Overland literary journal

Melbourne Green School

The Green Institute, a non-profit organisation based in Australia, is grounded in the principles of ecology, social justice, democracy and non-violence. As part of its commitment to building the capacity of like-minded people, the institute is holding a two-day Green School on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 July at Fitzroy High School, Falconer Road, North Fitzroy.

Come along and participate in forums which cover topics including leadership and gender, climate change and transport and climate and post-growth economics. There will also be hands-on workshops designed to enhance your campaigning and communication skills. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 26-07-2011, 1 user comment

Strutting the slut

Most women have at one time in their lives being called a slut for the way they dress or for not conforming to some saintly code of conduct that applies only to women.

Dictionaries are filled with words used to insult women: whore, tart and tramp, for starters. But no word equals slut for its power to degrade and wound one half of the population. Interestingly, there’s no male equivalent of the word slut.

A quick glance at the history books shows that the slut-word has been part of patriarchal societies for centuries. The great patriarchal fear of women not knowing their place found expression in the word slattern, used to abuse women who didn’t keep a clean house, and later, slut, to describe women of loose morals. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 17-05-2011, 30 user comments

The day the lights went out in Overland

Imagine my shock, horror and dismay when I went online to get my Overland fix and got absolutely, wtf, nothing. That’s if you don’t count a message, repeating ad infinitum, that my connection had timed out.

Quick to self-blame for technology stuff-ups, I gave myself over to a number of scenarios: had I clicked something accidentally with my newly acquired acrylic nail extensions (French polish, if you must know), did I have a virus (well yes, I’d had a nasty dose of summer flu but this time round it was my computer’s questionable state of immunity causing the V&Ds), or was this simply a sign my laptop was dying and the blue screen of death imminent? ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 24-02-2011, 11 user comments

Writing without fear or favour

A few years ago I was doing some analysis of blogging as part of a PhD examining different forms of alternative media amid claims that the internet would lead to a reinvigorated public sphere. In that analysis I was critical of blogs, arguing they were spaces where like people had like conversations that usually ended in furious agreement. But the Overland blog – where there is often furious disagreement – proved me wrong. Overland bloggers might identify as lefties but don’t assume this to mean they speak in one unified voice. In fact, I’ve been challenged by the many different perspectives of the community of writers and readers that make up Overland on topics ranging from politics to literature. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 29-11-2010, 12 user comments

In conversation with Toni Jordan

In the second of Westgarth Book’s Emerging Writers’ Events, Toni Jordan, author of international bestseller Addition, will be discussing her new novel Fall Girl.

Toni will also share with us her tips on how to write memorable characters, who, like Grace Vandenburg and Ella Canfield, stay with us long after we’ve read the last line. Don’t miss this chance to meet one of Australia’s most successful authors and enjoy an evening of conversation and networking in the character-filled Westgarth Books. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 21-11-2010, No comments

Beginnings – a literary event

Where does a writer begin writing their novel? Is the first sentence they put on the page the first sentence the reader will read? Where do novels come from? And what does first inspiration look like?

In Westgarth Books first emerging writers’ event, Steven Amsterdam, Chris Womersley, Matt Hooper and Maryrose Cuskelly will join Sydney Smith to discuss ‘Beginnings’.

Steven, Chris, Maryrose and Matt will read from their novels and you will be able to ask questions as well as talk about your own experiences in beginning a novel. Authors will also be available for book signings.

So come along and meet some of Australia’s most exciting new authors and network with other emerging writers while enjoying cheese and wine and the charm and character of Westgarth Book. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 11-10-2010, 1 user comment

Raining cats and dogs and rubbish, too

It’s been raining cats and dogs in Victoria.

We’re leaping puddles, keeping an eye on overflowing water tanks and sighing with relief as Melbourne’s parks and trees slurp up the huge soaking.

But the rain that tumbles into creeks and rivers also floods our waterways with enough rubbish to fill the MCG. In Melbourne alone, three billion pieces of litter – a bag of dog poo someone was too selfish to bin, a rusting battery discarded without a thought, a baby’s dummy fallen unnoticed on the footpath – spill from gutters, down drains and into waterways every year.

The rubbish that collects in our streets is an apt metaphor for consumption gone mad: takeaway cups, plastic lids, half-eaten food and drinks, wrappers, cans, straws, cosmetics, pens, DVDs, car parts, furniture, electronics, polystyrene packaging, plastic wrap, coathangers, hair brushes, building debris, bike parts and jewellery. In fact, almost anything you can name can be found in a gutter or drain near you. And most of what you’ll find will be plastic. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 22-09-2010, 6 user comments

Shafting Kevin – not such a great day for feminists

The ascendancy of Julia Gillard to the office of PM has feminists going gaga.

‘OMG! A female PM’, has been the uncritical response I've been hearing of Julia Gillard’s slaying of Kevin Rudd from feminists everywhere.

We’ve all heard reports of women rushing to screens to watch Julia’s first speech, feminist workplaces ringing with tears and cheers, and inboxes running hot with images of Julia emblazoned with the words: ‘Yes she can.’ And yes, she did.

At last, a woman in the top job. But although I hate to be a party-pooper, is this popping of champagne corks a little too early? Do we really want to celebrate a woman who has behaved in a way feminists have been complaining about for a century or more, or are we just as happy to say ‘game on’ and play dirty with the big boys? ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 30-06-2010, 109 user comments

A celebration of words and writers

The Emerging Writer’s Festival, held in Melbourne in the last two weeks of May, was just what emerging writers needed to kick off the winter months: inspiration, motivation and the coming together of a writerly community.

Still I have to admit I’m a bit bemused by the concept of ‘emerging writer’, perhaps because I’ve been emerging for quite some time. Call me Sean Condon, but sometimes it seems that when it comes to residencies and grants, the emerged not the emerging get the gig.

So, who better to approach about a definition of ‘emerging writer’ than festival director Lisa Dempster (who must have had her thinking cap on to come up with festival hits like ‘Zine Bus’, ‘You Can’t Stop The Musing: Disco Lecture’ and ‘In the pub’ – writers in the pub: who would’ve thought – and lots of other clever ideas that made the Emerging Writers’ Festival such a success)? Lisa says that if you’re writing but haven’t made a million dollars in sales, you’re probably an emerging writer. I recalled the zillionaire-book-selling authors who recently made an appearance on Bestellers & Blockbusters, and after a moment or two contemplating fame and riches, decided I wouldn’t want to join their ranks. Okay, whom am I kidding? ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 7-06-2010, 10 user comments

Sex not so sexy in The Slap

James Frey says:

fictional characters – homo fictus – are not identical to flesh-and-blood human beings – homo sapiens. One reason for this is that readers wish to read about the exceptional rather than the mundane. Readers demand that homo fictus be more handsome or ugly, ruthless or noble, vengeful or giving, brave or cowardly, and so on, than real people, are. Homo fictus has hotter passions and colder anger; he travels more, fights more, loves more, changes more, has more sex. Lots more sex. (Frey, J 1988)

While protagonists in The Slap don’t love more or change very much at all, it’s fair to say they are having much more sex than us ordinary mortals – if they’re not getting it off, they’re fantasising about getting it off. Yet, rather than learn or understand more about the protagonists by seeing them in their most intimate and sometimes most vulnerable moments, the men in particular, seem devoid of feeling other than that which occurs in their nether regions. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 7-04-2010, 26 user comments

Feminism is more than a memory

In case you missed it, it’s International Women’s Day (IWD) this week. There’ll be the usual celebrations, most not that well attended, and a few feminists getting together to look back on past victories. But the feminist agenda, which in simple terms seeks equality for women, appears to have stalled.

Feminists have never been part of the mainstream, though I was surprised when teaching a class of university students a few years back, at the venom directed at feminists. It seems the old stereotypes – man-haters, lesos, unattractive – still hold. When I asked the students what they thought feminists wanted, answers included cutting off men’s balls, world rule (looking back on history lends the latter misconception some merit) and a good fuck. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 8-03-2010, 4 user comments

Why does the ABC continue to insult us with Bolt?

It seems the ABC can’t get enough of Andrew even though his extreme views on everything, from white settlement to climate change, are as dangerous as they are unpalatable. He has co-hosted Jon Faine’s conversation hour, appeared on Lateline, been a panellist on Q&A, and is a regular commentator on the current affairs show the Insiders on Sunday mornings.

It’s not as if Andrew doesn’t have ample opportunity to opine misleadingly all over the media. He has his own twice-weekly column in the Herald Sun for a start, is a regular on 3AW and has gigs happening all around Australia.

It’s fair to say that Andrew and his ilk pretty much dominate commercial media but it’s his appearances on the ABC that bestow on him a credibility he doesn’t deserve and that he can never achieve in the tabloids. Perhaps this is why he so proudly declares his ABC credentials on his CV. ... read more

Written by Trish Bolton on 19-02-2010, 15 user comments