Tuesday December 15th 2009

On today's episode of the Blurb, we were very lucky to have David Kerr, Vice President of Geelong Writers Inc. in the studio to share the good news that the GW Inc committee has been revitalised and are looking forward to putting together a program of interesting events for writers in Geelong in 2010. David read beautifully an excerpt from the Geelong Writers Christmas anthology, which is available for $20 from Pam Holman on 52440276. His reading is available in podcast here.

Great excitement today as the Blurb received its first caller! Neville from Newtown, claiming to be Peter of Petersborough's brother, rang in to nominate his top 3 reads of the year:
1. "I, Mick Gatto" - Neville was impressed with Mick's self-reliance and economic rationalism.
2. "Roberta Williams: My Life" - a role model for young women, the well known Pascoe Vale socialite
3. "The Truth Hurts" by Wayne Carey - in Neville's words "a good old fashioned boy from the bush who came to the city and beat the urbanites at their on game ON AND OFF THE FIELD!!!"

I really appreciated Neville's contribution to the show, especially since Bernard was coincidentally absent from the studio (apologies to the codabeen champions).

The show had a very "mummy-ish" flavour today as I extrapolated the adage "write what you know" into "broadcast what you know", inspired by my delightful daughter and guilt over what a crappy parent I can be sometimes.

Today's book review was of "Sleep is for the weak" edited by Rita Arens. I found this book through Alice Bradley's "Finslippy" blog. You can read my review at Goodreads here.

Tunes today:
"Mummy's always in a hurry" by Tiffanny Eckhardt from the WatemChoo compilation.
"The Fine Friends are here" and "Country life" from Dan Zanes and Friends'"Catch that Train"
"Sisighengini" by Ladysmith Black Mambazo from the "Homegrown" compilation.
"Deeper Water" by Paul Kelly.

Tuesday December 8th 2009

Well it was an action-packed show today (as much as it gets for us, anyway!).

John Bartlett review: "The World Beneath" by Cate Kennedy.

JB mentioned that Paul Kelly will be appearing, along with other writers at A Gala night of Storytelling at the Melbourne Town Hall, Saturday 13 February 2010 at 06:00PM. This is one of the first in a programme of events for the Wheeler Centre for Books, ideas and writing.

He also gave a glowing review of Bruce Pascoe's novel "Bloke". "It's just a fantastic story, really... it's a funny, funny book... he does dialogue brilliantly."

Bernard's book list this week:
"The Good Soldiers" by David Finkel
"Wonders of a Godless World" by Andrew McGahan
"The Museum of Innocence" by Orhan Pamuk

Bernard also recommends the Australian Literary Review, published on the first Monday of the month in "The Australian" newspaper.

Robyn read excerpts from poems by John Keats today in preparation for the coming movie "Bright Star".
"On first looking into Chapman's Homer"
"Endymion"
"Ode to Autumn"

Tunes featured in today's show:
"Christmas must be tonight" Paul Kelly
"Let the Franklin Flow" Goanna
"Teenage Fury" Megan Washington

James Watt, Art teacher at Sacred Heart, reviewed "Cubism and Australian Art" by Lesley Harding.

Tuesday December 1st 2009

Our studio guest today was Simon Townley, editor of the Geelong Advertiser's opinion pages, talking with Robyn about what makes a good letter to the editor and how the opinion pages are put together. A podcast of the interview is available here.

Robyn reviewed "The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, and shared some information about Audrey's writing group and their litmag, little bang.

Tunes featured in today's show were:
Dark end of the Street by James Carr
Un Bel Di Vedremo from Madama Butterfly by Victoria De Los Angeles
Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes

We also played a reading of "To Shine" by Jewel Kilcher, followed by "Life Uncommon" from her album "Spirit". Bernard also mentioned a movie that Jewel appeared in, "Ride with the devil".

Tuesday 24th November

Today we had a studio full of guests! John Bartlett one of our roving reviewers, shared his insights on MJ Hyland's "Carry me down" - as John says, she specialises in troubled people - or do her characters provide a window on a troubled society?

He attended a writers forum in Katoomba "From book to film", with special mention of a workshop entitled "Help! A filmaker stole my baby!". Among the presenters at the forum were producers, directors and screenplay writers, with special guest David Stratton from "At the Movies". Bernard nominated "Wake in Fright" and "Catch 22" as books that translated very well to film, wheras the film "Jindabyne" failed to capture the mood of Raymond Carver's original short story "so much water, so close to home".

Helen Morris, author of "Libby Llama and Charlie's Adventure" and illustrator, Bill Warren, a local artist, were our next guests. This book features Barwon Heads as one of its characters, along with Libby the Llama and young Charlie, available from Griffiths bookstore and bookshops at the Bellerine Peninsula.

Tunes we played today:
"Missing in Action" by Weddings Parties Anything
"Pure Love" by Colin Hay
"Chunari Chunari" from the Monsoon Wedding soundtrack
"Everything's turning to white" by Casey Chambers (written by Paul Kelly).

Today's poem was "The Polish Guitarist's First Paris Concert" - published this summer's "Meanjin" (Melbourne University Press) and winner of the inaugural Dorothy Porter prize for poetry.

In a brief review, Bernard thought that Tom Frame's "Losing my religion: Unbelief in Australia" was a lost opportunity for an engaging discussion of this rather important topic. It read too much like a textbook and Frame lacked empathy for the perspective of those outside the Christian faith.

Next week, we're hoping to Blurb on with some people from Geelong Writers Inc. - stay tuned!

Tuesday 17th November 2009

On today's show:
Our roving reviewer, Alison Miller, interviewed Nikki Gemmell about her latest publication "Why you are Australian: a letter to my children".

Bernard interviewed Candida Baker about her latest book, "The Infinite Magic of Horses" published by Allen & Unwin, a collection of heart-warming true stories from horse owners around the world.

Bernard reviewed "The Assassin's Song" Written by M.G. Vassanji, an Indian expat now living in Canada.

Tunes featured on the program today were:
"Under the Clocks", Weddings Parties Anything from their album "Roaring Days"

"The Blind Harper" from Kate Rusby's album "Underneath the stars"

"Laal Laal Ghagri" by Vikrant Singh from the album "Bhangra - The sound of Bollywood"

Today's poem, read by Bernard, was "The Horses" by Ted Hughes.

Tuesday November 10th 2009

Today we had local author John Bartlett in to review Alex Miller's latest book, "Lovesong". We also interviewed Juliet Marillier about her book "Heart's Blood", published by MacMillan.

Songs featured in today's program were:
Our theme tune "Gymnopeide"
"Two Hearts" Chris Isaak from "The Baja Sessions"
"The Bonny Swans" Loreena McKennitt

Bernard and Robyn read excerpts from a couple of Poems, including "The Lady of Shallot".

Coming next week: Alyson interviews Nikki Gemmell about her new book, "Why you are Australian: a letter to my children".

And here it is folks... the new webpage/space/thingy

Welcome, avid listeners of the Blurb (all 5 of you) to our webspace where we promise we will leave you with a summary of each show, including books we've reviewed. Even if we fail to mention vital information like title and author on our program, you can be sure to find it here. As long as Robyn manages to keep it updated. Hmmm.