‘Position doubtful’ is an old surveyors map term used for areas where it is almost impossible to get a landmark for bearing.
In her memoir , Kim Mahood uses this term to apply to her memories of the history of a homestead that used to belong to her family and her deep attachment to the land and its indigenous peoples that surround this place. Here she reads from her opening chapter and later in our interview explains what has drawn her to write of this geographical place that is located in her heart and of the charts she created to depict its story.
You’ve been listening to Kim Mahood discuss her book ‘Position Doubtful’ and our music track was “Periphery’ by the Belle Miners.
Sophie Green decided to set her fictional novel : THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIE’S BOOK CLUB’ in the outback because she too had fallen in love the land but her novel explores the lives of the women on several outback stations who form a book club as a way of getting to know each other- particularly the new girl, ??.. freshly married and arrived from England.
Luc SAnte is an author and critic. He is frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books.
‘The Other Paris’ is actually a walk through the history of Paris from 200 hundred years ago to the 20 century
The Paris we know today was, in Napoleon’s time, a city surrounded by a slowly destroyed rural life, where the fringes of the cities inhabitants struggled to eke out a living beyond ‘The Wall’. I found it interesting to hear an account of the frenetic recycling that this produced, as every scrap of material and detritus was used to make a new product. Luc and I spoke about ‘The Other Paris first and then he read a whole chapter from it. I found the visions he evoked were mesmerising and so have allowed this to be one long read from a single author .
Original music score by Ken Naughton.
Songs ‘ Paris se regarde’ and ‘Paris’ by Bebe et Lulu
Hear author Jeneveive Chang as she recounts an exciting but also dangerous time she spent as a young dancer in Shanghai in The Good Girl of Chinatown , and Nadja Spiegelman will enter that fraught area of the relationship between a highly strung mother and her daughter in her memoir ‘I’m supposed to protect you from all this’.
Music tracks : ‘I love you and let you go’ by Gyan; ‘Fire in her Belly’ by Trysette
Nick earls is an Australian novel writer who has written over twenty books for both adults and children. He has won numerous awards internationally and nationally for his writing and two of his books ( 48 shades of brown and Perfect Skin )have been adapted into feature films, and five into stage plays. ‘Wisdom Tree; is actually a series of five novellas, subtly linked through the characters and events.
In this podcast-short extracts from Wisdom Tree’s five novellas are read by other noted authors:
Gotham read by Liam Pieper ? Gotham introduces us to ‘nasty boy’ , the latest rapper sensation.
2.Venice read by Ashley Hay ? friends conspire to support another by the means of a casserole
Vancouver by Matt condon ? a young boys recollections of his eccentric father and his involvement with a basket baller
In ‘Spark’ Rachel Craw has a group of teenagers, fumbling with their own emerging feelings and identities caught up in a tale of genetic engineering and superheroes, James Bradley explains the title of his work ‘Clade’ and reads from the opening chapter when the hero has elected to go on a mission to Antarctica, while Krissy Kneen in ‘An uncertain Grace’ really gets our heads turned around with the idea of observing the world through other people’s eyes- even their skin!
Music Track : Robotica by Michael Fairley from ‘Boy from Mars’
Today our edition has a serious theme as two authors give us very different accounts of the horrors of war. Australian Artist George Gittoes has been present at so many wars I actually lost count and he corrected me when I was interviewing him. As a public speaker he is riveting His book ‘Blood Mystic’ is an account of just a few of the warzones he has witnessed and recorded, and of his life lived perpetually on the edge of danger. Louise Doughty’s book ‘ Black Water’ is a novel, but it is based on extensive research she made into Jakarta’s dark history. There is strong language used in this edition and adult themes.
JESSE BLACKADDER ? 60 SECONDS; ASHLEY HAY ? 100 SMALL LESSONS
Our two authors today have set their work in tropical areas, and it is this ‘sense of place’ that imbues their characters trajectory.
In Jesse Blackadder’s ‘ 60 Seconds’ ? a move from Tasmania to the Northern rivers of NSW provides the backdrop to a family tragedy, while in Ashley Hay’s ‘ 100 small lessons’ the character of Lucy has moved from Sydney to Brisbane. Both these novels are about coping with loss and change.
Keenan Malik is an Indian-born British writer, lecturer and broadcaster, trained in neurobiology and the history of science . he is also a writer, lecturer and broadcaster and a presenter of Analysis, BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme and a panelist on the Moral Maze.
It is 20 years since the late Ayatollah Khomeini declared that everyone involved in the publication and sale of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses should be killed. Keenan Malik’s book FROM FATWAH TO JIHAD – The Rushdie Affair and Its Aftermath attempts to understand the legacy of its publication and questions the notions of political correctness it has led us into in our debates about cultural differences
Lesley Truffle ?’The Fabulous Hotel du Barry and ‘The Scandalous Life of Sacher Torte’ with Cassandra Dean ?’Silk and Scars’
Two fabulous romance/adult/fiction writers to while away the holidays.
Lesley Truffle’s heroines are feisty and lusty, and never say die no matter how grim the situation. Cassandra Dean’s heroine is a poor scribe who becomes involved with a mysterious scarred, Duke. Well written and good escapist fun!
Lesley and Cassandra read a short passage from their novels and then give us an insight to their working processes. Interviwed by the award winning broadcaster, Karena Wynn-Moylan
Some kids just love to read and can be found with their nose in a book or glued to a screen e-reading any time of the day, but for some the magic of entering those other imaginary worlds eludes them. Reading is an important skill and some parents despair that their children just don’t seem interested but maybe they just haven’t found that one book that is the key . Our three authors today all write for that tricky age of ‘7-12 years
