Old news and new

Dear blog,
    it has been so long since I last wrote in you. A lot has been going on and I'm not really sure where to start, but you are not a diary and I will be methodical. I had a gorgeous, gorgeous Summer with my adorable friends and (mostly) adorable family. I have read some good, some bad and some downright ugly books (a paradox of working with one of the things I love most in the world).

Christmas was crazy (job numero uno involves selling books - and pre-Christmas retail from the 'other' side of the counter is not the most desirous of pastimes). My sister was here from the UK - she works in a museum which sounds amazing. She also, I have discovered, does some guest blogging at the London Happiness Project usng the name Pippalippa, which is not her real name but it is very close.
  I have a new job as Emerging Editor of Islet an online journal of micro fiction and visual art which is part of Island magazine. I'm enthused, excited and inspired - and will blog about the process here.

  In Hobart, my (non possessive) amazing city perched on the edge of the earth, a grand and curatorially mindblowing museum opened -it's MONA and I'm embarrassed to say that the closest I've got to it so far was the cattleclass shenanigans of the opening party and while I may have accidentally crashed the VIP area I am yet to wade through the bowels of the museum proper. MONAFOMA rocked my mid January world - seeing and hearing Neil Gaiman reading a story was the highlight.

I sat, entranced, as if I were on the mat in grade two being read to by the teacher- though this time it was in a huge shed, with a beer in my hand and surrounded by grown ups - and he was accompanied by Four Play, a sexy string quartet and there were large images from Eddie Campbell projected as a captivating backdrop.

    I have conversed with some gorgeous, informed and inspiring people on The Book Show on Edge Radio - last year the show ended up with a grand turntabley bang - when Dale and Michael from Arcade Publications interviewed me. Others who I've chatted with on the radio so far this year include Anjum Hasan, Maris Morton, Posie Graeme-Evans, Ivy Alvarez and Danielle Wood . Accordingly, I am way behind with podcast uploads. Stay tantalised crew, the podcasts will cyber-fest (like manifest though in cyberspace) any day now.
Over Summer I also read the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote - though that's a whole 'nother post. I also did a digital publishing course and learnt some new things. 

  It was a fantastic summer. I even got the flu and scored three whole days in bed (I rarely get sick and even more rarely afford myself the opportunity to stay in bed for three whole days - watching DVDs and drinking orange juice, better still).

Excellent things are still going on - and here is what is coming up over the next week alone -
We are full-flight into Ten Days On the Island - Tasmania's biennial arts festival Next weekend, as part of Ten Days, is the Home Truths Literary festival - lots of discussions about books, about writing and about ideas - something that I hope will make all of our heads hurt just a little bit and in a good way as we have our minds stretched and entertained.
  In the lead up to the announcement of the weirdly organised Tasmanian Book Prizes, Fullers Bookshop is hosting all of the nominated authors and publishers reading over three nights later this week - here's a link to the full details. Also at Fullers on Sunday, April 3 at 1pm is the launch of both Patsy Cameron's Grease and Ochre  and Anita Heiss' new Koori Chck-lit Paris Dreaming. Next Sunday is also the day of the launch of the latest edition of Islet and I will be there celebrating with the incumbent Emerging Editor, the capable Anica Boulanger-Mashberg, whose patience and wit is making the job handover entertaining AND informative. That's at the Town Hall at midday and will also be the launch of the latest edition of Island
  Next Friday, April 1 at 5.30 at the Hobart Bookshop is the launch of David Owen's latest Detective Pufferfish novels How The Dead See. One of my earliest ever blog posts was a review of an earlier Pufferfish No Weather For a Burial.
Phew. I hope to see you round the traps- and I'd love to hear what you're reading or if you know of any other exciting book or word related events.