Tag: Walter Mason

On Remembering Things

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by Walter Mason Year by year I become more conscious that I commit less and less to memory. I was in that final generation that made one last half-hearted effort to commit some poetry to memory. The only things that remain with me now are ‘My Country’, half of ‘The Man from Ironbark’ and the first three verses of ‘Advance Australia Fair’. Which, I think, pretty much puts me in the top 10% of the Australian population when it comes to memorised poetry, though I rarely find myself in a situation that demands I draw upon these poetic reserves. My…

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Walter’s live blogging – final post: Garry Wotherspoon

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by Walter Mason This is my secret confession. When I was 17 I discovered a collection of biographical stories of ordinary gay men called “Being Different.” I bought it second hand and read it compulsively, over and over again, but always in secret. It was edited by Garry Wotherspoon, and it had a tremendous effect on my growing up and coming out. He has remained one of my heroes, and, I discovered when he came to see me today, my story has been repeated to him by other people. It was a groundbreaking book, and it certainly helped young Queer…

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Walter’s live blogging – Helen O’Neill

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by Walter Mason I remember stumbling upon Helen O’Neill’s exquisite illustrated biography of Florence Broadhurst when it was first released. I suffered a terrible author envy witnessing such a lushly illustrated and produced object. It is every writer’s dream to create such a text, but Helen is one of the rare few to have it realized. A couple of weeks ago I received her new book, a lavishly illustrated biography of the iconic Australian architect Harry Seidler, published by Harper Collins. As well as looking beautiful, with its modernist-influence half-slipcase, it is very well written and offers a fascinating insight…

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Walter’s live blogging – Claire Scobie

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by Walter Mason Whenever I teach travel writing workshops I always ask my students what their favourite travel books are. Partly it’s because I want them to start thinking about the kind of writing they want to do, and also because I want to be sure they have some kind of grasp of the genre. Certain books and writers are constantly mentioned (Bill Bryson, Paul Theroux and Norman Lewis), but one of the books that is brought up every time is Claire Scobie’s classic piece of travel writing, “Last Seen in Lhasa.” This year Claire has published her first novel,…

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Walter’s live blogging – Thomas Keneally

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by Walter Mason It seems only fitting that, being a guest for the day at the Tom Keneally Centre at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, I should have the opportunity to speak to the great man himself. I had spent most of the day sitting in front of an immense portrait of him, so when he loomed into the doorway of the office I felt surrounded. Keneally is, of course, famous for his garrulous good humour, affability and approachability. I saw it all at work today as he spoke to a gathering of about 50 people who had come…

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Walter’s live blogging – P M Newton at the Tom Keneally Centre

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by Walter Mason Greetings! And welcome to the first post from Southerly’s first day of live blogging at the Tom Keneally Centre at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts. My first guest today was the crime writer P M Newton. We sat down in some comfy seats and talked writing, crime and sci-fi – all things that P M Newton is expert in. I first discovered her after I read her fantastic first novel “The Old School,” a gritty and very Australian book set in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown in the late 1980s. What intrigued me about the book…

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Next monthly blogger – Walter Mason!

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Many thanks to David Brooks for his excellent posts last month, leading up to the issue 73.2 Liar/Lyre. This month, our fabulous blogger is Walter Mason. His bio is below: Walter Mason is an academic, blogger, speaker and writer.  He is part of the Writing & Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney, where he is completing his doctoral thesis on the history of self-help books in Australia. Walter has spent long periods studying Buddhism and meditation in Asia and together with Stephanie Dowrick he runs the Universal Heart Book Club, an online book group that concentrates on matters of the…

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