Unless you’ve been living under an Uluru-sized rock, or you live outside this land girt by sea, you may have missed that Charlotte Wood did indeed win the Stella Prize, as I predicted

5 things I learned about writing, publishing and Seinfeld

Drowning, not waving: an interview with Yannick Thoraval
Melbourne writer Yannick Thoraval is the author behind The Current, a book which beautifully weaves together the doomed future of a pacific island and a dysfunctional
family unit. It centers on the Van Dooren family, in particular its patriarch Peter, and the family’s nihilist attitude to their lives – traversing themes like climate change, alienation, teen angst and consumerism. It is a sharp social commentary, in a darkly humorous way.

‘Gynobibliophobia’*?
Last week the Guardian published a piece on the Stella Prize: ‘Stella prize 2016 announces longlist of 12 books by Australian women‘. For my across-the-waters-friends who may not have heard of it, the Stella Prize celebrates Australian women writers’ contribution to literature and aims to bring more readers to books by women.
What was interesting, other than the tantalising list of books itself, was the article’s comments section. Nothing is more likely to rile commentators than when women point out sexism and then, in particular, have the temerity to try to address it. So I read the comments with my fingers, figuratively, covering my eyes.