Book

Sydney Writers Festival Live Streaming at the Canberra Theatre Centre

Emma Batchelor Leave a Comment

  Were you keen to go to the Sydney Writers Festival but couldn’t make it to Sydney this weekend? Maybe you can’t afford a ticket. The good news is our friends at the Canberra Theatre Centre will be live streaming twelve talks straight from the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney. And it’s free! The Link Bar and coffee shop will be open during the live stream so you can have as many coffees as you want while you listen to engaging talks, panel discussions and debates.   Our Picks of the Canberra Theatre Centre Live Stream   Saturday 27 May,… Continue Reading →

Leiden Book Club Book 2 – The Fountainhead

Genevieve Chan 2 Comments

  Towards the end of 2016, while exploring different books for Leiden’s Book Club reading list, it quickly became apparent to me that a true Leiden reading list should reflect the literary taste of our contributors. And so, At Leiden’s Christmas party, speaking to other contributors about their favourite books, browsing our editor’s bookshelves in between conversations to gather courage for the next (as any introvert would, of course): that is how The Fountainhead came to be on our Book Club reading list; a novel much loved by fellow contributor, Miriam Walsh. I had not previously heard of Ayn Rand… Continue Reading →

Interview: Wayne Herbert, Author of Anecdotes of a Disabled Gay

Emma Batchelor Leave a Comment

  A little while ago we came across a very special book. One of our contributors, Lexi Keelan (you will recognise her artwork all over our site), was approached to illustrate a biography. It wasn’t your typical biography however; it was a collection of stories and experiences liberally peppered with fun illustrations. This book, Anecdotes of a Disabled Gay by Wayne Herbert, as Wayne himself describes it, is ‘a collection of shit people say’.   We wanted to find out more about Wayne, his book and his experience being a gay man with a disability. We started off by asking… Continue Reading →

Leiden Book Club Book 1- Great Expectations

Genevieve Chan Leave a Comment

  Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, has been on my ‘classics to-read list’ for quite some time. It is a bildungsroman that depicts the psychological, emotional and moral growth of the narrator and protagonist, Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip. Be warned, this is a classic on the more voluminous side – and much more so than this writer expected (that is, I nearly missed the deadline for turning in this review). As an adolescent, I had read Oliver Twist and thoroughly enjoyed it for its satirical humour. I had expected to experience a similar enjoyment with Great Expectations; yet, I find… Continue Reading →

A Fabulous Book Launch – Anecdotes of a Disabled Gay

Emma Batchelor Leave a Comment

  A little while ago we came across a very special book. One of our contributors, Lexi Keelan (you will recognise her artwork all over our site), was approached to illustrate a biography. It wasn’t your typical biography however; it was a collection of stories and experiences liberally peppered with fun illustrations. This book, Anecdotes of a Disabled Gay by Wayne Herbert, as Wayne himself describes it, is ‘a collection of shit people say’. ‘I wanted to write a book that re-framed the way people perceive others’, Wayne explained. ‘That looked at the things that people say to me as… Continue Reading →

Leiden Book Club

Emma Batchelor 2 Comments

  You know we like to write but did you we like to read? Just like our old friend C.S Lewis, you can’t find a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit us. Which is why we are starting a book club, the Leiden Book Club to be exact. Here’s how it works: Leiden Book Club is for everyone. Each month we will read a fab book and then we will talk about how fab (or not) it is. Then at the end of each month we will post an article and some talking points… Continue Reading →

Book Review: Only Daughter

Genevieve Chan Leave a Comment

  Last year, I received Only Daughter, by Anna Snoekstra, as a birthday gift from one of my neighbours. She had read it with her book club a couple of months earlier and thought I might enjoy reading it for myself. She was right; I enjoyed it so much, I decided to write it about it. Only Daughter is a gritty, mystery thriller. After a shoplifting incident gone wrong, a young fugitive claims to be the decade-missing Rebecca Winter. The only catch is: she’s not. Told in a split narrative, the story recounts the events preceding the real Bec Winter’s… Continue Reading →

Book Review: If On A Winter’s Night a Traveller

Genevieve Chan Leave a Comment

Earlier this year, I picked up If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, by Italo Calvino, from a book-swap shelf at my workplace. I was about to embark on a six-week journey around Europe and was looking for some reading material; a book with ‘traveller’ in the title seemed appropriate. What I expected was a travelling tale. What I got was an exploration of how we humans undertake, experience and process the read experience. My default approach would be to start by giving you a synopsis of the book. However, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller is not a… Continue Reading →