Gigs, gigs, gigs. First, here in Melbourne this Saturday…

Applying for Arts Funding

Do you have an idea for an arts project that needs funding? Bring it along to this unique workshop. The workshop begins with a thorough overview of applying for arts funding – learn the essentials of applying for funding, tips for writing clear and persuasive proposals, developing budgets and more. You then get to test your arts project idea and build your skills in proposal-writing via some exercises.

Sun 6 Feb, 10:00am-2:00pm

Victorian Writers Centre
The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Members $65, members concession $55, non-members $85 (book online)

Then, later this month, I’m in Perth for the Perth Writers Festival. (It’ll be good to go back to Perth. I went there for the first time last year for my Perth book launch.) First up, I have a reading at Cottonmouth, a rather excellent regular spoken word event in Perth that I was lucky enough to perform at last year:

(Read more)

A few years ago, Shane Warne – who at the time was retiring from cricket – was ruminating about his life and career. I recall he said something along the lines of “I don’t know who writes my scripts, but they’re doing an incredible job.” I instantly related to that comment when I heard it. Yes, yes, I know we can ultimately view ourselves as self-authoring types, but let’s not debate who’s writing the scripts or how they’re written (or interpreted). It’s my scripts in themselves that have been blowing my mind lately, especially this year.

Possibly the best of the most recent script developments in my life is that I’ve been successful in getting a grant from Arts Victoria to work on my second book. My new book project is incredibly daring and difficult and fun – both comic and of consequence, as I usually think Look Who’s Morphing is – and I’m so glad that the assessment panel wanted to support such a project. (Read more)

Look Who’s Morphing (or pieces from the book) continues to be studied in various university courses (not only in Australia but occasionally overseas). I often only get to hear about this by chance – although usually in great ways, such as when a student emails me to tell me they enjoyed my work (or – equally as satisfying – when a lecturer tells me how much they’ve enjoyed teaching the book).

Anyway, back in August, an undergraduate student from University of New South Wales, Sybilla Levenston, contacted me. She mentioned that she had reviewed Look Who’s Morphing for an assignment and had received a High Distinction for her review. I promised her that I would publish her playful, slippery and entertaining review here. It’s taken me a while to get around to doing this but, finally, here it is. Thanks for your patience, Sybilla! Bring on the Betty Crocker Easy Bake… (Read more)

Everything has been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to mention this until now: I am participating in three events at Feast Festival, Adelaide’s queer arts and cultural festival. This Saturday, I am involved in two events for the festival’s literary program. But the night before that, I will be giving a reading at a dinner for International Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Here are the details from the program: (Read more)

First up, a photo (click the image to get a better view):

I took this photo a few weeks ago at Borobudur, a Buddhist monument in Central Java, Indonesia. It was about 5am and the sun was starting to rise. After I arrived at Borobudur, I took a fair few photos. After a while, though, I put my camera aside so I could simply have my experience there, without any desire to capture anything. (Read more)

The image below shows the Hindu god Krishna with some gopis (female cow-herders).  I was influenced by stories of Krishna and the gopis when I was writing “Cock Rock”, the last piece in Look Who’s Morphing.

Click the image to get a better view.

Soon, I’ll be going to Bali, where over 90% of the population practices a Balinese form of Hinduism. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m going for the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, and then I’ll be staying on to have a break and do some research for my next book. The above image is suggestive, actually, of the kind of territory into which I’ll be heading for my next book, so it seems perfect that I will be making my way to Bali.

Here’s some exciting news: Look Who’s Morphing has been short-listed for an award called the Best Writing Award 2009. This is awarded by the Melbourne Prize Trust “for a piece of published or produced work of outstanding clarity, originality and creativity by a Victorian writer, 40 years or under.”

And here’s some more exciting news: by making that short-list, Look Who’s Morphing is also in the running for a related Award – a Civic Choice Award in which the public gets to vote for their favourite. So if you’d like to make it your civic duty to vote for Look Who’s Morphing, you can do that here.

Here’s the full short-list for the Best Writing Award: (Read more)