, whose books look at our history, Diana is also keen to explore Caro’s passion for Queen Elizabeth I, the subject of her popular trilogy for young adult readers set in the 1500s.   “I also have elements of history in my books including my non-fiction and memoir and I find the research component absolutely fascinating,” says Diana. “But writing a novel is a lot harder than journalism. Anyone who thinks it’s easy to dash off a novel has no idea!” The writing process is another topic she’s likely to explore with Caro. Plater is in the midst of writing her second novel - The Cedar-getter’s Granddaughter - based on the South Coast in the 1800s.  “When the first British settlers colonised Sydney they started looking for timber,” explains Diana. “The Illawarra rainforest was full of Red Cedar and the cedar getters, who were escaped convicts or those with a ticket of leave, raced down here and started logging it. They had to be really secretive about where they found it, because it’s so valuable. The softness of the wood makes it ideal for furniture. By the 1830s it was nearly all cleared, and the cedar getters moved further north.” In the book, which she expects will be published next year, Diana recognises the role played by the South Coast’s Aboriginal communities, who helped the cedar getters find the timber to mill. As a journalist she spent several years working in the Kimberley and the Northern Territory and has paid tribute to the Aboriginal communities she worked alongside by giving them a voice in both her fiction and non-fiction writing.  “I feel honoured to have Aboriginal friends throughout my life who I have connected with, first as a journalist and storyteller, but most importantly through friendship.” Diana’s most recently published novel, Whale Rock, is based on her experience as a journalist living and working in Nicaragua in the 1980s. Diana reported on the aftermath of the Sandinista revolution, where a group of leftist revolutionary guerrillas and intellectuals overthrew the right-wing dictatorship in 1979. Diana, who has dual United States citizenship, was inspired to travel to the war-torn country after meeting a female soldier who joined the revolution and moved up through the ranks to become a commander.“I was working for AAP and interviewed a female commandant who was visiting Australia at the time,” explains Diana. “Her story and that of the revolution was fascinating so I spent three months learning Spanish, packed my bags, and went to Nicaragua to live for a year.” It was during this time that Diana began exploring the impacts of trauma and post-traumatic-stress disorder after meeting former soldiers suffering from the psychological effects of war.  “Whale Rock is about hidden trauma but it is ultimately a tale of redemption and rebirth,” says Diana. “It is about the serious issues facing Australia today; immigration, the state of the media, politics, the environment and giving First Nations People - particularly members of the Stolen Generations - a voice. But it’s also about love and friendship and dancing.”  Whale Rock was awarded Gold for Popular Literary Fiction in the 2019 Global EbookAwards. If you are lucky enough to have a ticket to the sold out session with Diana interviewing Jane Caro on Saturday night, take the time to also learn about Diana’s rich and varied writing.  Tickets are still available for most sessions: https://library.kiama.nsw.gov.au/Events/Adults-events/Kiama-Readers-Festival-2024

“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” So goes the famous quote by author Virginia Woolf, one of the few writers of the time who didn't use a male pseudonym to get her work published. Even JK Rowling used a gender-neutral name for fear young boys wouldn’t buy her best-selling Harry Potter books.Stella Maria Sarah 'Miles' Franklin was the most famous Australian female author to publish under a male pseudonym. While she may not have known it at the time, Franklin went on to change the landscape of Australian publishing. Her feminist masterpiece and autobiographical book My Brilliant Career resulted in two of Australia’s most prestigious writing awards - The Stella Prize and The Miles Franklin - being named in her honour. Franklin’s legacy also includes the Stella Count; a statistical analysis of gender bias in book reviewing which gives an industry-wide snapshot of gender equality, or lack thereof, in the Australian media. Both the Stella Prize and Stella Count are initiatives of the Stella organisation, named after the famous author and founded in 2012 as a voice for equality and cultural change in Australian literature. While the annual Stella Prize - the organisation's flagship program celebrating female writers - is a well known platform for championing women and tackling gender bias, the Stella Count is less known.Since 2012 the Stella Count has collated data on the gender of authors and reviewers, as well as the genre of books reviewed, to get a snapshot of industry equality across 12 major Australian media outlets. Analysis stalled in 2020 due to COVID-19, but media monitoring company iSentia, in partnership with Stella, will again begin collecting data next month to track statistics on the gender of authors and reviewers for 2023. Ngaire Crawford, Isentia’s Director of Insights and Research, said the latest Stella Count will cover the three-year period from 2021-2023 and continue to focus on the representation and equality of female authors in media book reviews.“Our research team analyses the reviews for space and depth and key details about the authors,” she says. “We know that this type of work helps provide evidence to celebrate success and to shine a light on where things can still improve.”Stella CEO Fiona Sweet says “in a pleasing trend” the latest data collected for the Stella Count in 2019-2020 found female authors received equal attention in Australian book reviews for the first time in the count’s history.In a bid to continue with this positive uptake, Stella recently launched a national initiative to promote female literature - Stella on the Go. “Stella on the Go is designed to get people off screens and reading by leaving free books written by Australian women and non-binary authors on trams, trains, buses and ferries across the country,” says Sweet. “Once readers finish the book, they can decide if they keep it or pass it on to a friend, put it in a public space or leave it on public transport.” Stella on the Go includes more than 140 titles which have made the Stella Prize's longlist since it started in 2013. The winner of the 2024 Stella Prize, Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy, is among the titles to be found in cities across the nation. Sweet hopes to expand Stella on the Go to other parts of Australia, including regional areas like Kiama.“With Stella on the Go, we want to ensure diverse stories reach as many people as possible and inspire new generations of readers,” she says. “There is so much scientific research to back up the health benefits of reading. We also want to help break down the financial barrier between readers and reading.” If you are lucky enough to come across a Stella on the Go novel, The Bugle would love to hear your thoughts about it. Let us know if you passed it on to a friend or placed it in shared space (clues are encouraged) in Kiama, the Illawarra or Shoalhaven. Read, review, renew.

It’s taken Helen Laidlaw nearly ten years to research and write her book about the Wadi Wadi people, the First Nations who once lived in the area on the South Coast now boarded by Kiama and Gerringong. On Wadi Wadi country – From the mountains to the sea, explores a little known part of Kiama history. But it’s a story well-worth telling.Putting a face, and a history, to the name“I come from a line of old ladies who like to make cakes,” remarks 85-year-old Laidlaw as she rummages around in her kitchen and brings out a lemon and blueberry. With the cake at hand, she sips her coffee and begins talking about the book, which traces the lives of several local First Nations people. Their destinies, still mostly unknown – both to indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, are deeply intertwined with that of Kiama and the surrounding areas. “It’s about stitching pieces together, and I’ve managed to stitch these families together,” she says.Just the other day Laidlaw spoke to a descendant of the Longbottom family, who had read the book. There’s a whole chapter on them as well as the Dixon, the Weston/Johnston and the Pike families.“It was hidden from them. You see, people didn’t know,” she says, referring to a time not too distant when one’s Indigenous heritage was never openly discussed. For the relatives, and there are quite a few around, Laidlaw wanted to make the people real as opposed to just being a name. “So many were valued by the rest of the clan,” she emphasises. With a keen interest in indigenous history and the Pacific, Laidlaw, a former university librarian and teacher who’s also worked in Tonga, set out to capture these stories before they are lost.“Aboriginal people have been treated quite badly. That’s why they’re all so excited about this book. Because it details their stories,” she says.Laidlaw included the line, From the mountains to the sea, three years ago when she named the book. It comes from the Wadi Wadi/Dharawal language place name for Illawarra (or Elourera, Allowrie), which means “where the mountains meet the sea.”“We’re all equal”When asked what she hopes readers will take away from the book, Laidlaw goes quiet. Then she says softly, “Surprise.”“Because I think Australia is a racist country, still. Anyone who has grown up with Aboriginal people knows that it is.” Her father, the headmaster of Bomaderry Public School, immediately desegregated the school when he began in 1947.“He was respected for it,” Laidlaw says. “Because he was a strong Christian, he just quoted Saint Paul in the Bible, we’re all equal.” Laidlaw says that she thinks the town of Kiama has wanted to acknowledge its Aboriginal heritage for some time.The younger generation, such as her grandchildren, embraces it while she finds that outdated views about Indigenous people still exist among some of the older generation.“But surely they realise, well I make that point in the book, that in 1917 these guys went off and got shot for being Australians,” she states. “They didn’t get recognised and they didn’t get a vote for fifty years.”One Jimmy CarlsonThe book, which spans from the first settlers to WWII to the Kiama tornadoes in 2013, came about through six degrees of separation.“I have lived in Kiama for over 40 years and thought I knew most of the important things about town and yet, page after page, left me gasping as I found new and fascinating things about the town and the surrounding area. It is a book that everyone who lives in, and cares about, this area should devour.” - Bruce ElderJulie Farquhar Nicol, a teacher at the Noogaleek Children’s Centre, an Aboriginal preschool at Berkley – and also Laidlaw’s good friend – enjoyed talking to Jimmy Carlson, an Aboriginal Elder, who drove the bus for the children’s centre. One day, while chatting about Carlson growing up in Kiama, they realised that the small farm cottage where he used to live in the 1930s was close to Laidlaw’s house in Willow Gully.Tucked away in a beautiful corner of Kiama, featuring native vegetation and still frequented by echidnas, wallabies and ringtail possums, Willow Gully holds a rare area of original sub-tropical rainforest, unique for this area.Laidlaw invited Carlson over, who then in his seventies, began sharing memories of his parents and grandparents along with photos and newspaper clippings. Carlson’s grandmother was a Dixon from Crooked River, and before too long, Laidlaw found herself trying to find out everything she could about the family.“I discovered one of his grandmother’s brothers came and lived here. There’s a whole chapter on that crazy guy,” she says. In the process of researching, she discovered several other local Indigenous families and their ties to Kiama’s past and present.The “queen of research”Laidlaw became intrigued by some of the descriptions, such as that of Captain Brooks (Muhhag), a local poet and singer. “Someone described him, very impressed, he didn’t look like a lot of others. He was so dark with aquiline features. Suddenly, you got a picture of somebody that you wouldn’t have otherwise. That’s why it’s all been included in the book” she says.As far as stories go, she found the most amazing ones to be about King Mickey and Queen Rosie. “She was such a character,” Laidlaw notes.Queen Rosie, the last surviving member of the Illawarra tribe, also features on the front cover of the book. The Sydney Morning Herald took the black-and-white portrait of Rosie, smoking a pipe, in 1927.Laidlaw is upset that her English publisher chose to cut some of the images out because they weren’t clear enough.“I tried to explain to them, these were people who didn’t have anywhere to store photos. And the ones I got, of Aboriginal people, were miraculous,” she says.Because the photos depict Indigenous people who have passed away, Laidlaw received permission from their relatives to use them.“Jimmy is now in his 80’s, and the photo is of his mother as a child. It’s remarkable that they were still available,” adds Laidlaw. It’s raining hard now, streaming down the windows, on her house in Willow Gully – a special space where this truly remarkable story began.Book launchDate: Sunday, 28 JulyTime: 3pmPlace: Kiama Uniting Church Hall, Manning StreetTo be launched by Julie Farquhar-Nicol (former teacher at Noogaleek Aboriginal Preschool). Followed by a glass of wine, nibbles and book sales & signing.Date: Saturday, 17 AugustTime: 2pmPlace: The Kiama Library, hosted by the Kiama Historical Society.To be launched by Bruce Elder (author of Blood on the Wattle). Followed by a glass of wine, nibbles and book sales & signing.

From Greek mythology to rock music, fairytales to family drama, the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival has it all, including an insider’s look at the publishing business for aspiring scribes trying to break into the industry.The festival, at Thirroul Community Centre from July 13-14, features award-winning local novelist Helena Fox, lawyer-turned-author Bri Lee discussing her debut as a fiction writer, legendary Australian music writers Stuart Coupe and Jeff Apter and journalists Caroline Baum, Malcolm Knox and Mitch Jennings.The jam-packed weekend, with more than 22 sessions, will cover genres including poetry, literary fiction, suspense, biography, memoir, historical fiction and First Nations writing, said festival director Sarah Nicholson.Dr Nicholson, who is head of the South Coast Writers Centre and a University of Wollongong academic, said 60 percent of writers talking at the festival are locals. “We are excited to showcase more than 40 authors, poets, academics and journalists, who will cover everything from the literary classics to the pressing issues of current affairs," she said."It will be a weekend filled with captivating stories, thought-provoking discussions, and inspiring conversations. We encourage people to come along and discover some of the local literary talent hiding on the coast."Australian historical fantasy author Kell Woods, Emma Darragh, who has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wollongong, and Illawarra Mercury journalist Mitch Jennings will debut new books at the festival.Established award-winning writers including Catherine McKinnon, Kirli Saunders and Helena Fox will also host talks. Dr Nicholson, co-author of Heroines An Anthology of Short Fiction and Poetry, will discuss her writing in the ‘Crimes of the Cross’ session. The festival will be held in the Thirroul Community Centre for the first time this year. “It’s close to a public transport hub and gives festival guests easy access to Thirroul’s great cafés,” Dr Nicholson said.“We’ve partnered with Wollongong City Libraries to present two free Young Readers and Writers sessions in the Thirroul Library and Collins Booksellers will also feature festival books for sale.”Dr Nicholson said the festival is a community event, with organisers giving it a rebrand in its third year to include readers in the title.  “We renamed ourselves the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival so that it is clear to the many readers in our community that this festival is for them,” she said.“This isn’t a festival only for writers. It’s a festival with writers that is designed for readers. It’s a place for book lovers to hear writer’s insights, to learn about and find new books, and to hear about the process behind their creations.”Ge the program and tickets here - https://southcoastwriters.org/festival

Kell Woods knew she wanted to be a writer from a young age. The voracious reader and self-confessed nerd spent all her spare time either reading books, or writing them.“If you asked me what I wanted to be at eight, I would’ve said an author, I was one of those annoying kids that read too much and probably talked too much,” laughs Kell.Fast forward a decade or two and the Jervis Bay local has achieved her dream, releasing her debut novel After The Forest in October. Set in Germany’s Black Forest in 1650, the historical fantasy reimagines the story of Hansel and Gretel, blending fairy tales and folklore to create a “gritty, real and dark story that is also really beautiful”.Kell will join a host of other talented writers at this weekend’s South Coast Readers and Writers Festival to discuss her novel and her journey to becoming a published author. “I’m so excited to be a part of this festival,” says Kell. “I’m going to be talking fairy tales with Melbourne writer Michael Earp, who I recently joined at the Supanova Comic Con and Gaming festival last month. We had so much fun together at Supanova so there will be lots of laughs this weekend.”Kell studied English literature, creative writing and librarianship at Macquarie University and worked as a reference librarian for 13 years. She was always surrounded by stories, whether sourcing them, reading them or writing them. Five years ago Kell began devoting “serious time and focus” to writing, completing After the Forest in 2020. Then the real hard work began: picking up a literary agent and finding a publisher. “I finished the book and started pitching to agents during COVID, so a lot of agencies were closed and weren’t taking submissions,” says Kell. “Most Australian agents weren’t interested in fantasy at all, I didn’t get very far in Australia.”Kell tried her luck overseas and sent through first chapters of her book to agents in the United States and United Kingdom. She was picked up by UK agent Julie Crisp and offered an acquisitions deal with US publishing powerhouse TOR books.  “I had to go out of Australia to get published in Australia, which is funny,” says Kell. “Now there are a lot more fantasy books out there, thanks to ‘romantasy’ books like Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses.” “I was at the beginning of that wave of popularity, so it was really good timing for me. Luck and timing often play a big part in whether or not a book gets published and I was writing the kind of books publishers wanted at the time.”Kell is now paying that good fortune forward, sharing industry insights and secrets to success with advanced English students from high schools across the South Coast, including Kiama High.“It’s been such a privilege to have the opportunity to work with high school students, to show them that what they are learning is relevant to their future professions,” says Kell. “It’s linking the curriculum with real jobs in the industry and I’m more than happy to share insights and learning with the next generation of creatives.”The question and answer sessions with industry professionals like Kell are the brainchild of Shoalhaven Head Teacher Careers, Shanna Fuz.“I love helping students to develop their own skills and employability,” says Shanna. “Nothing gives me a greater thrill than students discovering what motivates them to develop their perfect career, and then help them create experiences that link to that.”Kell held writing sessions at Kiama, Nowra, Ulladulla and Vincentia High Schools (Vincentia also happens to be Kell’s alma mater) and Shanna organised for each student to receive a signed copy of After the Forest.Kell Wood with Kiama High School student Olivia Cunningham“Hopefully I provided some inspiration,” says Kell. “I really wanted these kids to know that anything is possible, even if you go to a small high school on the South Coast like I did.” One of the Kiama High School students in the workshops, Olivia Cunningham (pictured), was doing work experience at HarperCollins when my book was being worked on and she was involved in that which is very exciting.”  Kell is putting the finishing touches on her second novel, Upon A Starlit Tide, which combines elements of The Little Mermaid and Cinderella and will be available early next year. She will take part in the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival Modern Fairytale session on Saturday July 13.

Don’t worry about ordering a book on Booktopia as it has entered voluntary administration.The company has appointed Keith Crawford, Matthew Caddy and Damien Pasfield from McGrathNicol to oversee a restructure or sale of the business.The company also owns Angus & Robertson."The Administrators are undertaking an urgent assessment of Booktopia's business while options for its sale and/or recapitalisation are explored," the statement said."The shares of Booktopia Group Limited (administrators appointed) will remain suspended from trading during the administration process. Shareholder updates will be uploaded to the ASX platform as required."The statement called on interested parties to "urgently" contact the administrators.The embattled company has been struggling financially for some time.Booktopia had the expense of transitioning to a $12 million robot-enabled warehouse facility.Using robots and Ipack Solutions packaging technology, the warehouse was intended to distribute more than 12 million units each year.But, in its half-year results for the period ending December 31, 2023, Booktopia posted a 22 per cent fall in revenue.The company had been suspended from trading on the ASX since June 19, following mass redundancies.Chief executive David Tenke resigned in June, while founder and director Tony Nash stepped into the role of executive director and sales director.Booktopia was founded in Sydney in 2004 by Steve Traurig and Simon Nash.It was listed on the ASX in December 2020 at an issue price of $2.30.From a high of $3 in August 2021, the company's share price crashed to $0.17 in June 2022.

From Greek mythology to rock music, fairytales to family drama, the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival has it all, including an insider’s look at the publishing business for aspiring scribes trying to break into the industry.The festival, at Thirroul Community Centre from July 13-14, features award-winning local novelist Helena Fox, lawyer-turned-author Bri Lee discussing her debut as a fiction writer, legendary Australian music writers Stuart Coupe and Jeff Apter and journalists Caroline Baum, Malcolm Knox and Mitch Jennings.The jam-packed weekend, with over 22 sessions, will cover genres including poetry, literary fiction, suspense, biography, memoir, historical fiction and First Nations writing, says festival director Sarah Nicholson.Dr Nicholson, who is head of the South Coast Writers Centre and a former University of Wollongong academic, says 60 percent of writers talking at the festival are locals. “We are excited to showcase more than 40 authors, poets, academics and journalists, who will cover everything from the literary classics to the pressing issues of current affairs," she says. "It will be a weekend filled with captivating stories, thought-provoking discussions, and inspiring conversations. We encourage people to come along and discover some of the local literary talent hiding on the coast."Australian historical fantasy author Kell Woods, Emma Darragh, who has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wollongong, and Illawarra Mercury journalist Mitch Jennings will all debut new books at the festival. Established award-winning writers including Catherine McKinnon, Kirli Saunders and Helena Fox will also host talks. Dr Nicholson, co-author of Heroines An Anthology of Short Fiction and Poetry, will discuss her writing in the Crimes of the Cross session. The festival will be held in the Thirroul Community Centre for the first time this year. “It’s close to a public transport hub and gives festival guests easy access to Thirroul’s great cafés,” she says. “We’ve partnered with Wollongong City Libraries to present two free Young Readers and Writers sessions in Thirroul Library and Collins Booksellers will also feature festival books for sale.”Dr Nicholson said the festival is a community event, with organisers giving it a rebrand in its third year to include readers in the title.  “We renamed ourselves the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival so that it is clear to the many readers in our community that this festival is for them,” she says. “This isn’t a festival only for writers; it is a festival with writers that is designed for their readers. It’s a place for book lovers to hear writer’s insights, to learn about and find new books, and to hear about the process behind their creations.”The full festival program and tickets are available here

Award-winning historical fiction writer Dell Brand hosted a book launch for her most recent work, Wylde Oates, at Kiama Library.Wylde Oates is Dell’s 13th book and fans helped her celebrate its success with an afternoon tea at the library. Those who attended heard how Dell came up with the idea for the book, set in Scotland, Sydney and Port Macquarie in the 1800s, while travelling through the British Isles with her late husband John. “John and I visited New Lanark Cotton Mill when we were in Scotland, and I like to write about places I’ve been to,” explains Dell.The book follows the journey of Tom Wylde who lands a job at the mill as a 14-year-old. Tom’s life is on track - he has a job and is set to marry his childhood sweetheart Bella Oates - until his temper gets the better of him. Convicted of a serious crime and sentenced to prison in the colony of NSW, Tom tells Bella to forget him. When Tom arrives in Sydney he begins work for Governor Macquaries in Parramatta before landing a job at a textile factory in Botany. “He hasn’t heard from Bella,” says Dell. “And once he receives his ticket of leave and is a free man he allows himself to fall in love and marry another woman. But soon after a letter from Bella arrives. She is on her way to find him.” Married to one and betrothed to another, Tom’s life is turned upside down. Despite the crossroads he finds himself at, Tom manages to carve out a successful life harvesting timber as a free man in Port Macquarie. He applies for a land grant and is successful, his superiors telling him he is “an honest and hard working man” who has “helped Port Macquarie prosper”.  Tom is instrumental in the construction of Port Macquarie’s Anglican Church, selecting the cedar and other timbers for the Church’s pew boxes and pulpit. Wylde Oates, which won an award at the London Book Fair, has been praised for its attention to historical details, something Dell is meticulous about. The author says 20 years as a volunteer at the Kiama Family History Centre helped to hone her impeccable research skills and her love of history. “When I'm doing my research I always try to find original sources,” says Dell. “I find diaries, newspaper clippings and journals written at the time. First hand information is key to good research.”So it was fitting that the book was launched at one of Dell’s favourite haunts, Kiama Library. Dell is a passionate supporter of libraries, where she has launched each of her books. She frequently hosts writing talks at local libraries and was invited by Friends of Kiama Library to speak about her books, and the art of writing, at their Christmas function last year. Dell is always happy to share her expertise with those interested in learning more about the craft of writing and runs a regular writing group - The Fiction Writers Group - as part of the South Coast Writers Centre. “Every month we share excerpts from what we are writing and we give each other feedback on how we think our books are going,” says Dell. This edition The Bugle is giving away a copy of Wylde Oates to one lucky reader who can tell us the name of the old Anglican church in Port Macquarie that Tom helped to build.

The Kiama Readers’ Festival line-up features a who’s who of literary royalty; Jane Caro, Chris Hammer, Hugh Mackay, Michael Brissenden, Joanna Nell, Sue Williams, David Hardaker. The list of talent, both local and national, goes on. Organiser Perrie Croshaw admits her first foray into organising the Festival, as President of Friends of Kiama Library, was “a baptism by fire”. Thankfully Kiama is a community of book lovers and talented novelists, so when Croshaw and a dedicated team of committee members and community volunteers tapped into their networks they were able to curate a stellar line up of authors for the biennial event.Supported by Kiama Council, Destination Kiama and a plethora of local businesses and community members, the festival will launch on Friday, July 19 with a sold-out event at Burnetts on Barney. Guest speakers Fiona Weir, a cookbook author and owner of Gerringong’s Buena Vista Farm, Kirsten Bradley from Milkwood in Tasmania, and Victoria-based gardening guru Craig Castree will discuss permaculture, kitchen gardens, self-sufficiency and cooking from scratch during the morning session which kicks off the festival.“Anyone who got tickets to this is really lucky,” says Croshaw. “It sold-out so quickly. But there are many more amazing author talks to choose from, we've got something for everyone, with really talented writers coming down, and a bunch of local talent as well.” Fred Smith - songwriter, author and former diplomat - will officially launch the festival at Kiama Library on Friday night and punters can expect something “a little bit different”.“Rather than just an author getting up and doing a bit of a talk about their book, Fred will bring his guitar and tell his wonderful life story through song and a multimedia presentation,” explains Croshaw. “He will discuss his fabulous book, The Sparrows of Kabul, which has been shortlisted for the ACT Literary Awards. He will also talk about his travels around the world as a diplomat. That's going to be a really fabulous event and is being catered by Saltwater in Kiama.”Another special guest is social researcher Hugh Mackay, possibly doing his last author circuit before retirement. “But who knows because he’s addicted to research,” laughs Croshaw. Crime writers Chris Hammer and Michael Brissenden will discuss their most recent work, dubbed Cli-Fi, a term coined when crime fiction meets environmental and political corruption. It is a genre in which the former political journalists are well-schooled. They will be joined by Sydney Morning Herald book reviewer, author and crime fiction aficionado Professor Sue Turnbull, who will moderate the author discussion. The session is a partnership with BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival.  “Chris Hammer is always well supported when he comes to Kiama,” says Croshaw. “He has been a guest speaker at Kiama Library before, and was a hit with readers. We expect the same response this time around too.”Journalist David Hardaker, of Four Corners and 7.30 fame, will talk to former Illawarra Mercury editor Nick Hartgerink about politics, power and friends in high places. Karen Viggers, internationally bestselling author, vet and soccer mum will discuss her latest book Sidelines. And award-winning journalist and columnist Sue Williams will share insights into Run For Your Life, her book about a family who fled to the Australian outback to escape Putin’s Kremlin. “Some people might criticise me for asking too many journalists along, but they seem to be the people that are writing at the moment,” says Croshaw. “We're also really lucky to have non-fiction writer Andra Putnis discuss her debut novel, Stories my Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me. The book is about her two Latvian grandmothers who lived through World War II and survived to immigrate to Australia. Sometimes you might think that you can't pick books like these up, because you know they're going to be sad. And yet, Andra’s book is so moving and beautifully written. I hope she goes on to write more.”Then there’s GP and author Joanna Nell, who has rewritten the narrative on ageing by featuring older characters who refuse to be defined by their years. “I have to admit, I’d never read any Joanna Nell books but when I did I just laughed myself silly,” says Croshaw. “I mean, it's a little bit close to home, because it's about a retirement village and I’m in my late 60s and staring down that barrel. But it was just so funny.”The festival will wrap up with a Gala dinner on Saturday night hosted by Walkley Award winning columnist, author, novelist and social commentator Jane Caro. “We are so excited to have Jane join the festival,” says Croshaw. “We know she will be very popular with the Kiama community.“We're definitely punching above our weight here in Kiama, with such a wealth of talented authors and avid readers. We have been really lucky to get the authors that we’ve lined up for this event. It's a very diverse lot and we did that deliberately to cater to everyone’s taste, but also to encourage people to step outside of their comfort zone and read something they might not have picked up otherwise.”A life-long book lover and former journalist, including for the Kiama Bugle, Perrie stepped into the role as president of Friends of Kiama Library late last year. “I thought I would just be doing four author events in 2024,” says Croshaw. “Then Michelle (Hudson) from Kiama Library said to me ‘oh, don't forget there’s the festival this year! Even though we're a small committee, we do have an awful lot of friends who've come along to help us with this venture. It has really been a community effort, with all the hard work from the committee and assorted volunteers who just love books. People in Kiama will really go the distance to read a good book and support writers. It's just wonderful to see so many people giving back to the community.”The book is definitely not dead, at least not in Kiama. Tickets to festival events are available at Kiama Readers' Festival 2024 Kiama Library (nsw.gov.au) 

“Old buildings whisper to us in the creaking of the floorboards and the rattling of the window panes.”Fennel HudsonA Meaningful Life – Fennel’s Journal No 1Old buildings have always fascinated me. The older and more dilapidated, the more intriguing. This one was no exception: a building that had stood tall and proud for over 150 years but now ached with the pain of old age. A crusty stone façade exposed the ravages of time and environmental degradation. Inside cracked floorboards scrambled invisible footprints of the many who had traversed them, playing a vital role in its rich varied history.I loved that old building. It was a fine example of what many new buildings lacked – character and history. It was soon to be gone forever however, a victim of the escalating push for urban renewal in the 21st century. I was on a mission to capture that character and record the history for everyone now and future generations to appreciate.I found a quiet spot, out of the potential path of the scores of pedestrians soon to hit the pavement. I erected my folding chair and placed my bag containing my sketch pad and pencils, a flask of coffee and a few snacks beside it. This building had been in my mind for a morning of sketching for some time but it was only hearing of its upcoming demise that I bumped it up to the top of my list.“Morning” a familiar voice greeted me from behind. It was Tom, a member of my urban sketch group who had lately joined my urban rescue missions.“You’re earlier than usual and very snugly clad for a cold morning I see,” I replied, commenting on his brightly coloured coat with matching beanie and mittens. “It’ll warm up soon,” I assured him.“So, what’s the story with this one?” “I’ve been able to get some old plans from the Council and information from the local historical society but it’s a little patchy.” I settled down in the chair, pulled my notepad from my bag and read out some of the information I had so far unearthed:It was built in 1849 by the Forward Steamship Company as a boarding house for seamen due to its close proximity to the working harbour. It soon became known as The Seafarers Lodge, described in the records as ‘a commodious dwelling house with spacious stores, replete with every convenience. Built from stone it had three floors and a 40 foot frontage on the street.’By the 1880s its casual residents also included sex workers, travellers with one floor operating as an opium den. During the early years of the 20th century it was bought and sold a number times with some renovations and improvements noted in the Council records. For a few years it housed a doctor’s surgery and manufacturing chemist. The Harbour Trust took it over in 1930 to lease out. It morphed into a boarding house for the last time during WW2, this time for the navy. During the 1980s it became a museum with extensive renovations begun but not completed due to the huge cost involved. It has been vacant since 2010, left to the elements (and a few rough-sleepers from time to time) while awaiting a decision about its future. Now the State Government is embarking on a number of projects that include this site to increase social housing in an attempt to tackle the housing affordability crisis in major cities. So, despite many protests over the last year or so, it is now earmarked for demolition: in the next few weeks to be precise.“There,” I quickly added, “another one bites the dust.”“So much for protests over these buildings,” Tom reminded me. “What about that one a month ago in Reid Street when we were nearly arrested,” he added as he settled into his chair getting his equipment organised for the morning of sketching. “Yep. That was a close call. It was only when the gallery confirmed why we were there they eventually let us go. We weren’t disrupting traffic; people were just curious and stopped to investigate. That’s why it's less problematic starting early like this.”   “So how are the plans for the exhibition going?”   “Great. Only one more then all they have to do is get them mounted and framed and finish writing up the histories to make them more interesting. Are you sure you don’t want to put some of yours in too?”I don’t think they are good enough.”“Well, they are, but it’s up to you.”It was gradually getting warmer and the light more intense. The city was beginning to awaken and come to life. When I arrived an hour or so earlier it was as if it had been holding its breath through the long cold night. In the distance I could hear the rattling of a couple of trains carrying the precious cargo of city workers and students from suburbs and surrounding towns into the central district for the day. Before long cafes down the street would be opening their doors, setting up tables for breakfast and preparing their coffee machines for takeaways.I glanced over at Tom, now with his mittens off, totally absorbed in his drawing. I looked down at my empty white page and remembering why we were there, pulled a charcoal pencil from my bag and began…

The debutThe old idiom ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ hit home for accomplished Gerroa author Lisa Darcy when her first book was published fifteen years ago.Lisa sheepishly admits she cried when she first saw the cover image of her long-awaited novel; and they were not tears of joy. The cover, emailed to her by her publisher, looked nothing like she imagined while squeezing thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears onto the 384 pages of her debut, ‘Lucy Springer Gets Even’. “Then I got over myself,” laughs Lisa. “I thought ‘okay this is what the marketing and publicity department has decided, I’ll just run with it’. Gratitude soon kicked in after the initial shock and, when Lisa saw her novel for the first time in a bookshop, she thought ‘wow, this is fantastic, I am an author’.”That was back in January 2009 and Lisa’s debut novel was so successful, it was rebranded after her publisher admitted the original cover was a mistake. Sales spiked (with a new cover and title - ‘Lucy Bounces Back’) and the book was sold as a wrapped bundle alongside best-selling author Jodi Picoult. Lisa now has nine hit novels under her belt, yet she remains humble; self-deprecation is her default position. Perhaps because, like all good artists, the journey to becoming a published author was long, and not without rejection. Writing the Great Australian NovelIn a previous life Lisa was a journalist in Sydney, working for Australian Consolidated Press - Kerry Packer’s stable of magazines - on publications including ‘Bride To Be’ and ‘Practical Parenting.’ It was in 2000, after Lisa had just given birth to her daughter and had two sons aged two and four, that she decided to pursue every writer’s dream – create the Great Australian Novel. “I thought it would be the perfect time to quit my day job and write a book, I thought it would be easy, I was so naive!” laughs Lisa. The internet was fairly recent back then but there were plenty of tips on how to write a novel, so Lisa followed a formula, set out by the publisher of blockbuster ‘Mills & Boon’ novels, and wrote a 60,000-word bodice ripper set in Venice. She’d never been there but thought ‘hey, how hard can this be?’ After months of toil, she sent her manuscript to acquisitions teams in Vancouver, London and New York (Australia had none at that stage) and waited for the offers to come in.“God, I was so arrogant - it got soundly rejected. The feedback was something like ‘great first line all downhill from there’,” says Lisa, who can laugh about it now that she is a successful author. At the time, it was a definitive blow to her ego during an already tough time in her life. Three lessons learnedShe was a new mum, pumping out thousands of words each day, while also in the midst of breastfeeding and toilet training. Despite the rejection, Lisa got back on the proverbial horse - this time taking on the lessons she had learned - to be successful you need to write from the heart, about things you know, and for genres you love. “I had that naivety, to actually send it off and think that it would get a good reception,” admits Lisa. “But that initial manuscript was so clunky. I don't regret doing it. It showed me that I could actually write a story that stretched to manuscript length. I knew I could write, I knew I could put a story together and I knew I could complete a task. But what I had to do next was actually write about something I cared about.”“So I went away and looked at my bookshelves and the novels I loved reading. It was the 2000s, so books like ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ (Helen Fielding) and ‘Watermelon’ (Marian Keyes). Those books are all written in first-person, they’re conversational, the author is talking to me as their best friend, confiding in me. When I looked at that first manuscript, it was in a third person point of view, distant. I was telling a story, but I wasn't involved in the story, so it wasn't coming from the heart.”Lisa believes her latest novel - ‘The Pact’ - is one of her best, written from the heart about complex family relationships and the unbreakable bond between sisters. But it has been almost a decade in the making, and she had to fight hard to get it published.Not a sports book, but one about familiesRewind to 2015. By this stage Lisa had published five books with Allen & Unwin (“the covers got progressively better”) before deciding to take a break from writing. Her kids were navigating the tricky teenage years and Lisa was the quintessential mother of adolescents; unpaid Uber driver, accidental counselor and round-the-clock chef. Once she had survived “teaching kids to drive,” Lisa rediscovered her love for writing and returned with a self-published book which “sold three copies on Amazon.” Unhappy with the final version, Lisa pulled it from the platform but knew that ‘the skeleton’ for a great story was there. “I just needed the heart and the muscle,” she says. “I really wanted to take my time with it and either self-publish again or find a publisher who actually believed in it.”That book became her latest novel, ‘The Pact,’ a compassionate dissection of the love-hate relationship between two sisters, who lost their mother as teenagers. The book explores how this traumatic event impacted their lives, and loves as they climb their way up the ladder as doubles partners on the international tennis circuit. “Samantha and Annie are professional tennis players and while I’ve played social tennis; badly, I am by no means an expert on the subject,” says Lisa. “Publishers would say, ‘oh if it was cricket or swimming maybe … but not tennis. For me, it was never about writing a sports book, I wanted to write a book about sisters, families, mothers. Tennis was a good way to highlight sibling rivalry, but essentially, the book is about exploring the psychological impact of losing your mother at a young age, how this creates a fear of abandonment for Samantha and a need to be loved for Annie.”Lisa threw herself into research for the book, reading biographies by Ash Barty, Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, Rafael Nadal, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert-Lloyd. But it is the human relationships and connections around her that she draws on for inspiration, admitting that her own relationship with her sister is the typical, love-hate, sibling rivalry archetype. But at the end of the day love wins out. “In most of my novels, but not this latest one, there's also the older mum, or grandmother, who is always based on my mother, but I don’t think she’s even read any of my books,” laughs Lisa. “And my kids have only just twigged to this, but for all their high school years I was forever just passing by their room when they had friends over, basically eavesdropping. I was absolutely stealing their conversations for material and I have no regrets!” “I don’t think my kids have read my books either, in my acknowledgments I always mention them. That was a little test to see if they came back to me. But I do know the boys have given copies to girlfriends, which they say they really enjoyed and laughed at, because they can see my sons in those stories. Without destroying any illusions, I think it's really important to talk about real life experiences, real relationships.” Becoming Lisa DarcyBack in the early noughties rural romance was ‘going gangbusters’ off the back of shows like McLeod’s Daughters. Lisa’s publishers reached out to her saying, ‘this is going to be the next big thing, can you write something like that?’ “I said ‘well, I’m a suburban mother, living in Sydney, yes I’ve seen a sheep and I’ve patted a cow but there’s no way I can do that’,” she chuckles. But what she could do was write coastal romance, with Gerringong the setting for her 2021 novel ‘Lily’s Little Flower Shop..“I’ve had a property in Gerroa for 25 years,” says Lisa. “I moved here permanently in 2021, when the kids had finished uni. I really should have written ‘Lily’s Little Flower Shop’ years earlier but when I finally started writing it, I knew I could do it justice because I know the fictional, but real, township I’m writing about.” The book has since been published in several languages, including French and Italian, and marked the beginning of Lisa’s success as a renowned international author when she signed with UK-based publisher Bloodhound Books in 2020. However, there was a catch. Her new publisher wanted to “completely rebrand” her. Lisa had always published her work under her maiden name, Heidke. By now Lisa knew the drill, publishers have the final say on covers, titles and even with authors’ names. “After I got over myself again, I thought okay I’m in charge here,” she says. She chose a name that she liked, one that resonated. Darcy was reminiscent of Jane Austen. Marketing research shows authors whose last names start with C or D do well in the line-up on bookshops shelves, explains Lisa. She wrote ‘Lily’s Little Flower Shop,’ ‘My Big Greek Holiday’ and ‘Should You Keep A Secret?’ under the pen name Lisa Darcy for Bloodhound Books.“Other than when I am talking to my friends and family and I’m Lisa Heidke, I became Lisa Darcy on all my new novels and socials,” she says.’ Lily’s Little Flower Shop’ has a special palace in her heart and is one of her most beloved novels. But ‘The Pact’ is the one she is most proud of. She fought hard to have it published on her terms.“This book has been so well-received by readers, and I’m really happy with the end result,” says Lisa. “And I love the cover!”

Over 100 Charmian Clift fans gathered at the Kiama Library on Saturday 1 June 2024, to hear Nadia Wheatley, discuss her new work “The End of the Morning”, the final and unfinished autobiographical novel by Charmian Clift. It is the book that Clift herself regarded as her most significant work. Although the author did not live to complete it, the typescript left among her papers was fully revised and stands alone as a novella. It is published alongside a new selection of Clift’s essays and an afterword from her biographer Nadia Wheatley.Wheatley is Clift's long-time advocate, and champion of both the work and the woman. She informs that Clift had produced this wonderful volume about a girl called Cressida Morley, who has appeared already in “My Brother Jack”. Kiama Library and Cultural Hubs Manager Michelle Hudson said, “The event sold out within a week and the community is always very supportive of all the Charmian Clift events we run.”When asked about the appetite for the new book Ms Hudson said, “Everyone was excited about this new book of essays and Nadia’s presentation explored Charmian’s Kiama through a series of old photos and readings from her essays.”“The main theme of the comments was that this new book will highlight Charmian’s writing again and hopefully many other readers will get enjoyment from her work.”There is both joy and sadness in reading Charmian Clift's unfinished novel, The End of the Morning, published some 55 years after her death. Clift writes, “In those days the end of the morning was always marked by the quarry whistle blowing the noon knock-off. Since everybody was out of bed very early, morning then was a long time, or even, if you came to think about it, a round time - symmetrical anyway, and contained under a thin, radiant, dome shaped cover...”Speaking about her character Cressida in The End of the Morning, Clift reveals, “I invented her first and her eccentric family who live in a weatherboard cottage on the edge of a beach. It is a book about young dreams and young longings and filled with sand and sea and sun and wind and seaweed draped on the front picket fence after a storm.”  And of course, we all know that front picket fence and weatherboard cottage are in Kiama - Clift’s hometown.During the years of the Great Depression, the Morley family were outsiders in their small working-class community. They rant and argue and read books and play music and never feel themselves to be poor. Yet as Cressida moves beyond childhood, she starts to outgrow the place that once seemed the centre of the world. As she plans her escape, the only question is: who will she become?Sydney writer, Fiona Wright, has said, “’The End of the Morning’ is full of feeling, animated by that formless, aching questioning of childhood, and a fascinating glimpse of the forces that shaped Clift as a person and a writer.” Peter Craven, Sydney Morning Herald journalist says, “Reading her, even a glimpsed paragraph of her, is like quaffing the finest champagne on earth.”Author Richard Cotter says, “'Forthright, funny and with an indefinable flair, Charmian Clift's writing plays second fiddle to nobody”.Charmian Clift was born in Kiama, on 31 August 1923. After serving as a lieutenant in the Australian Army, she joined the staff of the Melbourne Argus newspaper, and in 1947 married fellow journalist George Johnston. Clift wrote the memoirs ‘Mermaid Singing’ and ‘Peel Me A Lotus’, her two novels, ‘Honour’s Mimic’ and ‘Walk to the Paradise Gardens’, and, for several years, a popular weekly column that appeared in the Melbourne Herald and the Sydney Morning Herald. Charmian Clift died in 1969.Nadia Wheatley is the editor of ‘Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected essays of Charmian Clift’, and author of ‘The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift’. Described by critic Peter Craven as ‘one of the greatest Australian biographies’, this was the Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year, 2001, and won the NSW Premier’s Australian History Prize (2002). After 20 years it remains the classic account of the life and work of this transformational Australian writer.

This review coughs up a rather a shameful confession: I may have regularly – albeit unknowingly – littered work emails and team meetings with cringy corporate jargon and proudly paraded an important-looking lanyard around my neck to give the ego a bit of a stroke – particularly in younger years.  Thanks to the hilarious guys from Wankernomics – As Per My Last Email, James Schloeffel (The Shovel) and Charles Firth (The Chaser), I can now recognise this faux pas and ‘drill down’ on my journey to recovery – and have a hard-earnt laugh at my own expense!  However, I’m not alone embarking on this revelation. Approximately 730 corporate comrades filled almost every seat at Wollongong Town Hall to watch Schloeffel and Firth’s latest rendition of this side-splitting satire unfold on Friday, 3 May.  No doubt, this ‘workshop’ triggered flashbacks of long-winded meetings in which no parties are particularly clear on either purpose or outcomes, colleagues awkwardly passing the buck when put on the spot, recollections of many emails kicked off with a token (but no doubt often well-intentioned), ‘I hope this finds you well’, and copying in countless unnecessary people to make a point. Not to mention the impressive lingo on LinkedIn profiles and mission statements that quite literally could have been plucked out at random using a prize wheel, as Schloeffel and Firth demonstrated that evening with a brave patron who revelled in a crash course on everything she needed to know to ‘upskill’ for success. Hilariously, the random end result spat out by a few prompts and spins of the prize wheel quite likely reflected mission statements outlined by many modern organisations.  Enthusiastically tossing mentos to the audience, who had cooperatively ‘accepted the invite’ to the workshop, these guys presented the most refreshingly light-hearted lesson on ‘how to outmanoeuvre your colleagues with nothing more than an obnoxious LinkedIn profile, a passive aggressive email, and the phrase circle back. In a world where we often take ourselves and corporate lives too seriously, this presented the perfect reminder to laugh and lighten the tone.  And then … Wankernomics sent my over-analytical brain into overdrive, that led me way down into a deep rabbit hole – pondering how all of this corporate poetry per se happened to come about. And so, the ‘googling’ about the evolution of office jargon began. One write-up on TeamBonding claimed that office jargon came to the fore in the 1950s with the goal of office cohesion. It was around this time that three Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors, Douglas McGregor, Edgar Shein and Richard Beckhard, developed the field of organisational development, which saw buzzwords bulldoze through workplaces at lightning speed.  However, as demonstrated in Wankernomics, this evolution of talking in office tongue – often containing components unique to certain industries – commonly causes mass miscommunication. [1]  Given Firth in fact joked about using my emails as material for the show (although, that could disgracefully be legitimate!), I suppose it is only apt to sign off with a ‘kind regards’ or ‘best’, and then ‘loop in’ my network for a spot of team bonding to catch them again when they return to Wollongong Town Hall in December for War on 2024. In the meantime, head to www.wankernomics.com for witty tips and tricks about how to nail your professional persona!

It was the most unusual and intriguing music box I had ever laid eyes on, and I had seen quite a few in my twenty-five years as an antiques and curios dealer. Atop an exquisitely carved wooden box encasing the mechanism that produced the sound, sat an exquisitely crafted wooden clown with a rather deadly smirk on its face, clothed in a brightly coloured costume adorned with gold braid trimmings. It appeared to work by winding a handle on the side to make it play a whimsical tune with bells. I was allowed to try it but the tune was nothing I recognised. The moment I saw it in the auction room I knew I had to have it.     Despite being over a hundred years old, according to the listing in the auction catalogue, it was in excellent condition and the mechanism still worked. Its provenance was a little sketchy though – probably French but there was little else to provide clues to its origins. Provenance is important when dealing with antiques and curios so I approached the auctioneer to see if he had any more information     “It came from a deceased estate,” he began. “The name of the last owners was Carlyle. Such a tragedy,” he added. “I’ll provide you with the estate administrators' contact details, if you like.”    “Thanks, that would be great,” I replied, curious to know more. I was determined to buy it anyway. With little provenance, the price was going to be affordable I suspected.     The bidding went smoothly, and as there were only a couple of less enthusiastic bidders, I was soon heading back to the shop with my new treasure and a few other interesting bits and pieces.     There was really only one spot in the shop for my music box - in the middle of the front window display. I didn’t put a price on it. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure I wanted to sell it anyway but being in the window it was sure to capture the attention of passersby, who hopefully, would come inside and become customers.      “Oh, that was a real tragedy,” the estate administrator began when I contacted him the next day. “The entire family died in a disastrous house fire. Two very young children were deprived of a future and they were only just back from their trip of a lifetime to Europe. Such a waste.”     “Well, it’s actually the music box I bought at the auction and added to my collection that I am interested in. Do you know anything about it?” I asked, trying not to sound too disinterested in the awful circumstances by which I had acquired it. I vaguely remembered something in the news about a house fire recently but gave it no more thought.     “Oh, that creepy thing,” he replied, “One of the few items that survived the fire, heaven knows how. Sorry, I don’t know much about the music box except that I think they probably brought back from their trip.”     The music box was definitely creepy as he said but I was used to unusual things and had always been attracted to items that might be described as different, especially anything macabre. At times I did feel the strange clown’s eyes following me around the shop. The little bells he held in his hands would ring when someone entered the shop. As it turned out, rather than being annoying, the ringing of the bells was quite useful as it alerted me while I was busy online researching French music boxes to get some clues to their origin and history. I had already thoroughly inspected every bit of the box inside and out, looking for a makers’ mark or date to no avail.     As I was now quite certain that it had French origins, I started to search for information on music box makers around the time the auctioneer had suggested. It was then I came across an article in a French newspaper dated around 10 years ago. Although my French is a bit limited, I did manage to get the gist of it. It was a mysterious fire where a house burned down killing all its occupants. Only a strange music box survived the inferno. The photo attached to the article was a bit fuzzy but I could make out the silhouette of the music box and the distinctive clown. It had to be it! I instantly printed it out and arranged to take it to a friend, who was more fluent in the language and had connections in the antique market in France.       I am not sure if it was the smell of the smoke or the fire engine sirens that woke me abruptly from a deep sleep that night. Regardless, I was quickly out the window, carefully navigating my way down the rickety fire stairs in the dark. Thank heavens the old building that housed my shop and living quarters above it still had one, although it was in desperate need of repair.     Soon I was standing in the street wrapped in a blanket along with many of my neighbours, watching everything that mattered to me… the shop and all its wonderful antiques and curios, burn to the ground.     The source of the fire is still under investigation. An electrical fault, they suspect as the building was quite old and had not been maintained well enough, I was told by experts. But I had another idea that would have been too weird to share and no one would have believed me anyway. True to the history I had been discovering about it, once again, the music box was the only item in the shop that survived.     I often wonder why it spared me but I'll never know because as much as I still loved it, the music box went straight back to the auction house the very next day.