The Sex Pistols meet William Shakespeare. It isn’t often that these two British cultural icons are grouped together. Yet Bell Shakespeare’s new production of Henry 4 does just this, and much more, to present a punk-inspired interpretation of the classic play. The production debuted a few weeks ago in Canberra, and will soon open…
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‘You’re writing your memoirs? But you’re young, what do you have to write about?’ This is the question I have been facing on a regular basis since I started writing my memoirs as part of my honours degree. Writing my memoirs… It seems strange and a little grandiose to say that. I feel as though…
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One of the most well-known literary couples is Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. Hughes, who died in 1998, was a poet and children’s writer, named Britain’s Poet Laureate in 1984. Plath met him in Cambridge during her tenure as a Fulbright scholar, she herself building a successful literary career as a poet and author before…
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It’s a truth universally known by all women that we aren’t trying to “have it all” when we have children and work. We’re trying to have children and live with the dignity and respect we get from being able to pay all our bills. Another universal truth known to all us women is the feeling…
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You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt This week my nephew Reuben faced his fears and had swimming lessons. We all cheered and glowed with pride. Apart from…
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Considering that Bloomsday is imminent (16th June), I thought it might be appropriate to produce a short piece of writing on one of my favourite short stories from James Joyce’s Dubliners: “The Dead”. It is a story mesmerising in its beauty; its recreation of reality profound. It is, in the minds of many, one of the greatest works of…
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I’ve got to be honest with you: when I get album review requests, I end up ignoring most of them. It’s not because I don’t think there’s good music out there begging to be reviewed (there’s a lot of good music out there, period), it’s really just more of a timing thing. PR companies typically…
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Janine Rostron is a bit of a personal hero of mine- I’m just going to chuck that disclaimer out right from the start. Go and watch her latest single Misxgyny Drxp Dead under the moniker Planningtorock and you’ll know exactly where my kiddish adoration springs from. Her commitment to pushing boundaries in sound, video and…
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Earlier this week I went to a talk given by Tara Moss as part of the Sydney Art Gallery’s “We Used to Talk about Love” series. The talk was really interesting, and Moss was able to provide some fascinating insight into femininity and crime from her experience as a writer and researcher of criminology. As…
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Age columnist Martin McKenzie-Murray was quite shocked after writing an article about Canberra, only to find himself publicly and personally attacked by the people of the nation’s capital. Was their reaction over the top? Probably. Was it justifiable? I argue yes. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Because McKenzie’s article isn’t a one-off. It…
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Certainty kills one’s curiosity and blinds one’s mind’s eye to the wondrous questions we need to ask ourselves as we write. Uncertainty should be our guide. Likewise self-doubt is something all serious writers worth their salt wrestle with. Without some self-doubt and uncertainty one would descend into a self-satisfied mediocrity. Yet for someone who endures…
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A colleague of mine once described the beginning stages of a relationship as the ‘best feeling ever’. She explained, ‘getting to know someone and the excitement of discovering what you have in common is just the most electrifying thing.’ Her comment was directed at her new boyfriend but I happen to think you can feel…
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A series of t-shirts have been withdrawn from sale online at Amazon.com after consumer outrage over their apparent glorification and support of sexual and physical assault. The t-shirts featured statements like ‘Keep Calm and Knife Her ’, ‘Keep Calm and Rape Them’, and ‘Keep Calm and Hit Her’, to name a few. The t-shirts were…
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I not only shamelessly judge books by their covers, but by their titles, too. I’m forever drawn to quirky titles, and What the Raven Saw by Samantha-Ellen Bound, was one of the most intriguing titles I’d read in a while. Add to that the beautiful cover artwork, and I couldn’t wait to rip open the…
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