Sean Williams

Got a free afternoon on Sunday the 27th? Join Richard Harland and I at the Adelaide Festival Centre Amphitheatre at 2.45 for half an hour of fun and frivolity and . . . actually, I don't know what we'll be doing, exactly. We'll make it up as we go along. But we'll have a good time, and I guarantee that you will too.

This is part of the awesome ComeOut Festival, a program for children, young people, and families. There are workshops and performances and all manner of excellent things. I'm also taking a five-day workshop for young writers with A. J. Mackinnon, one of the most entertaining writers and speakers you'll ever see. All in all, it's going to be a busy and brilliant week.

Tomorrow sees the launch of "Reflections on Water", a poem commissioned from me by the Adelaide Zoo and the Environmental Institute at Adelaide University on the theme of "water is life", which (performed by multiple voices and combined with numerous sound-effects) will form the backbone of a soundscape that everyone will hear every time they go to visit the pandas (or any of the other marvellous critters living beyond the zoo's awesome new entrance).

I'll post a link to the finished text once it goes live, but here, to whet (ha ha) your appetite, is my first stab at it. This is nothing like the final product, nothing at all: for one, it's a villanelle, whereas the finished piece has no formal structure; for two, this is far too didactic. But it was an enjoyable warm-up, and I'd hate it to disappear forever (ah, vanity).

The Adelaide natcon was a hoot.  That's my official con report.  I had a ball.  It was great to see so many familiar faces, and a few new ones too.  Thanks to everyone who made it happen.  I hope it won't be another 20-odd years before we have another con here in SA!

I'll just add quickly that I was completely bowled over to be the recipient of this year's Peter McNamara Award.  Will write more about this later, probably.  I still can't quite believe it...

Next Thursday, June 4, Julie Czerneda will be appearing at Dymocks Rundle Mall to give a reading and take questions. Come along at 6.00 for a 6.30 start to get the jump on what Conjecture's very special guest will be sharing with us over the weekend. There will be plenty of nibbles and drinks.

THEN immediately afterwards everyone is invited to come to the cocktail lounge of the Electric Light Hotel for a Pirate Ditmar Party. Why pirates? Because they're always cool. Why Ditmars? Well, it's a long story. There won't be any actual awards (probably) but there will be Haigh's chocolate frogs in honour of the infamous Suncon cane toads. If you don't know what that means, come along and find out!

Both events are within walking distance of the Holiday Inn. Here and here are directions.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone who might be interested.

I hope to see you there!

Another book launch, this time from a very dear friend of mine, and a book I'm very proud to be launching myself.



Kim's poetry is fresh and intimate and deeply embedded in the here and now. I've loved reading the book (published by Australian Poetry Centre as part of The National New Poets Program) and I'm really looking forward to sending it out into the world.

The launch is 6pm Saturday 25th April 2009 at the SA Writers’ Centre, Level 2, 187 Rundle St. Can you think of a better way to shake of the ANZAC blues?

South Australia's finest culinary invention has reached the US--and it's causing a certain amount of confusion, for both cake makers and Cake Wreckers. The former don't know how to bake them; the latter can't tell what they're supposed to be. Anyway, it's a proud moment for this Adelaide boy.


One of my oldest friends had frog cakes at her wedding reception last month, and they were a hit. Honest!

A quick note, not of disgruntlement but general advice:

I know just as little about what's happening with Conjecture as anyone else, so emailing me to find out is not going to get you very far. All we can do is whinge about it together, after I've suggested you contact the con committee and see if they'll respond.

I do suggest you do that, btw. Or post to your blogs. Just generally raise some hell, any way you can. If the natcon isn't dead, it's going to take a little more evidence than stone cold silence to convince anyone of the fact.

This post is solely for the Adelaideans among us. Sorry.

Seeking something sweet and piratical for yourself and a loved one? Local indie duo The Sea Thieves is playing at the Grace Emily tonight.* We'll be there with bells on.

* Actually, not very piratical. That's just a reference to their name. But they play a mean saw, which is not to be sniffed at.

If you're interested in reading more about the woes of Adelaide Writers' Week, Stephen Orr has written a wonderful piece for ABC news. Wander by and leave a comment. It will be read.

Also, I'll be on ABC radio this afternoon saying much the same thing.

As Stephen says: "Frankly, I'd rather be writing my fiction than opinion pieces, but some things can't go unsaid, that's the whole point of being a writer."

ETA: Here's the version of the piece on Articulate, where comments can be left.

martinlivings is calling for writers to send in photos of the rooms in which they write. "I think this would make a nice snapshot," he says, "to go alongside the one that the ASif team recently did. We've had insights into your minds, now I'd like insights into your private spaces." Ho ho.

This comes in response to the Guardian's recent gallery of writers' rooms, featuring such greats as J G Ballard, Alain de Botton and Jacqueline Wilson. As Martin says about the gap in stature between said greats and the likes of us: "We're not rich, or famous. Heck, most of us don't make a living from writing, and probably never will. But we're not bitter. Angry, twisted, filled with unspeakable rage, yes, but not bitter, no. But we all work at it anyway, and we all work somewhere."

Indeed. I've submitted a snap of my new study for all to see. And creative types of all kinds reading this--not just writers--should also drop Martin a line in order to give us a glimpse into your worlds. I for one am curious..

Sad to say, I won't be working at home for the next couple of weeks--albeit for very good reasons. I'll be at Conflux this weekend and then taking a retreat with a bunch of wonderful friends and writers in Queensland shortly thereafter. I'll be back in town mid-October, just in time for my best friend's 40th birthday bash. Oh, and for The Crooked Letter to be the feature book in SFFWorld's Fantasy Book Club.

Hurrah!

PS. Thanks to everyone who came to see Kevin J Anderson speak at Dymocks last week. It was a great turn-out. Wonderful to see so many people taking the opportunity to meet a writer of his stature when it arises. I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with Kevin and his equally brilliant wife Rebecca last week, at various dinners, bars and even a performance of the War of the Worlds in Melbourne. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in Canberra, if they're not completely sick of the sight of me by now. :-)

PPS. A big hello to everyone I bumped into while I was in Melbourne. It was a non-business trip (thanks to Nick for a wonderful 40th birthday present!) so I wasn't really in SF-community mode. It never even occurred to me that this little Jeff Wayne fanboy would see anyone he knew in the mighty metropolis that is Melbourne. Just goes to show, eh? The world is smaller than we think, and a whole lot more interesting for it.