‘Just write. Even if no one ends up reading it, every piece of writing you produce goes towards honing your craft!’

“Horatio Squeak is about giving unlikely friends a chance and being brave despite your fears. It’s not enough to listen to your true feelings — one needs to voice those thoughts, even if it is just a squeak!” – Michelle Wanasundera reviews Horatio Squeak by Karen Foxlee.

‘”Refugee Memories” helped me understand my mum’s frustrating politics. She is a single mother, a Vietnamese refugee with little English literacy, and was on Centrelink after her pirated video rental business collapsed in 2015. She shares videos of Donald Trump’s speeches on Facebook.’

‘Krauth had won the Australian/Vogel literary prize a dozen years earlier... But I didn’t know of him or any of that then. I just recognised that the whitefella sitting in the big chair with the tousled hair and long forehead had a peculiar glint to his eye.’

‘She just radiated generosity — not the sort of empty friendliness you get at networking events, or the condescending niceness of a celebrity doing you a huge favour, but someone genuinely kind.’

Springing its way to you this new season are literary events you won’t want to miss. Are these in your calendar yet?