Meg Vann: Recent Episodes
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I presented at an amazing range of regional Australian writing events in 2019: from the Boonah Writers Festival to the Rainforest Writing Retreat at O’Reilly’s to the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival in the Huon Valley. As a guest, duties often include being seated at a dinner table with a dozen participants to dazzle … Continue reading The Midwife’s Garden
Contemporary thriller readers have an appetite for stories voicing the complex trauma arising from gendered violence, and so do I. The market is booming for domestic noir, relationship thrillers, psychological suspense stories – all grounded in and around the themes of the abuse of women and girls. I love these stories – I love how … Continue reading Trauma-Informed Craft
I went back to my roots yesterday, when I was interviewed by the lovely Amy McDonald for ABC Radio Gold Coast to talk about murdering people in my imagination, or as some people call it, writing crime fiction. It was surprisingly cathartic to revisit my formative influences, like the wild beauty and dangerous play I enjoyed … Continue reading Dangerous Play
After donning a controversial sombrero at Brisbane Writers Festival, Lionel Shriver is at it again, misrepresenting literary sensitivity consultants as the free speech police. Shriver seems to be responding to this recent, well-researched article about the issue. If your creative writing draws on elements from cultures or subcultures with which you do not identify, then you are … Continue reading Sensitivity and straw hats
The holiday season is nearly upon us and it has awakened a hunger in me: a hunger for books. I am slavering over book catalogues like a vampire at the blood bank. Here are some books I have recently read, or plan to read over the holidays – true crime and crime fiction books; some light … Continue reading A feisty festive season
I am so amped about my holiday reading! I started early, already having inhaled half a dozen books this month, but I still have a pile to get through. Looking for recommendations to round out your holiday reading? Here’s 5 Books by Queensland authors for your reading pleasure… A Time to Run by JM Peace … Continue reading 5 thrilling holiday reads
It’s time to talk about the dark and twisty ladies of literature I adore. Welcome to the first book review at mamaguilt. I loved Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl! But I also hated it, in a totally respectful kind of way. SPOILER ALERT – I won’t actually give away the ending, but this review discusses the shape and … Continue reading ‘Bitches be tricky’ and other thriller tropes
You can be involved in this interesting ongoing project by author Levin Diatschenko, supported by if:book Australia: From if:book’s Memory Makes Us: Family Tree On 30 May 2014, Levin Diatschenko created a new work of narrative fiction for Memory Makes Us using your memories as his inspiration. Levin sought from the public memories on the theme of ‘family tree’. … Continue reading Experimental novel seeks your memories
Fuelled by Memories Yesterday, I had the extraordinary privilege of helping to deliver Memory Makes Us, an experimental live writing event at Wordstorm festival in Darwin, the regional capital of Australia’s remote Top End. Three authors wrote live to the web, fuelled by contributions from the public submitted via typewriter or post-it note at Wordstorm, … Continue reading Memory Makes Us
For my day job, I teach a wide range of writing courses. At the moment, I’m teaching Writing 101, and I love it with a passion. There’s something about working with a group of beginner writers that fills me with joy: passing on to them the tools, insights and validation that were so generously taught … Continue reading Why I love beginners