Weeks of horrendous revelations about the actions of Oxfam staff in midst of crises have shocked me and millions of others. Stories about abuses of power, position and privilege which are both all too familiar in this era, but also a punch in the heart because we thought that Oxfam and its people couldn’t do…
“We made an album. Where’s our million bucks?!”
I was lucky to be asked to join Book Who’s Talking producer extraordinaire Josie to chat about master storyteller Philip Pullman‘s latest work, La Belle Sauvage, the first volume in the new The Book of Dust trilogy. Following on from the intelligent, subversive and wildly imaginative His Dark Materials trilogy, Pullman takes us back to…
Today is my birthday. I’m now thirty six years old. In my reckoning, that’s the last year of your mid-thirties, and it’s a perfectly fine age. I’m not one to agonise over aging; I’m philosophical as my body creaks and softens, as the list of things I’ll never be good or expert at lengthens, as…
It’s been just over two months since I entered my mum’s home and found her gone. The initial panic and shock of her death have ebbed away, leaving a roiling sadness and a constant subterranean processing of my grief. Now, the first steps have been taken to re-home her two dogs, Milo and Mabel. Both…
I recently had the joy of seeing Debbie Zukerman’s The Gonzo Hour as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
I have to preface this review by outlining what I will and won’t cover. Part of Aeon‘s specialness is the unexpected, the unsaid and the unpredictable, so I can’t describe the structure of the work too much, lest I spoil the delight and surprise for future audiences. So aside from the small number of details…
Returning to Australia, James Vincent McMorrow has upgraded his digs; last time I saw him perform live, it was the venerable Corner Hotel, shitty viewing angles, background noise clatter, surly staff and all. This time around, he played the Elizabeth Murdoch hall in the Melbourne Recital Centre, that carved wood and acoustically isolated grand parlour.…
International Women’s Day is March 8th each year, and this year (as I have for previous years), I’ve reflected on the women in my life, and how important it is to me that genuine equality is our shared social aim and that we actually achieve progress. In my family, my mother and sister have been…
Book Who’s Talking is an ace new podcast from Fiona, Laura and Cool Ben. Each month the Book Who’s Talking team review a book, and even fantasy cast the film adaptations. The title for this month (and the first episode of the series) is Ready Player One from Earnest Cline. Packed with 80s pop culture references,…
Thanks to AirBNB’s beta City Hosts program, I got to spend an afternoon with talented photographer Ronya Galka. Walking through central London as a small trio of travelers had a chance to tap Ronya’s insights, her gentle pushing to challenge our photography practice and really expand your sight to find those unique moments in the…
In an era heavy with self-publishing, from the selfie to the blogger influencer, from citizen journalism to reality TV, from political outsiders to plebiscites, we’ve rejected the elites and valorised the everywoman and everyman as earthy, connected and wise. Traditional arts and performance are challenged by the practically infinite stream of user-generated content, curated and hosted…