Jacqueline Kent » Articles & Reviews by Jacquie

The Final Meeting of the Book Club

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:38:25 +0000

‘Well,’ said Caroline briskly, ’shall we choose the book for next time?’ She paused, waiting for us to answer. When nobody did, she said, ‘What about something by – ooh – say, Virginia Woolf?’ Andree, Allison and I stared into our wine glasses. Jo, who was less polite, groaned. ‘Not a good idea?’ Caroline opened the [...] Related posts:

Autobiography of my Mother

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:02:02 +0000

Jacqueline Kent, reviewer June 19, 2007

It is good to say “welcome back” to this, the life story of Australian artist Margaret Coen.

It is good to say “welcome back” to this, the life story of Australian artist Margaret Coen as told to, and by, her daughter Meg Stewart. First published [...] Related posts:

Damned if we do, damned if we don’t

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:00:10 +0000

More books than ever will be published in Australia this year. Jacqueline Kent explains why many will be badly edited.

Here’s a cautionary tale. An Australian publisher has just signed up a well known novelist. Both parties are very pleased with themselves: the author because it’s a better deal than any previous publisher has offered, the [...] Related posts:

On Having to be Perfect

admin — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 04:08:10 +0000

ONE of my least cherished memories is the first exam I took as a flute player. There I stood, my fingers trembling, facing a woman in a bobble-fringed poncho calmly scribbling comments as I piped way through bits of Handel and Elgar. It was an awful experience and I was so relieved to have reasonably [...] Related posts:

The Story So Far

admin — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 04:06:47 +0000

Paper Empires: A History of the Book in Australia 1946-2005

Edited by Craig Munro and Robyn Sheahan-Bright

University of Queensland Press

For a fascinating occupation, book publishing has generated some very dull books. Histories of publishing companies plod glumly through details of turnover, staff appointments, successes and books [...] Related posts:

British Bulldog’s Unrequited Love

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 02:08:54 +0000

Churchill and America by Martin Gilbert Winston Churchill loved the United States unashamedly. ‘This is a very great country my dear Jack,’ he wrote to his brother. He took pride in his American blood – his mother was born in Brooklyn – and his US connections helped him make his fortune. During the 1920s and [...] Related posts:

Australian Book Review October 2001

admin — Tue, 09 Oct 2001 01:47:54 +0000

L I T E R A R Y H I S T O R Y Weaving a Conversation Jacqueline Kent

Marilla North (ed.) Yarn Spinners: A Story ‘THIS IS A BOOK about friendship and storytelling,’ writes Marilla North in her prologue large and small events in the lives of Dymphna Cusack, Florence James and [...] Related posts:

The Final Meeting of the Book Club

On Editing and Invisible Mending

admin — Mon, 09 Sep 1996 02:11:05 +0000

Rereading this after so long – it was first published in Voices magazine in 1996/7 – I can’t help feeling that it has a slightly olde worlde feel about it, mainly because the position of books, and book editors, has changed so much in the intervening period. But I still feel that [...] Related posts: