Stuff me: Mind your language

I have been swearing a bit lately, particularly in my written work. I suppose I should stop. There was a time when I wouldn't have uttered anything like a swear word — in fact, when I emigrated to Australia at the age of 15, the Aussie schoolboys (who used the word ‘fark’ even when asking the …

Separation anxiety: the darkest of times

When I left home to get married at the age of 20 turning 21, my Dad sat in the lounge room playing his guitar and shouted, 'Seeya David,' as I lugged the last of my bags to the car. I have no idea how he felt about it because we never spoke about it. But …

The power of now: Night fighters and a glorious new beginning

I sat with Harry Carter on his front verandah, both of us watching the bushes, and the birds in the garden, and letting the sun beat down on our heads. He was 89 years old, had been an air force pilot in World War II, and wasn’t keen on talking to me at all. But …

Coffee and cigarettes: A captured moment

A kiss, but not a kiss A moment of connection, and also contempt. Those eyes, dark and foreboding, laughing with, or at, me. The casual and forceful exhalation of cigarette smoke in my direction ... towards the lens, towards my eyes, one of them closed but stung nevertheless. The ultimate act of dismissal. Or seduction. …

A Queen story: You buggers can sing harder than I can

Bohemian Rhapsody was the first song I remember being aware of as a kid. I have a clear memory of us kids singing it in the schoolyard and making up lyrics because, clearly, no one knew what the actual words were. Those memories are filed alongside other powerful ones from the time: the smell of …

Writing begins with a microphone … in a cafe … over coffee

Release the Bats

If you fail at basketball, you fail at basketball. If you fail at literature you risk failing as a person, because your full matrix of being is at work in it — DBC Pierre, Release the Bats

On writing: Wild Wood and the Babadook

It was just one small comment, but it made a world of difference. 'I love that process of being told by the work what it is, but it also requires faith and trust and that can be hard.' Just a flash of understanding that acts like a key, a key that unlocks ... me. I …

Back to black: Amour and Amy

One movie ... every night ... for the next year ... Two pretty confronting movies the past two nights: Amour and Amy. Both of them devastating, and both very similar in their depiction of the slow degradation of health and life and love. The first is a French movie, superbly written, acted and directed, that …