Writing in Elsewhere

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CRAIG MARRINER INTERVIEWED (2001): Coming in from the margins

10 May 2001  |  5 min read

There's Led Zeppelin on the jukebox, a few old soaks at the bar, a pool table in the corner and a handle of beer in front of him. Craig Marriner seems right at home in this world as distant from literary pretension as is possible. At 27, his long, blond hair tied in a ponytail, Marriner fits the profile of one who might know the violent world of dope dealing and life on the edge that is... > Read more

FUTURE JAZZ by HOWARD MANDEL

25 Feb 1999  |  1 min read

In a recent column I said that when the histories of jazz last century are written one name will loom unnaturally large, that of trumpeter/composer Wynton Marsalis. I speculated this undeniably talented, articulate and media-savvy musician would either be hailed as the one who saved jazz from disappearing into arthouse obscurity or derided as a man who marginalised otherwise important... > Read more

EUAN MITCHELL, INTERVIEWED (1999): Hitchin' around mate.

5 Feb 1999  |  5 min read

Australian first-time novelist Euan Mitchell is recounting his life story and hits the extended punchline with a broad smile. "Then I did something which was probably as foolish as leaving home with $4 in my pocket. I quit my job as a senior editor with a multinational publisher to finish the book - with a wife and two young kids, and a mortgage."I couldn't get unemployment... > Read more

ALBERT WENDT INTERVIEWED (1991): Shaping a life in words

6 Jul 1991  |  7 min read

The beer cartons were dumped on the writer’s verandah “like an hermaphroditic orphan.” Inside were random jottings, diary entries, what appeared to be short stories, poems and events in a life which may – or may not – have taken their author across the globe from Samoa and Auckland to Israel and the United States. And accompanying this flotsam of a life... > Read more