Fabulous of you to drop in...
Sydney’s summer has been beautiful. Not that I’ve seen much of it. I’ve had my head down, working on two books. The first, a gorgeous coffee table book to celebrate Vogue Australia’s 50th birthday this year, which I’m compiling with Vogue’s editor Kirstie Clements, and the second, my next novel, Dorothea Goes Wild, which I expect will be published late 2010/early 2011.
I’m off on other Silversea cruise, this time starting in Hong Kong and going up the coast of China visiting old ports. While the last cruise was totally indulgent, this one has a point – I’m doing research for Dorothea. I’m back for two weeks after that and then I’m on a plane again for New York City and Ledig House in New York state. I’ll be away for 10 weeks on that trip and I’m hoping to get a lot of writing done.
An update for fans of Fabulous Nobodies – the film project is well underway. Facebook users might like to join the group Fabulous Nobodies to keep in touch with the news.
The B-format edition of The Woman in the Lobby will be released in May, so please look out for it.
My husband, Anthony Amos, is having an exhibition at Depot II Gallery, Danks Street, Waterloo in Sydney from March 24-April 4. If you’re in town, do drop in. For a preview of his work, go here.
Fabulous of you to drop in…
I spent part of June and July cruising Alaska on the chic Silver Shadow, part of the Italian-owned Silversea line. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming on board, but from the minute we pulled out of Vancouver harbour I was hooked. What was most wonderful about cruising was the number of passengers playing Scrabble and Bridge, building jigsaws, sitting in deck chairs wrapped in blankets reading and challenging each other to games like shuffleboard and table tennis. There was satellite TV, of course, but the Internet connection was dodgy, so we were forced into old fashioned pursuits. It was like that scene out of Brideshead Revisited when they cross the channel – without the waves. Bliss.
You can catch me in Melbourne in early September at two events. On Wednesday September 3 from 2-3 pm I will be appearing on a panel discussion called Doing the Block: Fashionable Melbourne at the State Library of Victoria. This panel discussion is part of the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week official program of activities. Doing the Block refers to an art work by iconic Melbourne artist ST Gill, created in 1880 depicting the fashion and ‘fashionistas’ of 19th century Melbourne. He describes ‘It was Saturday morning and fashionable Melbourne was ‘doing the Block.’ Collins Street is to the Southern city what Bond Street and the Row are to London, and the Boulevards to Paris …’ A panel of Melbourne ‘fashion’ experts have been assembled for an entertaining discussion to determine if this trend still continues today in Melbourne. For further information check the State Library website.
That same evening, September 3 at 6:45 pm, I will be guest speaker at a dinner, sponsored by Dymocks and Leader newspapers, at the restaurant Upstairs at Georges, 819 Burke Road, Camberwell. Ph: (03) 9882 0032
I would finally like to thank the Literature Board of the Australia Council for granting me a residency at Ledig House, Omi, New York for spring 2009. I’m thrilled to be able to take up this wonderful opportunity. Eight weeks in the quiet of the country to work on my next novel – priceless!
Fabulous of you to drop in…
The Sydney Writer’s Festival is over and I’ve been to Mauritius and back since. This bucolic island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar was a perfect place to recover from the punishing promotion schedule for The Woman in the Lobby. It’s all a bit of a haze now, but I recall standing in the dark alone in an industrial estate north of Sydney outside a radio station one morning at 5:30 am, which was surely the low point. Lots of high points, though, including plenty of enjoyable tomfoolery on breakfast radio. It seems all the guys want to know, “How come women prefer rich men to funny men like us?” That I can’t answer. I always prefer the funny guys.
If you’d like to read more (including some very private stuff I shared with The Age) please check out my latest press clippings here.
And you can go here for a podcast of my session with Christine Cremen at the Sydney Writer’s Festival.
Many people have commented on the light box posters for The Woman in the Lobby that seem to be everywhere at Australia’s airports. When viewed six-foot high that pair of legs looks pretty sensational. I have been claiming that they’re mine, but my story was blown by Paris-based author Bryce Corbett who wrote to tell me they belong to his wife, Shay, who is a dancer at the Lido. No wonder they’re so shapely!
I’m talking with the lovely Julie McCrossin for her program “Up & Away” on Qantas in-flight radio throughout the month of June, so if you’re flying anywhere in the world with Qantas be sure to tune in.
My next adventure will be a cruise from Alaska to San Francisco at the end of June. I’ve never been on the high seas and have a pathological fear of waves, despite being married to a surfer but I feel it’s one of those experiences you have to have. Stand by…
Fabulous of you to drop in…
The Sydney Writer’s Festival program has been unveiled at last. I’ll be appearing twice. On May 23 4-5pm I’ll be joining Thomas Kohnstamn, Marc Llewellyn and Grace Pundyk on the panel Traveller’s Tales. And on Sunday 25, 3:30 - 4:30, I’ll be talking to Christine Cremen about my new novel,
The Woman in the Lobby. It’s wise to book ahead for the latter.
I’m also thrilled to join Derek and everyone at Newtown’s wonderful
Better Read Than Dead bookstore for Books@TheBank on May 6 at 6:30 pm.
I still fondly remember a dinner held in the bookstore when I was promoting Two Shanes a few years ago. I live on the other side of Sydney from the store, but every time I go across there I think, “These are my people.” Maybe I should move. Go here to book.
Madison magazine has posted a terrific review of The Woman in the Lobby in the April issue, which has stirred quite a few readers into rushing into bookstores to demand a copy. Trouble is, the novel is not released until May 5. I’ve posted a little of it on this website, with thanks to the editors at Madison: “Punch-in-the-guts substance and moral complexity. You’ll never look at a five-star lobby in the same way again.”
A brief interview with me is currently appearing in the May issue of Vogue magazine, the one with the glorious pink cover. Coincidentally, my feature on niche perfumers in Paris is also running in the same issue. Now that was a tough job!
Look out for an extract from The Woman in the Lobby in The Australian Women’s Weekly later this month.
And book clubs, do remember that you can contact me here for a list of topics that personally intrigued me while I was writing the novel. I’m also happy to answer questions about my other books.
