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!