Celebrating Australian Women Writers in the Short Story Form.

           

I very much enjoyed reading Jemimah’s review (Oddfeather Creative) of Clair Aman’s collection ‘Bird Country’.  I’ve long been a fan of Aman, having read her work in some of Australia’s top literary publications. She is a master of characterisation but Jemimah points out that these stories are as much about place as about character:

Her stories would not have the impact they do if it weren’t for the almost suffocating presence of the sunshine, the open road, the emptiness, the rain, the suburbs.

A nice site to visit. I love the blog name, the header artwork, and the intimate conversational style. I felt like I’d dropped in for a cup of tea with a fellow ‘word-nerd’. Thanks for having me Jemimah.

There’s a good review over at Ashleigh’s place (The Book Muse) of Melanie Cheng’s award winning book ‘Australia Day’; a comprehensive overview of the collection, in which Cheng ‘allows the characters to speak for themselves.’

Another award-winning writer – Beverley Farmer – is featured on Jonathan’s blog. Jonathan says of Farmer’s collection ‘This Water’:

There’s something about its five stories that signals a grand indifference to fashion or indeed to how any reader might judge them.

Jonathan points to ‘The Blood Red of Her Silks’ as the stand-out in the collection.

I am such a fan of Kitty Flanagan’s comedy that I only need to see her face and I start laughing. So, I was pleased to see two reviewers giving us the rundown on Flanagan’s collection of comedic memoir pieces ‘Bridge Burning and Other Hobbies’. Rebecca Bower on ‘Seeing the Lighter Side’ said reading the stories was ‘like enjoying a stand-up routine in print and every bit as funny.

Likewise, Ashleigh at ‘The Book Muse’ writes that Kitty’s voice is ‘as clear as it would be live’. book cover of Rubik by Elizabeth Tan

The first thing that strikes me about Elizabeth Tan’s ‘Rubik’ is that the cover looks a bit like Heather Rose’s ‘The Museum of Modern Love’. Nancy Elin reviews ‘Rubik’ in her unique style which I love.  Nancy gives us the ‘Weak Points’ and ‘Strong Points’ and throws an interesting snippet into the review about where she was reading and how she was feeling. I encourage you all to check out Nancy’s blog as she has a delightfully interesting way of presenting her feelings on the books she reads. Love it.

What an inspiration it was, reading the wonderful reviews of short story collections over the past couple of months. I’ll be ‘chatting’ to you all again in July.

 


 About Me: 
I am a writer of short stories, essays, poetry and one novel 
and I am passionate about writing and reading the Australian voice. 
My bushfire themed collection of shorts was published in March 2017 by Hybrid Publishers
and I’m currently working (oh, so slowly) on a water-themed contemporary historical novel.
www.karenleethompson.wordpress.com