Well, wasn’t the 2012 Sydney Writers Fesitval fantastic? Sydney glittered beneath our feet and all around us (literally: there was a glass section of floor at the Sebel at Walsh Bay where you could look straight down into the shining harbour). Blue, shining autumn light wherever the eye settled.
And the program! And the writers! And the readers! Everyone was happy it seemed to me — despite the fact that lots of the writers were muttering about how few books were sold. For whatever reason — despite really enthusiastic, responsive crowds — people just weren’t buying books at the end of sessions. The rise of ebooks? The rise of poverty? Who knows?
My favourite part was finally getting to meet writers I had either adored from afar or was dying to meet: Geoff Dyer, Charlotte Wood, Kerry Greenwood, Nikki Gemmell, Michael Kirby. Lots of fan girl moments for me, but a particular favourite was telling Michael Kirby how much I admired him. He seemed like a darling.
And the great bunch of impressive women! Anne Summers, Anita Heiss, Sophie Cunningham, PM Newton, Caroline Roessler and Wendy Harmer of The Hoopla. And –wow!! — who knew Tara Moss and Di Morrisey were so amazing. Tara is six foot tall, a breast-feeding mother who has travelled four months out of the last six with a breast-feeding baby, who writes novels and is a great supporter of women, human rights, injustice. Di has been campaigning for Burma for years and her last novel is set there. She says she never gets invited to writers’ festivals because she is a ‘popular’ writer rather than a ‘literary’ writer. Shame.
Lots of publicity for MY HUNDRED LOVERS, including this in the Sydney Morning Herald by the splendid Helen Greenwood (no relation to Kerry, and who also interviewed me, very sympathetically, for my Q and A session).
Then news that the Channel 10 dailytime show The Circle Book Club has chosen MY HUNDRED LOVERS as its book of the month for June. First session is on this morning at 10 am if you have time to watch it. I’m thrilled! Now I only have to hope that they don’t hate it!
The book will be officially released in the first week of June.