The Godfather: Peter Corris on books in translation
I’ve been translated into six languages, seven if you count American* – French, German, Swedish, Japanese, Russian and Serbian. This is the kind of information some writers and publishers put on their websites. It sounds impressive in this globalised age, but is it?...The Godfather: Peter Corris on sticking up for the Stones
Memory is a fragile thing. If anyone had asked, ‘Did you and Jean Bedford ever write to Al Grassby, Minister for Immigration in the Whitlam government, in protest against a move to prevent the Rolling Stones from touring Australia?’ I would have denied it. But I’d...The Godfather: Peter Corris on finding the titles
Getting titles right is important. I remember a stand-up comic speculating on how novels with titles like Mister Zhivago or The Sun also Sets would have fared. How about Lucky James? The working title I had for the first Cliff Hardy book was so bad it could have...The Godfather: Peter Corris on the books that stayed unpublished
Like many, perhaps most, scribblers who’ve been at it a long time, I have written books that will never be published. Generally speaking, this is a good thing for the writer and readers. Nothing of Hemingway’s published posthumously enhanced his reputation and the...The Godfather: Peter Corris on filming Cliff Hardy
I’m often asked why more Cliff Hardy novels haven’t been filmed or made for television. Good question, but it’s a long story. The idea of a Hardy film came up quite early when only three of the books had been published. Director Stephen Wallace responded to my agent...The Godfather: Peter Corris on seeing and hearing
In 1958, when I was sixteen, I was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. In those days methods of injecting insulin and monitoring blood sugar levels were much cruder than they are now and maintaining good metabolic control was difficult. That I did so for the next few...The Godfather: Peter Corris on living in Newtown
In Sydney I’ve only ever lived in the inner-west, but it took me a while to find my way to Newtown. I had short stints in Redfern and Balmain in 1970 before going overseas, returning to Canberra, surviving two years in Victoria and then heading to Sydney. In late 1975...The Godfather: Peter Corris on book dedications
Dedicating books is one of the few ways an impecunious writer can do something nice for people. Publishing around 80 books has given me ample opportunity to acknowledge family, friends, helpers and people I’ve admired. Not that every book of mine has a dedication;...The Godfather: Peter Corris on alcohol and writing
Patrick White worried about his drinking. He told biographer David Marr there were times when he drank half a bottle of spirits a day and wine as well. He consulted doctors, almost hoping, Marr suggests, for a diagnosis of alcoholism, which would relieve him of...The Godfather: Peter Corris on book reviewing
I came to book reviewing in a bizarre way. In 1975 I was teaching at a CAE in Gippsland, Victoria, and hating it, when I read a newspaper review by Olaf Ruhen of a book on Pacific history. I was affronted. I’ve forgotten the book’s title, but I thought the review poor...The Godfather: Peter Corris on stayin’ alive
My medications and health support devices sit on top of the filing cabinet in my workroom. A Type 1 diabetic, I have two insulin injection pens and a glucometer to check my blood sugar three or more times a day. The glucometer uses strips contained in a small plastic...
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