Random Thoughts: On writing tips and publishing insights from the Sydney Writers’ Festival. By Linda Funnell
As the Godfather continues to recuperate, the NRB editors take turns to share some random thoughts. This week Linda writes about the Sydney Writers Festival, which finished last weekend. I’m told there were 450 writers participating in this year’s Sydney Writers’...
Random Thoughts: On the womanly arts. By Jean Bedford
Since tribal days, and probably before, women have been the instigators of, and largely predominant in, several arts – usually demoted to ‘crafts’ in our patriarchal world. (How did men get the ‘martial arts’?) Primarily these womanly arts are gardening, cooking,...
Random Thoughts: On recent biographies of Australian women. By Linda Funnell
While Peter Corris takes a break to heal a break, in lieu of Godfathers we are publishing random thoughts from the NRB editors. This week it’s Linda’s turn. I love a good biography. During my career I have been fortunate to publish two...
Random Thoughts: On gardening. By Jean Bedford
Peter Corris is taking a break to heal a break and we hope he will be back at his keyboard soon. In the meantime, in lieu of Godfathers we will be publishing random thoughts from the NRB editors. Here is the first, from Jean. When we moved to our unit in Earlwood 10...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on Sydney Town
I’ve spent a good part of my life in Sydney, perhaps 20 years or more, and seem always to have returned here after sojourns away. Although I am devoted to Sydney, you might say I’ve philandered to other places. I’ve owned houses here, rented others, been employed, and...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on lawn bowls
I’ve never played lawn bowls. I’ve tended to think of it as a game for mature people who could no longer play golf for one reason or another. When I could no longer play golf I had such poor vision I wouldn’t have been able to see from one end of the green to another....
The Godfather: Peter Corris on playing patience
I’ve lately taken to playing patience – the one-handed card game known in the US and Canada as solitaire. With no skill at cards, this, along with Snap, is a game I can handle. But, as well as luck it does require vigilance, and for me, with poor eyesight and no...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on early days in the AFL season
It’s early days in a long season but the AFL competition has already thrown up some interesting configurations and contradictions. After Hawthorn disappointed supporters and some pundits by failing to achieve a ‘four-peat’ last year, few would have predicted that the...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on Olivia Manning
Part of the pleasure of reading (or being read to, in my case) is revisiting something with renewed enjoyment or perhaps beneficially changing one’s mind. I experienced both of these pleasures on re-encountering Olivia Manning’s The Balkan Trilogy comprising The Great...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on where ideas come from
‘Where do your ideas come from?’ is a question often put to authors, especially crime writers. When I was busy at the trade I tended to fob it off with answers about my imagination and picking up on things I’d overheard when I was a journalist or...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on things lost but not forgotten
Have you ever lost something you valued? Just found it gone, vanished like that single sock lost in the wash? In a longish life I can think of a few instances, some of which still tease me. One of my much-admired uncles – to my shame I can’t remember whether was Uncle...
Recent Posts
CHRISTINE BALINT A Single Witness. Reviewed by Ann Skea14 May 2026Christine Balint’s fourth novel takes inspiration from the courage of a teenage [ … ]
VERONICA ROTH Seek the Traitor’s Son12 May 2026Set in a future Earth, the first instalment of Veronica Roth’s new [ … ]
FRANCESCA DE TORES Cast Away. Reviewed by Ann Skea7 May 2026The new novel from the author of Saltblood again traverses the high seas, this [ … ]
CLARA BRACK The Secret Landscapes: On not pleasing your mother. Reviewed by Sandra Hogan5 May 2026Clara Brack finds her own voice in exploring the differences between her [ … ]