The UWAP Blog - UWA Publishing

Reading and writing with a glass of wine - the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival

2012-05-15T00:00:00Z

A good book and a glass of wine never fail to disappoint, and plenty of fun (and wine) was had at this year’s Margaret River Readers and Writers festival (Thursday 3 – Sunday 6 May 2012), with an impressive line-up featuring some of Australia’s most exciting writers.

Among those were UWAP’s Stephen Scourfield (Unaccountable Hours) and Amanda Curtin (Inherited, The Sinkings), who were both kept busy over the festival weekend with writing workshops, panel discussions and book signings.

One of the most popular events was Scourfield’s ‘Writing on the Road’ workshop, attended by an audience that included readers and writers alike and provided a fantastic insight into the world of the travel journalist. The three-hour workshop was informative, offering a rare glimpse into the pleasures and pitfalls of writing on the road: led by a dynamic host, Scourfield reminded us all why he is an award-winning writer with stories of his own travels (including a race through the jungles of Borneo with a very disgruntled Orangutan in hot pursuit).

Amanda Curtin entertained guests in her workshop, ‘Stories to Tell’, which was presented by local writer Nicole Sinclair. The two authors discussed the nature of narrative and the inspiration behind a story in a lively and thought-provoking debate.

Other guest writers included the enigmatic Judy Nunn and Bruce Venables, who joined Mark Greenwood and Frane Lessac in ‘Between the Sheets’, a searingly frank and funny rummage through the lives of four married authors.

In ‘An Audience with Judy’, the world-reknowned author led a full audience through her extensive writing and acting career, and ‘The First Saturday Book Club’, with playwright Margot Edwards in the hot seat as Jennifer Byrne, discussed in riveting detail Dickens’ Great Expectations and Peter Docker’s Waterboys with energy and enthusiasm.

Organised by a team of dedicated book-enthusiasts, including the indefatigable Danielle Haigh and Heather Locke, the weekend went off without a hitch and a great time was had by all. We look forward to next year!

Charli Newton

UWAP work experience Intern

Conversations with the Mob exhibits journey of healing

2012-05-08T00:00:00Z

An exhibition from Walkley Award-winning photojournalist Megan Lewis featuring photographs from her book, Conversations with the Mob, was opened by Ray Martin on Sunday 6th May.

Megan Lewis and Ray Martin at the opening of Conversations with the Mob. © Michael Amendolia

In 2002, Megan Lewis went to live with the Martu people — one of the last Indigenous groups in Australia’s vast Western Desert to come into contact with Europeans.

Through stunning photographs and oral stories, Conversations with the Mob captures the beauty, humour and friendship of an Aboriginal community at odds with Western culture.

When the Mob allowed a ‘whitefella’ to come and live with them, the understanding was she was there to take photographs to share with outsiders. But the project became more than a book or an exhibition — it was a journey of marpan (healing) for whitefellas and Martu alike.

The exhibition is now at Artsite Gallery in Camperdown, Sydney, until 20 May. In addition to Conversations with the Mob photographs, it features ‘I’m Beautiful’, a digital exhibition offering a glimpse into the world of Martu youth, also by Megan Lewis.

Clarrie Robinson, from Warralong Community, with Megan Lewis © Michael Amendolia

With the primary aim of having fun and boosting confidence, the children in this photoshoot were presented with a box of dress-up clothes and invited to ‘be yourself’ – whoever that ‘self’ might be.

Megan Lewis is a current Fuji Ambassador, and her photographs will be displayed at the end of May in a Melbourne exhibition for Fuji.

Clarrie Robinson, Clarrie Jnr, Ray Martin, Megan Lewis, Kevin Cooper from Fujifilm © Michael Amendolia

For more information about Megan Lewis or the Conversations with the Mob exhibition or book visit www.artsite.com.au or www.uwap.com.au

Ray Martin with Megan Lewis © Michael Amendolia

Gallipoli novel entwines fact and fiction

2012-04-25T00:00:00Z

There are few fictional accounts of Gallipoli – a fact that is surprising when you think about the significance of this event in the Australian psyche. A handful of novels draw on it in part, while the lauded Peter Weir film, Gallipoli, captures the battle scenes and the heartache in full. Bruce Scates’ new novel, On Dangerous Ground: A Gallipoli Story, fills this gap – and does so impressively.

In the opening scene of On Dangerous Ground, historian C.E.W. Bean returns to Gallipoli in 1919, just one year after the Great War has ground to a halt. With him is the artist George Lambert and a young soldier, Harry Vickers. Their mission is to investigate the rumoured desecration of Australian graves at Gallipoli, but the journey has deeper consequences for them all:

The landing seems a lifetime ago now. And yet it feels as real and as close as if it were yesterday. In the half-light, memories surge across the water. How strange to feel so homesick for Anzac.

The Australians are guided by a Turkish officer, Zeki Bey, whose gentlemanly manner forbears any reciprocal hatred. Scates prompts the contemporary reader to consider the cost of Gallipoli to other nations. The 1915 narrative pauses briefly to tell the story of a Turkish soldier, Ahmed:

Until a few weeks back, Ahmed had no cause to hate the English, no more perhaps than did the Kurds, the Greeks, the Bosnian refugees and displaced Armenians who fought alongside him. Gallipoli was not his home, so why should he risk his life to defend it? He longed only to return to his farm and his family, the embrace of his wife, the laughter of his children.

And woven through all of this is the bittersweet love story of Lt Roy Irwin and nurse Elsie Forrest, young lovers who meet on route to Gallipoli only to be torn apart when Irwin goes missing in battle. The 1915 and 1919 narratives alone are deeply layered; they are also entwined with a future-looking 2015 storyline.

George Lambert, Gallipoli wild flowers, oil on canvas, 28 February and 1 March 1919

In just three years, 2015, we will be remembering one hundred years since the Gallipoli landing. The centenary will be an important moment, and I wonder what kind of debate will surround it. On Dangerous Ground imagines a 2015 in which the same concerns of how to remember the dead are being raised in an entirely different political climate to 1919. Amidst political intrigue and a flirtation with a young woman from Army Intelligence, young academic Dr Mark Troy is trying to save the Gallipoli graves from roadworks on the Peninsula.

The book is a page-turner, but what Bruce Scates brings to the table is more than a good yarn. As one of Australia’s pre-eminent historians, the facts are precise and his historical interpretation thoughtful. But Professor Scates goes further – he crosses from history into fiction to shine a light on parts of the Gallipoli narrative that history cannot reveal. It is a powerful and timely novel.

On Dangerous Ground: A Gallipoli Story by Bruce Scates is available now. Read an Anzac Day opinion piece by Scates in The Age here.

Kiri Falls

Sales, Rights and Marketing Coordinator

The Melbourne launch of Crimson Crop

2012-03-28T00:00:00Z

They didn’t name Melbourne a UNESCO City of Literature for nothing. Visiting Melbourne is always good for the spirits as a publisher: there are so many others making wonderfully diverse lists here, so many excellent bookshops who are serious about their craft, and there are so many writers out on the streets.

I was here to help to celebrate the launch of Peter Rose’s new volume of poems, Crimson Crop, at Readings Carlton, a bookshop I’ve been visiting for 30 years and rarely leave empty-handed.

Andrea Goldsmith, Peter Rose, and Terri-ann White

My main task on Monday evening was to introduce the launcher of the book, a person who probably needed no introduction, Andrea Goldsmith, novelist and well-known Melbourne literary figure. Andrea gave a passionate account of the book, describing it as Peter’s best book to date and reading from a number of its poems.

There’s nothing better than having an endorsement such as this at the start of a book’s life, and Andrea’s careful reading and the time she took to write her speech was wonderful, and all the more admirable when we heard that she has just delivered her next book to her agent—so in that white-hot period of completion she’d taken on another task, faced up to another writer’s fierce concentration.

Andrea launching Crimson Crop

In response Peter also read a set of his poems, including the cracking title poem, a favourite of mine already but particularly enhanced by being read by Peter. There were a number of supporters in attendance, including work colleagues and board members of Australian Book Review, Peter’s day job, and fellow poets including Chris Wallace-Crabbe and Gig Ryan, amongst others.

Our upcoming author, Kristin Henry, also a poet, was there, offering a great opportunity for our first meeting. Her verse novel, All the Way Home (May, 2012), is a current favourite in the offices of UWAP.

In these times of stress for book publishers and booksellers, a night such as the one we had is a superb tonic, reminding us again why we do what we do. Congratulations, Peter.

Terri-ann

Director

To view more photos from the launch, head to our Facebook page.

Passions

2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

What is your passion in life? Who do you love? To what do you devote your unaccountable hours?

Perth-based author and the Travel Editor for the West Australian, Stephen Scourfield, offers three stories in his new book, Unaccountable Hours, about the passions that consume the time we call our own – our unaccountable hours – whether in music, family, nature, love or friendship.

Passion – for music and family

In ‘The Luthier’, musician Alton Freeman devotes his life to crafting a violin that will reproduce the perfect sound of Bach’s Partitas and Sonatas, as played by his idol, musician Monica Erica Grenbaum.

Passion – for someone you love, fraternally or romantically

‘Like Water’ tells the story of an unlikely friendship and subsequent romance that develops between kindred spirits Matthew and Beatrice – two soulmates born generations apart.

Passion – for nature and preserving the natural environment

‘Ethical Man’ follows the biologist and birdwatcher Bartholomew Milner, who lives stringently according to his ‘Milner’s Ethic’, and is put to the ultimate ethical test whilst on a research expedition in the Australian outback.

Each of these novellas appeals to the environmentalist, the romantic, or the artist within, and on such a day as this – Valentine’s Day – it’s nice to read about characters who embrace their passions and devote their lives to what really matters in life – love, friendship, art, music, literature, the earth and its flora and fauna.

Britt

Publishing Assistant

Stephen Scourfield will be at the Perth Writers Festival from 24 – 26 Feb.

Image: patpitchaya/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Second Man on the Moon

2012-02-09T00:00:00Z

‘It takes vast willpower, luck, and skill to be the first. But it takes a gigantic heart to be number two.’ – Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad.

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

The second man on the moon:

Magnificent. Magnificent solitude.

Mattias lives his life by Buzz Aldrin’s dictum; trying to find magnificence in his solitude, trying to avoid making that giant leap for mankind. But the earth carries weight and far too much water and people keep on appearing when you least expect them to and they keep finding you when you are lying down in your solitude or when you are submerging yourself in all that water. This is a novel that searches for solitude in the desolate, moon-like Faroe Islands. About a small group of people who decide to make an escape together, more than once.

We accompany Mattias from his quiet existence as a gardener in Stavanger, Norway, to a peculiar post-psychiatric commune in Denmark’s hidden islands. There is a brief adventure to the Caribbean on a manmade boat. The landscape along with the story is epic. There is unmaintainable love and subsequent despair. Discovery is constant.

Mattias finds out that Buzz Aldrin may not be the character he thought he was and is left to ask, what happened to me in all the confusion? Far from an experience of solitude, you come out of Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? having found company in Mattias; a character that reveals himself in unusual ways, bringing you into such close proximity to him that you will find him unforgettable.

An author whose voice has been compared to Dave Eggers and The Little Prince, Harstad’s skillful use of language is formally daring with an unexpected intensity. He strikes the perfect balance between drama and comedy with a candid use of pop-culture. At times poetic and rambling, at others sharp and concise, Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? is like a perilous journey in a small boat – it makes you revalue life.

Anna

UWAP Prac Student

Johan Harstad tours Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from 23 Feb – 2 Mar 2012. Catch him in several Perth Writers Festival sessions (available here) from 24 – 26 Feb.

Wirlomin Noongar books fast favourites in schools

2011-11-18T00:00:00Z

Recently, UWAP received a wonderful letter. A teacher in Canberra, who had discovered our bilingual Noongar-English storybooks, Mamang and Noongar Mambara Bakitj, wrote to tell us how much her students had enjoyed the books.

‘It’s about time we teachers had some new books of Aboriginal stories,’ she wrote. ‘These two came to my author husband to review and I seized them and have read them to many classes at the many schools where I am a Relief Teacher. The books have been greatly enjoyed and prompted much discussion (“Where did the whale go?”)’.

Included with the letter were a number of book reviews from Year 2 and Year 4 students. In careful printing, comments such as these warmed our collective hearts:

‘What I liked about Mamang is that how the man in the whale sings a beautiful song in the whale.’

‘I liked Noongar Mambara Bakitj because of the illustraition and the wondurful and magnificent colours.’

And our favourite by far:

‘I relly love the Mamang story because of the illustration and it relly makes the story good and it was relly fun to read and I was relly sad when the man sqwez the wale’s heart and I love all aboriginal and it was brilliant and I loved it.’

Kiri

Sales, Rights and Marketing Coordinator

Book trailers are the bomb

2011-11-14T00:00:00Z

Book trailer. An oxymoron, right? Once, the answer would have been a resounding ‘right!’ but this growing trend is just one of the ways in which digital media has changed our experience of buying and reading books.

So what is a book trailer? Think of the trailers you watch before a movie, or on YouTube, and you’re thinking in the right direction.

But a book is not a movie, so should a book trailer be just like a movie trailer? Well, yes, there is one pretty big similarity – both have the sole purpose of introducing a viewer to a story, ‘teasing’ us with glimpses of character, plot and style.

After this the two diverge; not only do book trailers not have ready-made footage, but reading a book is quite a different experience to watching a film. So book trailers don’t always look much like movie trailers, and the variety (and varying quality) of book trailers is a reminder that we’re dealing with a different kind of product.

Let’s not be down on book trailers, though. It’s this point of difference that makes the genre (if I can presume to call it that) an exciting tool; having no pre-made footage takes the lid off a box of possibilities. The movie trailer genre, on the other hand, has been locked down hard and fast for years.

So if we want to make successful book trailers, how do these bad boys work? No film footage to splice together, no hard-and-fast genre conventions – and ‘no thanks’ to a synopsis scrolling up the screen in text!

Great trailers respond to the style of the book with any techniques that suit: animation, still photos, film grabs, voice-over, text… the trick is to find the heart of the book and build a short video around that single idea, not re-create the story in movie version. It doesn’t necessarily need a huge budget either. How the story is introduced and hinted at is where creativity is let loose.

One of the best examples I’ve seen of creatively taking a single idea from a book and making a ‘teaser’ is the trailer for Gone by Mo Hayder.

I’m also proud of this trailer made by our very own Amanda Curtin for her new collection of short stories, Inherited, which you can find on UWAP’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/UWAPress?feature=mhee.

If you’re interested in learning the basics of creating your own book trailers, writingWA offers a yearly workshop on this topic.

Kiri

Sales, Rights & Marketing Coordinator

Image: Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cooking the Books

2011-11-07T00:00:00Z

We have a tradition here at UWA Publishing, where we farewell departing staff members with a morning tea on their last day. I’m not talking about your average tea-and-biscuits morning tea, but an extravagant bake-off between staff members that would put a busy Parisian patisserie to shame!

A delicious spread (with salt & vinegar chips)

Over the past year, the morning teas seem to have grown from a modest spread into a gustatory feast that could feed a small army. More recently, the culinary competing has resulted in macarons, cheese and cayenne biscuits, cupcakes, scones, dill and ricotta tartlets, danishes, homemade dips, melting moments, gourmet cheeses, cake…and salt and vinegar chips.

Cinnamon scrolls, raspberry melting moments, and salt & vinegar chips

You’re probably wondering why an office of ten people, busy working on books eight hours a day, five days a week, would put so much effort into a farewell morning tea. Well, the best way that I can explain it is that because we are a small team we inevitably become close to the people we work with, and the ritual farewell morning tea has become our way of expressing our immense gratitude to staff for their dedicated service to the publishing industry.

Cheese, macarons, and cheese and cayenne biscuits

Undoubtedly, there is also great satisfaction that comes from channeling one’s passion for producing wonderful books into creating delicious food to share with delightful company.

‘Black, white and a little bit 'o’ red cupcakes', and salt & vinegar chips

So next time you’re after some foodie inspiration, ask your editor for some tips as to the best thing to cook while one is busy proofreading manuscripts!

Anne’s Danish (salt & vinegar chips not pictured)

Britt

Publishing Intern

Images courtesy of Sonja Porter and yours truly.

Sonja's Bookshelf

2011-11-01T00:00:00Z

The Sinkings by Amanda Curtin

I find that historical fiction can go one of two ways – boring, droll ramblings bogged down by too much factual information combined with stereotypical skirt-flouncing heroines and über-masculine heroes thrown in for good measure or, if written well, they can resurrect history with such thrilling engagement that it feels like the era in question is being presented in technicolour. Thankfully, Amanda Curtin’s, The Sinkings, is of the latter. That said, this book is much more than a historical fiction.

Told through two separate lives lived over a century apart yet cleverly intertwined, Curtin tells the story of ex-convict John King, also known as Little Jock, whose body was found dismembered at a campsite near Albany in 1882. There is a mystery attached to Little Jock’s death – the surgeon initially declares that the bones found at the Sinkings belong to those of a woman, yet later he recants this claim.

Willa, meanwhile, is struggling with the loss of her daughter: Imogen has run away from home and Willa fears that she may never see her again. Wracked with guilt, Willa becomes obsessed with tracing Little Jock’s history. Convinced that Little Jock was an intersexed person, Willa relentlessly searches through archives, history books and libraries in Australia, Ireland and Scotland, desperate to prove her theory correct. During her investigation, Willa slowly comes to terms with decisions that she and husband Matthew made regarding their daughter. Imogen is an intersex child and, at the medical community’s recommendation, was subjected to gender reassignment surgery while still an infant.

Amanda Curtin tackles some really big issues within her novel and she does so with a mixture of boldness, honesty, compassion and sensitivity. She should be applauded for highlighting the difficulties faced by members of the marginalised intersex community, historically and in the present day. It’s wonderful to see this section of society being represented in literature and hopefully this book will create more awareness and understanding about people with an intersex condition.

Curtin’s meticulous research allows her to successfully and vividly portray the grim realities of Little Jock’s life in Ireland during the potato famine, the years following in Glasgow’s slums, his deportation to Western Australia, and his life in the south-west. What I loved about this book was that the facts didn’t get in the way of the narrative. Curtin seamlessly merges the historical account with the modern tale and I was engrossed from the first page to the last.

Watch The Sinkings book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE8tHdt9b0g

To win a copy of The Sinkings, tell us who is your favourite historical figure from Australian folklore and why. You have until 5pm AWST Friday 25 November to submit your comment. The most creative answer will also win a copy of Amanda’s new release collection of short stories, Inherited.

The halls are alive (with the sound of dealing)

2011-10-21T00:00:00Z

Frankfurt Book Fair 2011

The buzz surrounding the Frankfurt Book Fair starts early. Located away from the festival halls in downtown Frankfurt on Tuesday (the Fair officially starts on the Wednesday), publishers and agents from many corners of the globe pack into the lobbies, stairwells and bars of two large and elegant city hotels, the FrankfurterHof and the HessischerHof. It’s the beginning of a week of wheeling and dealing as pitches are made, books bought and sold, and old friends and acquaintances meet up once again, and new relationships are forged.

Navigating through these crowds on Tuesday evening last week, I knew that the wheeling and dealing had already begun. A whirlwind four days ensued, as I met with industry professionals from the United States, Western Europe, Scandinavia, India, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Greece – and yep, some Australians too.

The Australian Publishers Association’s (APA) collective stand stood strong amongst the contingents of international publishers, displaying lots of fantastic books and attracting plenty of interest from passers-by. The overall number of international publishers and agents at the Fair was up this year, just one sign that the book industry is alive and well. With 280,000 visitors expected, not to mention 7,400 exhibiting companies and 527 literary agents and scouts, the halls were humming with multi-lingual conversations.

As the representative for UWA Publishing, I traipsed the halls armed with my bag of books, business cards and mini stapler to meet with many wonderful people of various publishing and market perspectives. These meetings are the heart of the Book Fair. And when the business of selling rights is marvellously underpinned by a love of reading and exploring new ideas for both parties, they are nothing but enjoyable and invigorating.

The Frankfurt Book Fair reminds me of UWAP’s place in the global publishing industry. Perched here on the Indian Ocean seaboard, as far from other Australian cities as we could possibly be, it is easy to forget that all over the world there are other people striving to write, edit, design, promote and sell stories and ideas – all wrapped up in these extraordinary objects we call books – just as we are. Spreading the word to readers in foreign countries (by selling rights to overseas publishers) is an important part of sharing our stories. And vice versa; bringing new voices from across the world to Australian readers is also one of the great privileges in book publishing.

Kiri

Sales, Rights, and Marketing Coordinator

Sonja's Bookshelf

2011-10-03T00:00:00Z

My Driver by Maggie Gee

I love a good travel story and Maggie Gee’s My Driver does not disappoint. It has action, wonderful detailed descriptions and flawed characters that get themselves into those cringe-worthy situations that make tourists so delightful.

Vanessa, a brittle, somewhat neurotic British writer, has been invited by the British Writers' Council to attend a conference in Uganda. While in Kampala Vanessa plans a surprise visit to see Mary Tendo, her former housekeeper, who unbeknown to Vanessa is now the Executive Housekeeper at the Sheraton hotel, where she is staying. There are moments of oblivious crossed paths and near misses but Vanessa can’t quite track Mary down.

Mary, meanwhile, has secretly whisked Trevor, Vanessa’s plumber ex-husband, away to her home village with plans of getting him to build the village a well. Despite war looming, Vanessa insists on travelling to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, on the border of the Congo, to see the gorillas. Along the way she offends her driver so thoroughly that he abandons her at the forest and it’s up to Trevor to rescue her.

Maggie Gee creates a strong, vivid background against which to tell her story. She skilfully navigates between the two cultures, shows the strengths and flaws of her characters, and provides surprising insights into how the British and Ugandans view each other. Her energetic, sharp-edged writing drives this book and Gee expertly combines dry, humorous moments with tension-filled ones.

This is a book that you won’t want to put down and will have you ignoring the dishes, housework, spouse and children as you are drawn into the irresistibly rich landscape and humorous foibles of the characters.

To win a copy of My Driver, tell us an amusing or awkward travel anecdote. You have until 5pm AWST Friday 21 October to submit your comment!

Meet the Author - Kim Scott

2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

This month, Good Reading Magazine featured Kim Scott in their online ‘Meet the Author’ segment, and kindly agreed for us to reproduce some of the interview where Kim discusses his new projects, Mamang and Noongar Mambara Bakitj. Enjoy!

How did you get involved in the languages recovery project?

A deep personal interest in recovering my ancestral language is a very important factor, especially in the context of the ‘post-colonial’ dilemma of being ‘linguistically displaced’. Secondly, my reconnection to a community descended from the same ancestral Noongar place as myself was associated with a lot of what I call ‘cultural work’, which included language work.

As part of that I researched a lot of archival language material, and came to realise that it would be a very good thing to be involved in returning some of that material to its home community and bringing it alive again with the appropriate people.

How did the picture book come about and why did you decide to produce a book with two languages?

The picture books arose from the above processes – detailed in the essay included near the end of the picture books – but suffice to say here that it included a series of community-based workshops. We used two languages because the books themselves, as well as the process of their production, are part of not only a language revitalisation and education strategy, but also a project of cultural consolidation.

Why do you think it’s important these stories are told?

There are stories of the first people of the south coast of Western Australia. Hearing and reading them might help people feel a greater sense of belonging. Having them told and shared by Noongar people can be empowering, and at least implies a power relationship different from the one that is more common in our shared history. Further, and paradoxically, stories can grow stronger by being shared.

Is the language used in Noongar Mambara Bakitj and Mamang for a particular region of Indigenous children or is it suitable for all?

It originates from a particular region and group of people, but that does not stop it being suitable for many others in diverse regions to also hear and produce.

Click here to read the full interview.

Pictured (L to R) – Geoffrey Woods, Kim Scott, Lomas Roberts.

Sonja's Bookshelf

2011-08-31T00:00:00Z

Holy Water by James P. Othmer

Initially, I wasn’t sure that Holy Water was my kind of book. Written in a definite masculine voice, I was a little taken aback by the intense male perspective. (Perhaps this was a sign that I’d been reading too many female authors of late rather than anything to do with the writing.) It did take me a little while to adjust to main character, Henry Tuhoe, and his distinctive outlook on life, but once I did I was hooked.

Henry Tuhoe’s life is a mess: he works for a multi-national conglomerate that has just made him redundant but, in an attempt to lessen the sting of being sacked, have offered him a position setting up a bottled water call centre in the far-flung Kingdom of Galado; his marriage is on shaky ground – his beautiful wife, Rachel, demanded that he get a vasectomy, then won’t let him touch her; and he is no longer certain that suburban bliss is what he really wants from life.

The job in Galado puts Henry in the path of a sociopath monarch, an Aussie intent on getting lost, a woman who resolutely resolves to redeem his soul and her country, and a host of moral conundrums.

Throughout this novel Henry’s views on life, and his almost über-male thoughts, are hysterical in some parts – I came away from the book feeling like I’d gained an insight to the male psyche – and deeply insightful in others.

Holy Water confronts the myth of contentment attached to settling down, buying a house in the suburbs and having 2.5 children. It tackles the subject of large corporations outsourcing to third-world countries, and the resulting repercussions, in an engaging and entertaining way. Othmer’s advertising background gives depth and credibility to the story and his flowing writing style make this book an easy read.

The Perfect Father’s Day Gift - Theo & Co. The Search for the Perfect Pizza

2011-08-26T00:00:00Z

It was a wet and wild-weathered weekend, so rather than go out for dinner, on the spur of the moment, I invited friends over for a dinner party. The only problem was deciding what to cook. I scanned the cookbooks on my shelf, ran my fingers over two years worth of Australian Gourmet Traveller magazines – nope to fiddly and labour intensive, A Day at El Bulli – beyond my skill level, Must Eat – too rich, Theo & Co. – perfect! I would have a pizza party.

As I flicked through the pages my husband, Ash, leaned over my shoulder, suddenly interested in proposed dinner. The pizzas all looked delicious and hardest part was choosing which pizzas to make but we eventually decided on a progressive dinner of sorts: first would be the Margherita, then the Pearsciutto plus our own designed El Supremo, after that the Quattro Fromaggio and lastly, the pièce de résistance…Black Forest pizza. Ash declared that he was the base-man and kneaded, rolled and stretched the pizza bases into shape while I prepped the various toppings and tomato sauce.

Margherita

The night was a cheese-melting success. Our dinner companions ohh-ed and ahh-ed over the each successive round of pizzas as they arrived hot from the oven, the bases crisp and tasty, the toppings delectable. The wine flowed and the conversation bubbled along and was only brought to a halt by the arrival of the Black Forest. All eyes focused on the chocolate dessert pizza topped with cherries, melted dark chocolate shavings, shards of cherry syrup toffee and a centrepiece of vanilla ice cream. The first bite of the Black Forest was one of those memorable moments where the flavours transcended all expectations. I was in heaven. One glance around the table confirmed the feeling was unanimous.

Pearsciutto

The great thing about Theo’s pizza base is that it’s the perfect platform for the topping suggestions in the book and he encourages experimentation. We turned the vegetarian Acropolis into a Supremo with the addition of mushrooms, salami and anchovies. The simplicity of the Margherita allowed the flavours to shine through and I was surprised at how good this pizza tasted.

Fromaggio

What I love about the Theo & Co. cookbook is that the pizza base and tomato sauce recipes are so very easy to make and after that it’s simply a matter of chopping the toppings. The progressive approach allowed us to still be sociable while cooking – a quick five minutes in the kitchen to dress the next round of pizzas, slip them in the oven, and then we were back at the table entertaining our guests. It was such a success that I’m definitely going to host another pizza party and Ash suggested that we involve our dinner guests and let them design their own pizza.

Black Forest

I recommend this book to anyone who loves eating pizza – and hey who doesn’t? Theo & Co. would definitely make the perfect Father’s day present: it’s easy, fun and the end result is edible. You couldn’t ask for a better gift!

Sonja

ECU student and part-time UWAP staff member

Images by Ashley Porter

The Optimistic Economist

2011-08-19T00:00:00Z

For this little Arts graduate, a lecture on global economics is not a typical night out. But the lure of a Nobel prize winner, not to mention one who teaches at the Stern School of Business at New York University and lives for half of each year in Italy, was strong enough to get me along to the annual Marshall-Warren lecture at UWA last night, where Michael Spence was speaking.

Michael Spence’s successful Australian tour this August has been on the back of his new book, The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World, which UWAP published last month. As a Nobel Laureate he was invited to give the annual lecture that honours UWA’s own Nobel Laureates, Professor Marshall and Emeritus Professor Warren.

And what a lecture! I have perhaps never heard a topic communicated in such a clear and engaging manner. Spence has an extraordinary gift for passing on sophisticated ideas in accessible terms and with a very personable style. I found myself interested where I didn’t expect to be.

I also found myself buoyed by Spence’s optimism about the world’s economic future. While not avoiding words of caution, he sees a strong future for the developing countries – and the developed, if they take heed of the global economic direction.

With a particular focus on China and India (‘I’m not answering questions about Russia’ he quipped) Spence discussed the way they tackle problems such as resources or a burgeoning population or national debt as examples to learn from.

He followed his exemplary lecture with an extended Q&A session. Taking questions as varied as how Asia will handle its next phase of economic growth, the environmental factor in economic growth, Australia’s relationship with China, and what Asia did differently to survive the GFC, Spence strolled the stage, thoughtfully and concisely answering each remark.

Such a hot topic was warmly received by all in attendance, as the book signing line indicated, and if everyone in the audience took away at least as much as I did they will be much improved for it.

Kiri

Sales, Rights and Marketing Coordinator

UWA Open Day Wrap-up

2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

I can’t tell you how excited we all were to be apart of UWA Open Day this year. This is the first year that UWA Publishing have had the opportunity to showcase what we produce to prospective students, their parents, and members of the public. It was such a wonderful and rewarding event to be apart of – not to mention spending the day at the beautiful Nedlands campus!

The rain held off for most of the day, which was a blessing for the UWA departments that were situated under marquees on the grassed areas of campus, and by eleven am the UniClub (where we were situated) was buzzing with students and parents heading to information sessions and guest lectures in the auditorium.

Our display was based around the books that we produce and the different areas of publishing. We had a selection of books on our table representing each of the categories, or genres, that we publish. On one display board we made a collage of the different areas and careers that make up a publishing house, to give members of the public an indication of the range of degrees that tie in to publishing. On the second display board we arranged a selection of posters of some of our more recent books.

The highlight of the day was handing out our nifty-gifty bags (if you’ve ever been to an Open Day, then you’ll agree that you never go home empty handed) and seeing the rampant enjoyment of both children and adults experiencing everything that Open Day had to offer – including the French-inspired Arts café, the bouncy castle and teacup ride, and the sporting activities on James Oval.

An equal highlight for me, personally, was having a chat to members of the public about what we do. Being tucked up in the Claremont campus, it was a nice change to have some face-to-face contact with other staff at the university and prospective students.

To wrap-up, all of us at UWAP and are so pleased that we were able to contribute to Open Day, and eagerly await UWA Open Day 2012!

To view various images from the day, head to the UWA Publishing Facebook page.

Britt (on behalf of the team)

Publishing Intern

Lining up the ducks

2011-08-08T00:00:00Z

Our planning cycle at UWA Publishing could drive some managers to drink. Sometimes we receive a final manuscript and then it’s up to us to edit, typeset, proofread, design and market the book for maximum sales: this can take up to nine months to achieve. That’s the easy route. If we commission a book or accept a good proposal it may take anything up to four or five years to get the manuscript. Life intervenes for authors and sometimes pushing deadlines is counter to a good outcome and cordial author-publisher relations.

The week I’m writing this column we’ve had a couple of rather unexpected coincidences with our books, neither of them particularly enjoyable. I woke early on Saturday morning to check Media Monitors for book reviews in the major daily newspapers to find two good reviews—one in the Canberra Times and one in The Age—for one of our new novels Buzz Aldrin, What Happened To You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad, a Norwegian novelist who is already an international sensation as a writer, designer and musician. This is the first of his books to be translated into English.

As Duncan Driver wrote in his review about Johan’s main character: His lack of conventional ambition is refreshingly humble and his desire for insignificance is more sensitive and considered than the ruthless competitive drive that fuels most people. I then turned on the radio to hear of the horror that had been enacted in Oslo and Utoeya Island. Harstad’s novel is so gentle and contemplative; the combination of these two threads in our Saturday papers was a most poignant one.

The immediate jump to suggest this was an Islamic plot, a theme that lasted for at least the first couple of hours of the drama, reminded me of some bad news received this week that another of our new releases, Ali Abdul v The King by Hanifa Deen, an engaging narrative about her forebears in Kalgoorlie, had just been denied an interview spot on a Perth radio station while Hanifa is back in Perth next month. The station booked us and then cancelled, citing not wishing to inflame their audience with such ‘topics’. I fear they made a category error between centuries when they said they have to be careful with their audience.

The other coincidence this week involves a most worthy new volume of essays and writings by Walter Murdoch, On Rabbits, Morality etc, our attempt to reinstate Murdoch, the foundation Professor of English at UWA, who has been out of print for decades. His essays are fabulous: erudite, witty, complex and highly readable. Imre Salusinszky edited the volume: a long-time literary scholar and Chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council until he jumped ship into the world of political journalism. The book has so far garnered many excellent reviews, including one a fortnight ago in The Weekend Australian by their chief literary critic Geordie Williamson (this year’s prestigious Pascall Prize winner for his critical writing). Williamson last year wrote of Murdoch as one of the two most important essayists in Australian letters. All good, we might say.

The volume has a foreword by Murdoch’s nephew, none other than Rupert, whose ignominious doings this week made me quiver: these are early days for the book and I’m wanting to protect my investment. Does Rupert’s name on the cover muddy the waters? It was a great idea—and Rupert’s is a delightful reminiscence of Perth in the 1950s—but already on our Facebook page we’ve had some awkward feedback that foregrounds the nephew and not the grand old man of the familiar essay.

So, I’d much prefer the lovely coincidence of Kim Scott being awarded his second Miles Franklin Award just a couple of months before we publish a couple of delightful books he’s been a lead player in producing: the first in a series of bilingual books of Noongar stories collected by an American linguist in the 1930s and returned to the community after his death. This group has enlivened these stories in workshops, and they commissioned artists to make a wonderful accompaniment. Look out for these gorgeous books in September.

Terri-ann White

Director

Published in this month’s UWA News (Vol. 30, Number 11).

Image: Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Discovering Anne Lamott

2011-08-05T00:00:00Z

It’s no secret amongst my colleagues here at UWAP that I am a devoted fan of the novels by American writer Jodi Picoult (yes, I am one of those!). I was introduced to Jodi’s novels (which take up an entire shelf of my bookcase) during my adolescence, and for a long time was unable to find another female fiction writer who has managed to win me over as much as Jodi…until, however, I discovered Anne Lamott.

Intrigued by the praise that Anne’s books received from other staff members who’d read them, I read the first book (Rosie) when it was released in March of this year. Suffice to say, I was quickly won over and read the second (Crooked Little Heart) and third (Imperfect Birds) books in quick succession.

Spanning a 14-year period, the three novels follow the two central characters, Rosie and her mother, Elizabeth, as Rosie transitions from a young child (4 going on 40), into an impressionable ‘tween’ and finally, into a feisty and rebellious teen, while her mother, Elizabeth, juggles parenthood with widowhood, new relationships, and battles alcoholism.

Anne Lamott successfully counterbalances her heavy themes by providing the reader with some very engaging and likeable characters, who often have very humorous and poignant insights into their lives and situations…

‘She [Rosie] tried to describe to Rae one afternoon how offended James was that Elizabeth was lying down so much, how frustrated he often acted. “Women are so much better at hiding despair, aren’t they?” asked Rae. “Biting their nails, getting fat.” Rosie nodded gravely.’ – Extract from Crooked Little Heart

The major and minor characters that feature in these novels represent the friends and family members that we all know and have – characteristics from both Elizabeth and Rosie resonated strongly for me personally – and embody the roles that we all play either willingly or unwillingly at different stages in our lives: the child, the parent, the adolescent, the addict, the dependent, the realist, the dreamer, the savior, the rebel.

As far back as oral storytelling, people have used fiction as a vessel to comment on and communicate contentious issues to the masses – most of the time without reproach. What I respect and admire about both Anne Lamott and Jodi Picoult is that they are not afraid to paint a fictional world that resonates uncomfortably in places, where the characters often say what the reader is thinking and might be too afraid to admit out loud.

Both authors also address contentious issues in their novels that do not often get discussed openly, with more than one viewpoint presented, and with sensitivity, such as substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and sexuality, and mental illness. I am glad that authors still use fiction to address these issues and allow their characters to communicate and comment on what we may be too afraid to say or discuss openly with each other or as a society.

I’ll conclude by offering my thanks to Anne Lamott for ‘telling it like it is’, and I heartily recommend this trilogy to anyone who enjoys reading contemporary coming-of-age fiction with a little bit of edge and a healthy dose of sharp wit.

Britt

Publishing Intern

Sonja's Bookshelf

2011-07-27T00:00:00Z

Murdering Stepmothers by Anna Haebich

I don’t know about you but I love a novel based on fact. Not only do I get to read the ‘real’ story, I’m also treated to the writer’s creative interpretation of those events, which gives life to elements that under normal circumstances would never have been told either because there wasn’t enough supporting evidence or that people, for whatever reason, weren’t able to give their version of events. I feel more engaged with the story in its creative form; it feels less one-sided than an autobiography/biography, the characters are richer and the elements of storytelling are allowed to shine without recrimination.

Based on a true story, Murdering Stepmothers tells the story of Martha Rendell – the last woman to be hanged in Western Australia – and the resulting trial after she is charged with the murder of three small children in her care. Did they die of natural causes or is Martha Rendell really the evil stepmother who killed them? This question is the crux of the story and the trial.

Perth in 1909 is a harsh place to live and children often fall victim to diphtheria and typhoid. Arsenic and spirits of salts are common ingredients in home remedies. The citizens of Perth, incensed at such a shocking crime, demand that Martha be punished. The press incites the general public into a frenzied state, there are startling flaws in the prosecution’s case, and bigotry, slander and the dismal state of women’s rights make this a compelling yet tragic story.

Told through four different characters – the photographer, the detective, the doctor and the reverend – Haebich successfully portrays the people, the mood and the realities of living in Perth in the early 1900s. Haebich handles the subject matter well and the different voices are a clever technique for introducing varying viewpoints, as well as the facts of the case. Did Martha kill the children or was an innocent woman hanged? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

To win a copy of Murdering Stepmothers, tell us about a fiction book you enjoyed reading that was based on factual events and/or historical figures. Is a book based on true events more enticing than a book that is completely fictional? You have until 5pm AWST Tuesday 2 August to submit your comment!