So Sad Today is a book of personal essays by Melissa Broder, detailing her struggles with addiction, anxiety, panic disorder, relationships and an overwhelming fear of death. The book originated from an anonymous Twitter account of the same name in 2012, tweeting about the human condition in catchy one-sentence bites that were in equal parts…
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Writing a memoir is a monumental task. And I write that as someone who has never attempted to do so. Consolidating decades of one’s life into a work small enough to be held in one hand seems titanic, especially given the complexity of its primary source: memory. The subtle art of memoir has been beautifully…
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Unlike ABC’s Q&A, the panel for the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction is chockers with excellent women. Over the next few weeks, Lip will be getting to know our judges, so you can meet the writers who will be reading your work. This week we are featuring Melissa Lucashenko, author of Mullimbimby. What have you got planned for…
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Within the chaos of Melbourne’s Federation Square, there sits a modest caravan. Beyond the rounded windows the square is full of people. You can hear the clip-clopping of befeathered clydesdales leading grinning tourists in gilded carriages. You can smell the petrol fumes of heavy traffic, and watch a cheeky busker crack a whip and…
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Three years ago, I travelled to England in search of Jane Austen. I‘d been a tragic Janeite for a long time. I could tell you exactly what Captain Wentworth wrote in his letter to Anne in Persuasion and recite the first few pages of Pride and Prejudice. Even as I write, my Jane Austen doll,…
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By now, we all know the story of JK Rowling, who, at the request of her publisher, published the Harry Potter books using her initials, instead of her full first name. Her publisher believed the book would appeal to boys, and thought boys wouldn’t want to read the book if they saw a woman’s name…
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Continuing on from my last column on whether or not writers should be paid for writing for the internet, this week I read an article about author Joe Simpson (Touching the Void), who decided to split from his publisher Random House over a dispute about ebook royalties. Random House were prepared to offer Simpson 25…
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