Sexy pears and Arctic Terns
Sydney Writers' Festival and the most confusing book I've ever read.
Dearest Readers,
Last week I attended the Sydney Writers’ Festival and, as expected, had the time of my life.
There’s something delightfully Scholastic Book Fair-coded about SWF. I love the sense of community and the way you can strike up a conversation with the person next to you because #bookpeoplearethebest. There’s a big bookshop at the centre of it all, and honestly, nothing thrills me more than watching people load up on books. I am a capitalist monster after all.
Sitting at Carriageworks and listening to world class authors is truly a transcendent experience and I always walk away with a couple of quotes etched into my brain. I saw a few of my Perth book crew like Kristy Diffey and Megan McCracken and loved catching up on everything we’d been reading.If you haven’t been following Kristy may I suggest you do so? She creates cookies based off books and their authors and they are ART. And actually whilst I’m at it follow Megan too at @festivalmavens . She reads more than I do and always has excellent recommendations.
Kristy’s instagram handle is @jetlagmama
Unfortunately I was coming off a week of really nasty gastro that hit my little family. We all got it and then both boys ended up with Influenza A - so it was rocky. But my partner stepped up and ordered the boys copious amounts of Uber Eats and watched hours of power rangers and Roblox with them so I could attend a few things.
The first panel I attended was an in conversation with the Moriarty sisters (there are 3 writers and six siblings total) and it was far funnier than I expected it to be.
Liane, the eldest sister, reminds me of myself because she’s the big sister to six younger siblings. I only have one sister, but I deeply related to her bossy big-sister energy and her complete inability to handle negative feedback about her work.
I’m the same. I’d rather spend three years working on a novel (which I have been doing #flex), rewriting it a million times, than show it to anyone too soon. The less feedback, the better - otherwise, I completely unravel. It’s not necessarily an ego thing (or maybe it is), but more than anything, it’s embarrassment.
That’s why I found the panel so refreshing. Here was Liane Moriarty - a woman who has published countless bestsellers and had her books adapted into film and TV - openly sharing her deep insecurity about her own writing. It was oddly comforting. If she still doubts herself, maybe there’s hope for the rest of us.
On Friday came the announcement of the 2025 Stella Prize winner, and as a proud ambassador for the prize, I was honoured to attend the ceremony. It was a moving moment when Michelle de Kretser joined via satellite to accept the award for her novel ‘Theory and Practice’. She used her acceptance speech to speak about Palestine, and I had to hold my breath to stop myself from sobbing.
A selfie for good measure. Otherwise how would you know I went?
I think my favorite talk of the festival was seeing Yael Van Der Wouden speak about her exceptional novel ‘The Safekeep’ which was shortlisted for The Booker Prize. I know I have devoted an entire substack to this book but seeing Yael talk to Claire Nichols reignited my love for it once again. I love Claire Nichols, she is the best moderator.
Yael spoke about the way she writes desire and how the art of writing a good sex scene was not about the actions but the things that surround or foreshadow the sex.
Like the pear…. IYKYK.
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If I’m honest I haven’t had a chance to read this past fortnight but prior to that I read both ‘Migrations’ by Charlotte McConaghy and ‘Audition’ by Katie Kitamura.
‘Migrations’ follows it’s protagonist Franny Stone who is on a mission to follow the Arctic terns on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. We don’t know much about Franny initially, only that she is running away from dark secrets and unable to stay in one place too long.
The novel is set in a world where most animals have become extinct so when Franny approaches a fishing boat and tells them that the Arctic Terns could potentially lead them to fish they oblige in hopes of scoring a bounty.
As Franny’s complicated past starts to catch up with her it becomes clear that the terns aren’t the only reason she is running ahead.
For those of you who have read ‘Wild Dark Shore’ you will know of Charlotte’s passion for animals, the environment and climate change. I feel late to the party in reading ‘Migrations’ but can now see how Charlotte managed to carve Wild Dark Shore from the foundations of her second book.
It certainly feels like some kind of prequel, even though the stories have no real connection, just similar themes.
When I had finished WDS I felt quite sad that there wouldn’t be another novel (at least not for a while) that could measure up to it but now I know it exists in McConaghy’s backlist.
She is such an accomplished writer and her work is so galvanizing in the way that she weaves family drama and layered characters into a dying world. I’ve now been told that I have to read ‘Once There Were Wolves’ so that’s next on my list.
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About a month ago I sat in bed reading ‘Audition’, Katie Kitamura’s latest novel and literally tearing my hair out. It’s not often that I feel like a big stupid DUMMY but this book spun me right around.
How do I explain the premise without confusing you…..
I’ll start by saying that you need to start this book knowing your brain will explode.
The novel starts with a woman entering a restaurant to meet a friend. The friend is a young attractive guy but that’s all we really know.
Who is the woman? It is unclear. But *all of a sudden*, the woman’s husband walks in - she spots him and panics. He then walks out (maybe, or maybe not, having seen her too).
Over the course of the book we discover that there is a performance at play.
What is reality and what is performance? We don’t know and I am not sure if the author knows. But the novel is dare I say genius?
I spent the days after reading the book messaging book friends and quizzing them on what they thought. It’s the kind of book that has you googling everyone’s responses at the end of it.
How are we all feeling?
What are we all reading?
I’m absolutely cooked after two weeks of illness and want this silly little divorce to be over ASAP so I can move on with my life. I have a weekend of rest up ahead with plenty of writing and reading on the calendar.
Happy Reading!
Jessie
xxx