Alba de Cespedes: Forbidden Notebook

Helen Garner – How to End a Story: Diaries 1995 -1998

Helen Garner has just published the third volume of excerpts from her diaries from the years 1995 to 1998.  Previously there was Yellow Notebook: Diaries 1978 – 1987 and One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries1987 – 1995. She is nearing eighty now, and her writing has concerned itself with many aspects of Australian life. She has written novels, short stories, non-fiction books about high-profile court cases and always at the back of this she has written journals and observations of her day-to-day life. She is concerned with the sun on leaves, a bird chirping in the back garden, the thrill of riding her bike fast down a bill on the way to the swimming pool, and above all, the life of her emotions. Her loves, her yearning for love and her failures. She is ruthlessly honest in her self-exploration, but in a way that encourages one to reflect on one’s own life.

Dickon Edwards – Where are You Now?

 

Last night I was relaxing with one of my favourite podcasts, Backlisted (thank you for the recommendation Jacqui). The discussion was about Angus Wilson’s first novel Hemlock and After, which I read many years ago. But before they even got to the discussion of the novel I was alerted to the voice of a very confident young(ish) man introduced as Dickon Edwards who has been described by the Centre for Life Writing Research at Kings College London as the author of the longest running on-line diary.