What right do I have to talk about this place? What do I know about it? How much can I feel, can I see and smell and hear the suffering? These are the questions author and teacher Stephen Orr asked himself after visiting the remains of the Auschwitz prison camp. In this guest post, Stephen writes of the importance of feeling pain that is not necessarily yours, and of remembering what has happened in the…
Continue readingAward-winning journalist Michael McGuire has worked for more than twenty years at the Australian in Sydney, and the Adelaide Advertiser where he is now senior writer. He has also dabbled in state and federal politics. His first foray into fiction, Never a True Word, has been called 'a political novel for our times' (Australian). What were you like as a child? Did you ever get into trouble? Mostly okay, I think. There were two parts to my childhood.…
Continue readingLaunching this week is Never a True Word, the debut political thriller from Michael McGuire. The book follows Jack, a journalist who thinks he's met every shade of nutter, narcissist and bully, until he enters the bizarre world of politics as a spin doctor. Perhaps Jack might have benefitted from reading John Hill's how-to, On Being a Minister – here John discusses his experiences with Adelaide's 'best informed, most intelligent and, at times, most offensive interviewers', Matt and Dave. My first Matt and Dave interview,…
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