Literary Canon Ball

IN episode 27 we discuss Tara June Winch's Swallow the Air. And, you know we have a bunch of excellent recommendations that are just for you!

In episode 25 we discuss Anne Garreta’s Sphinx.Published in 1986 in France before being translated in 2015 into English, Sphinx is the tale of two lovers in Paris. The narrator, a scholar turned DJ and A*** a dancer. The plot is straightforward enough, two people meet, the fall in love, there is a tragic ending. What makes Sphinx more compelling is the linguistic constraint that slowly reveals itself in the English translation and is confirmed in the translators note, for Sphinx is genderless.Show Notes:Sphinx by Anne Garreta: https://www.kenyonreview.org/reviews/sphinx-by-anne-garreta-738439/State of Desire: An interview with Anne Garreta: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/12/11/states-of-desire-an-interview-with-anne-garreta/Sphinx by Anne Garreta: https://therumpus.net/2015/06/sphinx-by-anne-garreta/Sphinx: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/anne-garr%C3%A9tas-sphinx-translated-by-emma-ramadan/Recommendations:Neve:Monica by Hera Lindsay Bird: https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/thespinoff.co.nz/books/13-05-2016/the-friday-poem-monica-by-hera-lindsay-bird/%3fampAnthropocene Pastoral by Cathetine Pierce: https://aprweb.org/poems/anthropocene-pastoralKirby:Fleabag: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5687612/City of Trees by Sophie Cunningham: https://www.readings.com.au/review/city-of-trees-by-sophie-cunninghamFi:How to Rest: Chronic Illness and Finding Joy in Small Days by Millie Baylis: https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/how-to-rest/These bodies will undo us by Laura Price Steele: https://www.pshares.org/issues/winter-2018-19/these-bodies-will-undo-us-emerging-writers-contest-winner-nonfictionContact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode 25 we discuss Lee Kofman’s Imperfect. A blend of memoir and cultural critique, Kofman’s Imperfect, which in a neat trick of typography could also read as I’m Perfect, considers our conceptions of physical perfection and asks what it means to live in a body that differs from the norm.Thanks to Affirm Press and Lee for sending us these copies Imperfect.Show NotesImperfect review: Lee Kofman's examination of bodies and the self: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/imperfect-review-lee-kofmans-examination-of-bodies-and-the-self-20190207-h1aywg.htmlTali Lavi reviews 'Imperfect: How our bodies shape the people we become' by Lee Kofman: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2019/239-march-2019-no-409/5350-tali-lavi-reviews-imperfect-how-our-bodies-shape-the-people-we-become-by-lee-kofmanImperfect: How Our Bodies Shape the People We Become: https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2018/10/25/117820/imperfect-how-our-bodies-shape-the-people-we-become-lee-kofman-affirm-press/Lee Kofman Imperfect: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/books/2019/02/28/imperfect/15502356007449Recommendations Fi:The 7am Podcast: https://7ampodcast.com.au/Minor Monuments by Ian Maleney: https://www.tramppress.com/product/preorder-minor-monuments/Kirby:Always Be My Maybe: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7374948/Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler: https://www.readings.com.au/products/16476164/dinner-at-the-homesick-restaurantNeve:The Time I Went On A Lesbian Cruise And It Blew Up My Entire Life by Shannon Keating:https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/shannonkeating/lesbian-cruiseGood Omens: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1869454/Contact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode twenty-four, we discuss This Little Art by Kate Briggs.What is it to translate another writer’s words? What is to consume a translation? Taking as her starting point her own translations work, Briggs explores these questions and so much more in her genre-bending novel length essay This Little Art.Witty and thoughtful and with as many questions as answers, This Little Art is an original and layered discussion of the art of translation and perhaps of what it means to read and to write, too.Show NotesKate Briggs’s This Little Art by Carlos Fonseca: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/kate-briggss-this-little-art/Kate Briggs, “This Little Art”: https://translationista.com/2018/07/kate-briggs-this-little-art.htmlDid He Really Say That? On the Perils and Pitfalls of Translation: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/books/review/kate-briggs-this-little-art.htmlHow Do We Judge Translations?: https://lithub.com/how-do-we-judge-translations/WAITING TRANSLATIONS: A CONVERSATION WITH KATE BRIGGS: http://www.musicandliterature.org/features/2017/11/20/a-conversation-with-kate-briggsWhy Translation Deserves Scrutiny: https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/10/23/why-translation-deserves-scrutiny/Changing, Adjusting, Expanding: Conversation On The Art Of Translation With Author & Translator Kate Briggs: https://www.bookculture.com/blog/2018/08/21/changing-adjusting-expanding-conversation-art-translation-author-translator-kateRecommendations:Fi:The First Time Podcast: https://thefirsttimepodcast.com/Total Eclipse by Annie DillardNeve:Princess Cyd: https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80201497Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin: https://www.booktopia.com.au/ayesha-at-last-uzma-jalaluddin/prod9781443455848.htmlMrs Martin's Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan: https://www.amazon.com.au/Mrs-Martins-Incomparable-Adventure-Worth-ebook/dp/B07P4DPLX7Can't Escape Love by Alyssa Cole: https://www.booktopia.com.au/ebooks/can-t-escape-love-alyssa-cole/prod9780062931887.htmlKirby:Bark by Lorrie Moore: https://www.booktopia.com.au/bark-lorrie-moore/prod9780307740861.htmlThe Library Book by Susan Orlean: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-library-book-susan-orlean/prod9781782392262.htmlSpotify Guilty Pleasures playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX4pUKG1kS0AcContact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

When One Person Dies the Whole World is Over is a diary comic chronicling the year in the life of its author and illustrator, Mandy Ord. Published this year by Brow Books, it is billed as ‘funny, sad and perfectly magnetic’, with illustrator Oslo Davis describing it as ‘unashamedly personal’.When One Person Dies tries to find meaning in the everyday. From moments of levity too soon forgotten to life changing loss, Mandy Ord gives the reader an intimate look at the transcendent and the mundane of her life.Mandy Ord is a comics artist, a cartoonist, an illustrator, a speaker and teacher of comics, a greengrocer and a disability support worker. Mandy is a prolific comics artist, publishing her work in places like Meanjin, The Age, Voiceworks and Going Down Swinging. She has also published several graphic novels, with her second book, Sensitive Creatures, winning a White Ravens award at the Bologna Book Fair.Show Notes:When One Person Dies the Whole World is Over excerpt: https://www.theliftedbrow.com/liftedbrow/2019/2/4/excerpt-when-one-person-dies-the-whole-world-is-over-by-mandy-ordGraeme Simsion, Jane Caro, Ginger Gorman and more on what they're reading in February: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/01/graeme-simsion-jane-caro-ginger-gorman-and-more-on-what-theyre-reading-in-februaryMandy Ord gives an interview on The Glasshouse: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/the-glasshouse/episodes/6389-the-glasshouse-13-february-2019Luke Davies on Mandy Ord and Australia’s graphic novel scene: https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2012/june/1342424201/luke-davies/memory-palacesMandy Ord on her one-eyed portrayal: https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/in-the-frame-20080615-ge75th.htmlOslo Davis on Mandy Ord: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/an-eye-for-detail-20110826-1jdzl.htmlRonnie Scott reviews 'Sensitive Creatures' by Mandy Ord: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2012/67-march-2012/782-mandy-ord-sensitive-creaturesRecommendations:FiSecond Mother by Sinéad GleesonBlue Hills and Chalk Bones by Sinéad GleesonLondon Review Bookshop podcast with Deborah Levy and Olivia LaingKirby‘Homesick For Another World’ by Ottessa Moshfegh‘The Cost of Living’ by Deborah Levy‘Things I Don’t Want to Know’ by Deborah LevyNeveMilk Teeth by Rae WhiteMagical Negro by Morgan ParkerContact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

‘The story of a girl who was so poor that all she ate was hot dogs. That's not the story, though. The story is about a crushed innocence, about an anonymous misery.’ This is how Clarice Lispector describes The Hour of the Star, the novella she published shortly before her death in 1977.Colm Tóibín writes that reading The Hour of the Sun is ‘like being brought backstage during the performance of a play and allowed odd glimpses of the actors and the audience, and further and more intense glimpses of the mechanics of the theatre – the scene and costume changes, the creation of artifice – with many interruptions by the backstage staff.’Ostensibly the story of poverty and sexism and a young woman struggling to survive, The Hour of the Sun is also a fascinating exploration of the how and why of storytelling thanks to a particularly intrusive narration.Perhaps Brazil’s greatest modern writer, Lispector was prolific, publishing nine novels, ten short story collections, children’s books and a range of journalism and other non-fiction writing, some of which has been translated.Show Notes:Clarice Lispector's The Hour of the Star is as bewildering as it is brilliant: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/18/clarice-lispector-hour-of-the-starWhat I loved: Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector: https://www.readings.com.au/news/what-i-loved-hour-of-the-star-by-clarice-lispectorMy Hour of the Star: On Clarice Lispector: https://themillions.com/2012/01/my-hour-of-the-star-on-clarice-lispector.htmlHour of the Star Clarice Lispector: https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/book-reviews/2014/0422/610240-hour-of-the-star-by-clarice-lispector/Latin American Book Club: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/books-and-arts-thursday-29-june-2017/8651368Reading Pathways: Clarice Lispector Books: https://bookriot.com/2018/10/17/clarice-lispector-books/The True Glamour of Clarice Lispector: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-true-glamour-of-clarice-lispectorThe Second Death of Clarice Lispector: https://electricliterature.com/the-second-death-of-clarice-lispector-68b96feb9cf3The Tenuous Nonfiction of Clarice Lispector’s Crônicas: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/12/14/tenuous-nonfiction-clarice-lispectors-cronicas/If you were to read one Clarice Lispector book, which should it be?: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/if-you-were-to-read-one-clarice-lispector-book-which-should-it-be-1.1861874Recommendations:Neve:The Good TroubleMaxine Beneba Clarke at Saturday PaperVirginia Woolf essay: Mr Bennett and Mrs BrownKirby:Derry Girls on Netflix‘The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath’ by Leslie JamisonFi:‘On Looking: Essays’ Lia Purpura‘Say Hello’ by Carly FindlayRussian Doll on NetflixContact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode 21, we discuss An Uncertain Grace by Krissy Kneen.Shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize, Krissy Kneen’s An Uncertain Grace is a novel told in five separate but linked parts.Virtual storytelling, shared consciousness, gender fluidity, love and romance, jellyfish and rising oceans, An Uncertain Grace is novel that draws together elements of sci-fi and erotica and poses some big questions around gender and sex and the impact of climate change.Show Notes:The Stella Interview: Krissy Kneen on An Uncertain Grace: https://thestellaprize.com.au/2018/03/an-uncertain-grace/An Uncertain Grace: https://thestellaprize.com.au/prize/2018-prize/an-uncertain-grace/An Uncertain Grace by Krissy Kneen: https://www.readings.com.au/review/an-uncertain-grace-by-krissy-kneenA Fluctuating Charm: An Uncertain Grace: https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/fluctuating-charm-uncertain-grace/Krissy Kneen tackles morality and mortality in An Uncertain Grace: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/krissy-kneen-tackles-morality-and-mortality-in-an-uncertain-grace/news-story/6b353b08a53ec9eacb8952d0f68cd265An Uncertain Grace review: Krissy Kneen hits top form with sci-fi and erotica: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/an-uncertain-grace-review-krissy-kneen-hits-top-form-with-scifi-and-erotica-20170522-gwa7na.htmlKrissy Kneen An Uncertain Grace: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2017/03/31/uncertain-grace/14885460004287Krissy Kneen: An Uncertain Grace: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/krissy-kneen-an-uncertain-grace/8442262Recommendations:Kirby:The Dream podcastShirkers documentaryNeve:‘The Woman Dies’ by Aoko Matsuda‘Robin DiAngelo, an agent of change’ by Leah Jing McIntosh‘White fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism’ by Robin DeAngeloFi:‘Normal People’ by Sally Rooney‘The Gathering’ by Anne Enright‘Traumata’ by Meera AtkinsonContact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode twenty, we’re doing something a little different. We don’t have just one book to discuss, we have a whole year of reading and books and reading related goals to reflect on. And, of course, we’ve got a bunch of stellar recommendations for you that should see you through those long lazy summer afternoons.So, let’s talk books. We read a pretty interesting mix this year, from This One Summer, a graphic novel from Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, to Clare Wrights The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka to N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season. Some scored the much revered two thumbs up and some, well, not so much.So, what were our high points this year? Hit play and find out!Show Notes:Neve:‘The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge’ by Clare Strahan: https://www.readings.com.au/products/25078427/the-learning-curves-of-vanessa-partridge‘The Cruel Prince’ by Holly Black: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-cruel-prince-holly-black/prod9780316310314.html‘Princess in Theory’ by Alyssa Cole: https://www.booktopia.com.au/a-princess-in-theory-alyssa-cole/prod9780062685544.html‘Hurts to Love You’ (and the rest of the Forbidden Hearts series) by Alisha Rai: https://www.booktopia.com.au/hurts-to-love-you-forbidden-hearts-alisha-rai/prod9780062566768.html‘The Governess Game’ by Tessa Dare: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-governess-game-tessa-dare/prod9780062672124.html‘Duke by Default’ by Alyssa Cole: https://www.booktopia.com.au/a-duke-by-default-alyssa-cole/prod9780062685568.htmlKirby:‘Wise Children’ By Angela Carter: https://www.readings.com.au/products/3008186/wise-children‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte: https://www.booktopia.com.au/jane-eyre-charlotte-bronte/prod9781784870737.html‘Ceremony’ by Leslie Marmon Silko: https://www.booktopia.com.au/ceremony-leslie-marmon-silko/prod9780143104919.html‘The Fish Girl’ by Mirandi Riwoe: https://www.readings.com.au/products/24150061/the-fish-girl‘Daughters of Passion’ by Julia O’Faolain: https://www.booktopia.com.au/daughters-of-passion-julia-o-faolain/prod9780571351947.htmlFi:‘A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work’ by Bernadette Brennan: https://www.readings.com.au/products/23163487/a-writing-life-helen-garner-and-her-work‘How To Write An Autographical Novel’ By Alexander Chee: https://www.booktopia.com.au/how-to-write-an-autobiographical-novel-alexander-chee/prod9781328764522.html‘The World Was Whole’ By Fiona Wright: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-world-was-whole-fiona-wright/prod9781925336979.htmlGeorge Ezra & Friends Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/george-ezra-friends/id1346610013?mt=2‘The Wonder of Birds’ by Jim Robbins: https://www.readings.com.au/products/23913878/the-wonder-of-birds-what-they-tell-us-about-ourselves-the-world-and-a-better-futureRecommendations:Fi:The September Issue: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1331025/The Bold Type: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6116060/‘Insomniac City’ by Bill Hayes: https://www.booktopia.com.au/insomniac-city-bill-hayes/prod9781620404942.html‘Notes to Self’ by Emilie Pine: https://www.readings.com.au/products/26408520/notes-to-selfNeve:The Blak Browhttps://www.theliftedbrow.com/current-issue/‘Circe’ by Madeline Millerhttps://www.booktopia.com.au/ebooks/circe-madeline-miller/prod9781408890066.htmlKirby:I Used To Be Normal: https://www.madmanfilms.com.au/i-used-to-be-normal-a-boyband-fangirl-story/‘Bush Studies’ by Barbara Baynton: https://www.readings.com.au/products/15725703/bush-studies‘Her Body and Other Parties’ by Carmen Maria Machado: https://www.booktopia.com.au/her-body-and-other-parties-carmen-maria-machado/prod9781555977887.htmlContact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode 19, we discuss Alison Whittaker’s Blakwork.A mix of memoir, reportage, fiction, satire, and critique, Alison Whittaker’s Blakwork is an original and unapologetic collection from which two things emerge; an incomprehensible loss, and the poet’s fearless examination of the present.Whittaker, a Gomeroi multitasker from the floodplains of Gunnedah in NSW, has been published in the Sydney Review of Books, Seizure, Overland, Westerly, Griffith Review, the Lifted Brow, Meanjin and Archer, was the co-winner of the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize in 2017 for her poem, 'Many Girls White Linen' and most recently, she was the Australian Indigenous Poet-In-Residence for the 2018 Queensland Poetry Festival.Show Notes:Book Review / Blakwork by Alison Whittaker: https://writingnsw.org.au/blakwork-by-alison-whittaker/Blakwork (Alison Wittaker, Magabala): https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2018/07/26/112124/blakwork-alison-wittaker-magabala/Heart is full and burstin’ blak: https://nit.com.au/heart-is-full-and-burstin-blak/Confronting Multiplicity: An interview with Alison Whittaker: https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/2016/03/confronting-multiplicity/Feminist Writers Festival Q&A: Alison Whittaker: https://feministwritersfestival.com/fwf-qa-alison-whittaker/'Dragged like a dead kangaroo': why language matters for deaths in custody: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/07/dragged-like-a-dead-kangaroo-why-language-matters-for-deaths-in-custodyRecommendations:Fi:‘Where It Hurts’ by Sarah de de Leeuw‘Birds Art Life Death: A Field Guide to the Small and Significant’ by Kyo Maclear‘Half a Life’ by Darin StraussKirby:‘Daughters of Passion’ by Julia O’Faolain‘The Fish Girl’ by Mirandi Riwoe‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Celeste NgNeve:Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 3Charmed, 2018 Contact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode eighteen of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Maria Tumarkin’s essay, No Skin.A finalist in the 2015 Melbourne Prize for Writing, Maria Tumarkin’s essay, No Skin, is an exploration of traumascapes and our complex relationship with the places of trauma. From the holocaust to Princess Diana to Jill Meagher, Tumrakin explores this idea that she cannot seem to shake, wondering about portals and meaning and undeniable power.A writer and cultural historian and the author of four books, the most recent the 2018 Axiomatic from Brow Books, Tumarkin was born in the Ukraine and emigrated to Australia in 1989. She has been shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, The Age Book of the Year, and NSW Premier’s Literary Award.Show Notes:No Skin by Maria Tumarkin: http://www.mariatumarkin.com/essays-2/2016/3/6/no-skin-melbourne-prize-for-literature-shortlist‘Axiomatic’ by Maria Tumarkin: https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2018/june/1527775200/helen-elliott/axiomatic-maria-tumarkinInterview with Maria Tumarkin: https://griffithreview.com/articles/interview-withmaria-tumarkin/ABC Conversations: The Kharkov experiment: http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-maria-tumarkin/9892170Maria Tumarkin: Axiomatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-FQnzW4JvwThis narrated life: https://griffithreview.com/articles/this-narrated-life/Recommendations:Fi:‘Axiomatic’ by Maria Tumarkin‘The World Was Whole’ by Fiona WrightAn Unquiet Mind’ by Kay Redfield JamisonKirby:‘Ceremony’ by Leslie Marmon Silko99% Invisible: Articles of Interest podcastNeve:#poetry official documentary by Ariel Bissett‘Mating the Huntress’ by Talia HibbertQueer as Fiction podcastDrunk Lesbians WatchContact UsTwitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode seventeen, we discuss Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen.Published in 1974, Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen is the story of Adah, a young Nigerian woman, mother and wife who follows her husband to London in the pursuit of an independent life free from strict cultural traditions.Adah’s desire for equality and her struggle for self-confidence and dignity are themes that are reoccurring in Buchi’s work, and Second Class Citizen is an typical example of that.However, in 1960s London, Adah faces new struggles as a black immigrant, among them racism and the harsh realities of her marriage.Show NotesBuchi Emecheta: https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/buchi-emechetaBuchi Emecheta obituary: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/03/buchi-emecheta-obituaryA Sort-of Career: Remembering Buchi Emecheta: https://www.wasafiri.org/article/sort-career-remembering-buchi-emecheta/Cooking with Buchi Emecheta: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/08/03/cooking-with-buchi-emecheta-2/Buchi Emecheta interview | Civil Rights | women's rights | Today | 1975RecommendationsFi‘A Trip to Echo Spring: One Writers and Drinking’ by Olivia Laing‘Draw Your Weapons’ by Sarah Sentilles‘Annie Dillard and the Writing Life’ by Alexander CheeKirby‘The Good People’ by Hannah KentBBC World Series: The Documentary PodcastNevePose‘Mothers’ by Kim Ye-Seol in The Lifted Brow issue 39‘Peter Darling’ by Austin ChantContact UsTwitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In Episode 16 of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Eileen Chang's Lust, Caution.Eileen Chang is considered one of the most influential modern Chinese writers. Her work, which often deals between the tensions between women and men, has been described as ‘finely honed’ and ‘remarkable’.This month we’re discussing her 1979 novella, Lust, Caution. Described as a ‘gripping, intensely atmospheric story of love, espionage and betrayal in wartime Shanghai’, Lust, Caution is set during the Japanese occupation of China in the 1940s.August is Women in Translation month which celebrates the translated work of women writers. You can find more information here or follow the conversation on social media @Read_WIT on twitter and @readwit on Instagram.Show Notes:Eileen Chang, 74, Chinese Writer Revered Outside the Mainland https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/13/obituaries/eileen-chang-74-chinese-writer-revered-outside-the-mainland.htmlEILEEN CHANG https://www.nyrb.com/collections/eileen-changEileen Chang’s life in wartime Hong Kong and Shanghai laid bare in autobiographical novel https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/2140103/eileen-changs-life-wartime-hong-kong-and-shanghai-laidRecommendations:Fi:'The Wonder of Birds: What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future' by Jim Robbins'Smile' by Roddy Doyle'Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport' by Anna KrienKirby:ABC’s War on WasteThe Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth KolbertTrue CostNeve:The Miseducation of Cameron PostBut I'm a CheerleaderTo All the Boys I've Loved BeforeYulin KuangAn Asian-American Teen Idol Onscreen, Finally by Jenny HanContact UsTwitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode fifteen of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Janet Malcolm's Forty-One False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers.Janet Malcolm is an award-winning American writer and journalist and the author of more than ten books, including the much revered, The Journalist and the Murderer.But it is Malcolm’s 2013 collection, Forty-One False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers that we’re discussing today. The collection, much of which was first published in the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, features sixteen essays on artists and writers as diverse as Virginia Woolf, Julia Margaret Cameron, JD Salinger, Edith Wharton and Cecily von Ziegesar.Malcolm has been described as ‘among the most intellectually provocative of authors, able to turn epiphanies of perception into explosions of insight.’ With her books bringing a ‘gimlet-eyed clarity to often fraught and complicated subjects and are so lean, so seamless, so powerfully direct, that read as they read as if they have been written in a single breath’Show Notes:Janet Malcolm, The Art of Nonfiction No. 4 https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6073/janet-malcolm-the-art-of-nonfiction-no-4-janet-malcolmA life in writing: Janet Malcolm https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/jun/06/janet-malcolm-a-life-in-writingForty-One False Starts by Janet Malcolm – review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/28/forty-one-false-janet-malcolm-reviewTheir Own Petard ‘Forty-One False Starts,’ by Janet Malcolm https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/books/review/forty-one-false-starts-by-janet-malcolm.htmlForty-One False Starts (essay from book) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/07/11/forty-one-false-startsForty One False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers, by Janet Malcolm https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/forty-one-false-starts-essays-on-artists-and-writers-by-janet-malcolm-1.1487226FORTY-ONE FALSE STARTS BY JANET MALCOLM http://therumpus.net/2014/06/forty-one-false-starts-by-janet-malcolm/The queen of not-nice: Janet Malcolm’s ‘Forty-one False Starts’ https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/june/1370181600/amanda-lohrey/queen-not-nice-janet-malcolm-s-forty-one-false-startsJanet Malcolm's brilliant methods are on show in 'Forty-One False Starts' http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/03/entertainment/la-ca-jc-janet-malcolm-20130505I Read Everything Janet Malcolm Ever Published http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_completist/2013/05/janet_malcolm_review_forty_one_false_starts_journalist_and_the_murderer.htmlRecommendations:KirbyYou Can't Ask ThatThe Bechdel Cast podcastNeveKilling EveInterview with Sandra Ohhttps://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/04/killing-eve-sandra-oh-interviewHannah Witton bloghttps://hannahwitton.com/am-i-disabled/Fi'The Spare Room' by Helen Garner'Conversations with Friends' by Sally Rooney'Madness: a memoir' by Kate Richards'Becoming Disabled' by Rosemarie Garland-Thomsonhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/opinion/sunday/becoming-disabled.htmlContact UsTwitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In the fourteenth episode of Literary Canon Ball we discuss N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season.The Fifth Season is a science fantasy novel written by N.K. Jemisin and published in 2015. The winner of the 2016 Hugo Award, The Fifth Season takes place on a supercontinent called the Stillness where every few centuries catastrophic climate change throws the society into chaos.The first volume in Broken Earth series, the New York Times said The Fifth Season ‘invites us to imagine a dismantling of the earth in both the literal and the metaphorical sense, and suggests the possibility of a richer and more fundamental escape’. NPR said that 'Jemisin brilliantly illustrates the belief that, yes, imaginative world-building is a vital element of fantasy—but also that every character is a world unto herself’.Show Notes:‘The Fifth Season,’ by N.K. ­Jemisin https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/books/review/the-fifth-season-by-nk-jemisin.html'Fifth Season' Embraces The Scale And Complexity Of Fantasy https://www.npr.org/2015/08/04/427825372/fifth-season-embraces-the-scale-and-complexity-of-fantasyN.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy is a triumphant achievement in fantasy literature https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/17/16156416/n-k-jemisin-broken-earth-trilogy-the-stone-sky-fantasy-book-reviewThey Are Living Their Own Myths: An Interview With N.K. Jemisin, Author Of The Fifth Season https://electricliterature.com/they-are-living-their-own-myths-an-interview-with-n-k-jemisin-author-of-the-fifth-season-3737515bf101WIRED BOOK CLUB: THIS IS THE WAY FIFTH SEASON ENDS https://www.wired.com/2016/05/wired-book-club-fifth-season-3/Recommendations:Kirby'Nimona' by Noelle StevensonNanette by Hannah GadsbyFi'Eggshell Skull' by Bri Lee‘Avalanche: A Love Story’ by Julia Leigh‘Lab Girl: A story of trees, science and love’ by Hope JahrenNeve'The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge' by Clare StrahanSet It Up'The Kiss Quotient' by Helen HoangContact Us:Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode thirteen we discuss Leland Bardwell's short story collection, Different Kinds of Love.Leland Bardwell was a writer of poetry, plays, novels and short fiction. Different Kinds of Love, her only short story collection, was originally published in 1987 and rereleased in 2011.From unfinished housing estates left to literally rot to courtrooms, train stations and hospitals, Bardwell explores an Irish society weighed down by the abuse of women and children and the social and economic disadvantage of the marginalised.Show Notes:Leland Bardwell bioLeland Bardwell ObituaryLeland Bardwell, a leading light of Irish literary sceneLeland Bardwell had the softest wildness I’ve ever seen in human eyesLeland, an Irish everywomanObituary: Leland BardwellLove in a climate of neglectDifferent Kinds of Love'A Restless Life' by Leland BardwellTwo Literary Families by Kirby FenwickRecommendations:KirbyBrooklyn 99Auckland Writers Festival PodcastNeveDirty Computer by Janelle MonáeKid Gorgeous by John MulaneyFiElizabeth Harrower at Adelaide Writers Week podcastContemporary Essay: Personal and Public at Sydney Writers Festival podcast'Essays In Love' by Alain be BottonTwitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In Episode Twelve we discuss Clare Wright's award-winning book, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka. A well-worn foundation story of modern Australia and the so-called ‘birthplace of Australian democracy’, the stories of the Eureka Stockade and the goldminers who rose up against an oppressive government linger in our national story. And yet, for too long those stories were missing half their characters. Where were, where are the stories of the women of Eureka?Published in 2014, Clare Wright’s award winning book, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka writes those forgotten women back into the story. Ten years of research and writing created a bold and entertaining book that pays tribute to the women of Ballarat and their place in the story of Eureka. Show Notes:Noted works: The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka: https://theconversation.com/noted-works-the-forgotten-rebels-of-eureka-26584Clare Wright’s ‘The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka’: https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/november/1383224400/robyn-annear/clare-wright-s-forgotten-rebels-eurekaThe Forgotten Rebels of Eureka: http://thestellaprize.com.au/prize/2014-prize/the-forgotten-rebels-of-eureka/Review: the Forgotten Rebels of Eureka: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-30/perkins-review-the-forgotten-rebels-of-eureka/5421162Bottom up: The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright: https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/forgotten-rebels-eureka-clare-wright/Women are central to Australia's history. Why have we forgotten them?: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2013/oct/30/women-central-australian-history-forgottenRecommendations:Neve‘The Genius of Jane Austen: Her Love of Theatre and Why She Works in Hollywood’ by Paula ByrneLove, Simon'Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda' by Becky AlbertalliKirby'One plot, at most' by Jane Rawson'Balancing Acts: Women in Sport' essay collection from Brow BooksFi'Mine' by Susi Fox'The Girls' by Emma ClineGeorge Ezra & Friends podcastTwitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In episode eleven of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Why God Is A Woman by Nin Andrews. Published in 2015, Why God Is A Woman is a collection of prose poetry from Nin Andrews about a magical island where women rule. But the story of this female utopia is told from the memories of a man, exiled from the island, who looks back with both nostalgia and bitterness.Hit play to listen to our chat.Show Notes:Why God Is a Woman reviewWHY GOD IS A WOMAN by Nin Andrews reviewWhy God Is a Woman by Nin Andrews reviewPart and Parcel: Nin AndrewsJust Kiss My Frog/Leena Norms Recommendations:NeveThe Right Kind of Blood by Rosanna Stevens at The Lifted BrowThe Best of The Lifted Brow: Volume Two'A Princess in Theory' by Alyssa ColeFiSam Connor International Women's Day Twitter threadLovesick by NetflixThis American Life: Five WomenLongform: Chana Joffe-WaltKirby'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte BronteJessica Jones by Netflix Twitter: @litcanonballInstagram: @literarycanonballFind us on Facebook at Literary Canon BallEmail: literarycanonball@gmail.com 

In Episode 10 we discuss This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. We also have a stack of ace recommendations for you. Twitter: @litcanonball Instagram: @literarycanonball Facebook: Literary Canon Ball Website: www.literarycanonball.com Email: literarycanonball@gmail.com

In the ninth episode of Literary Canon Ball we discuss, Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate. Originally published in 1989, Like Water for Chocolate is a classic of Mexican literature written by screenwriter and novelist Laura Esquivel.Part cookbook, part steamy romance, part family drama and all magic realism, Water for Chocolate tells the story of Tita the youngest daughter of the all-female De La Garza family around the time of the Mexican revolution in the early twentieth century.The story, which spans some 22 years, is told through twelve chapters, each of which begin with a recipe.Like Water for Chocolate was a number one bestseller in Mexico for two years. The English translation was published in 1992 and a film was released in the same year. Show Notes:'Anna and the French Kiss' by Stephanie PerkinsLovers slowly roasting in flames of passion: 'Like Water for Hot Chocolate' - Laura Esquivel, Tr. Carol & Thomas ChristensenReview: Like Water for ChocolateMovie via NetflixFilm Review: Like Water for Chocolate Recommendations:Neve'The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air)' by Holly Black Kirby'Wise Children' by Angela Carter'The First Friday in February' AFLW Audio DocumentaryFi'Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness' by Susannah Cahalan'Interpreter of Maladies' by Jhumpa Lahiri'Not By Accident' A Podcast by Sophie HarperSign up for Fi's newsletter here: http://www.fimurphywriter.com/

Ghosts, haunted houses, snow people come to life, talking dogs and frogs and an interesting new perspective of a very old Christmas story. Jeanette Winterson’s Christmas Days, a collection of twelve short stories features all those things and more. The more includes a dozen recipes interspersed between the stories, little vignettes that not only give us a recipe but also give us an insight into Winterson’s Christmases. Published in 2016, Christmas Days adds to Winterson’s impressive list of publications that includes novels, a memoir, children’s books and a comic book. Join us as we discuss Christmas Days. Plus we have a stack of delicious recommendations for you and we chat about our 2018 reading goals.

In episode seven of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book. Join us as we discuss the genre bending nature of this thousand-year-old book. And, as always, we have a bunch of excellent recommendations just for you!

What would the world look like if women had had access to and been welcome in the scientific realm from the beginning? The mind boggles. This is not a question Australian scientist and science journalist, Margaret Wertheim really attempts to answer in ‘Pythagoras’ Trousers: God, Physics and the Gender Wars’ but it is a question you’ll be left with after reading. Published in 1997, ‘Pythagoras’ Trousers’ is a cultural and social history of physics—from ancient Greece to the renaissance to now, or at least now twenty years ago—that does attempt to forge links between physics and religion and the barriers this link served up to women. Join us as we discuss the connections between physics and religion, women in science and the barriers they have faced and continue to face. Plus we have a seriously great stack of recommendations just for you.

In episode five of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Valeria Luiselli's Sidewalks. Originally published in Mexico in 2010 before being translated into English in 2013, Sidewalks is a collection of essays that explores the places, both real and imagined, that shape our lives. Join us as we discuss place, the role of the writer and the beauty of language. Plus we have a whole swag of brilliant recommendations just for you!

In the fourth episode of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Helen Hodgman’s Blue Skies. Originally published in 1976, Blue Skies was republished earlier this year as part of Text Publishing’s Text Classics series. Join us as we discuss the anti-heroine, the Australian landscape on the page and if we do or do not like this book!

In episode three of Literary Canon Ball we chat about Angie Thomas' debut YA novel, The Hate U Give. Join us as we discuss the beauty of Starr Carter and her family, the complexity of telling political stories and the progressiveness of the YA genre. Plus we have a whole bunch of stellar recommendations for your viewing, listening and reading pleasure.

In the second episode of Literary Canon Ball we chat all about Hang Kang's Human Acts, a novel originally published in Korean in 2014 before being translated and published in English in 2016. Join us as we discuss the body, the weight of grief and trauma and the art of translation.

In the first episode of Literary Canon Ball we chat all about the forgotten classic that is Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. Join us as we discuss the feminist merits of this book, the relationship between Cassandra and her sister, and whether I Capture the Castle is YA or not YA.

Who the heck are we? What's a canon? And how can you get involved. Listen to our Pilot Episode to get some answers to those questions and more!