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How to write creative non-fiction history

Discovering an old photo album from the 1920s, celebrated author and adjunct professor Paul Ashton embarked on a journey to turn historical research into engaging creative non-fiction, blending meticulous evidence with captivating storytelling. Here he shares he insights on the fascinating process. One afternoon my elderly father and niece came to my home for lunch. On their way they had seen something on a council clean up. ‘We thought you might be interested in this,’ said my father handing me a small, brown photo album. I was. The album contained around 100 undated black and white photographs. It became apparent quickly that this was the record of a road trip done in the 1920s or 1930s. A boy, two women and a man had gone on a trip from Sydney up through New England, to Tamworth then to Brisbane and back to Sydney. Shadows in some of the images indicate that they were taken by the man and at least one of the women. The album provided the basis for my first children’s book, Palmer’s Mystery Hikes. One photograph stood out for me. Hundreds of people were gathered somewhere in the bush. In the far left-hand corner in the background was an elevated table covered with a large white tablecloth. With a magnifying glass I could just make out ‘Palmers [something] Hike’. In 1932 Palmer’s men and boys’ department store, in Park Street in Sydney, had established a hiking club to promote the sale of hiking apparel. You bought a ‘mystery’ ticket from New South Wales Railways with which Palmer had an arrangement; turned up at Central Station on Sunday morning; and were taken to a mystery destination. From there you did a ten-mile hike to another station and were then trained back to Sydney. There were five hikes. The third one to the Hawkesbury River attracted over 8,000 people. Turning historical research into believable fiction or creative non-fiction has certain demands. How do you strike a balance between historical research and evidence and the narrative form? This is a big question and will ultimately depend on many things, including the availability of primary and secondary sources and the nature of the particular narrative. But perhaps the most important question is: how do writers use the past to give their work historical dimensions and insights? For me, the most critical element is context. And it’s the thing most missing in much historically based fictional literature. Evoking people, places and periods involves understandings of things such as continuity and change over time, historical process – like colonisation and suburbanisation – ideologies and superstitions. Where appropriate, these should form subtle backgrounds to the narrative. Fiction and creative non-fiction as historical modes of presenting history should also show – not tell. My edited collection, If It’s not True It Should Be (Halstead Press), explores writing history using fictional techniques. As Peter Stanley has written in that book, ‘those who seek to illuminate the past through the imaginative recreation of historical fiction … [are] motivated by the fundamental conviction that what links the fidelity of the historian and the imagination of the historical novelist is that the work of both should be offered and read as if it were true.’ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Paul Ashton is adjunct professor and co-founder of the Australian Centre for Public History at the University of Technology Sydney and adjunct professor at the University of Canberra and Macquarie University. He has authored, co-authored, edited and co-edited over 40 books and is editor of the journal Public History Review. His series of creative non-fiction children’s histories – Accidental Histories – is being published by Halstead Press. Images: Supplied

Books

Young musician dies weeks after writing final song

Cat Janice has died aged 31 with her family by her side. The young musician, who had a large following on TikTok, had been battling cancer since January 2022 when doctors diagnosed her with sarcoma, a rare malignant tumour. She was declared cancer-free on July 22 that same year, following extensive surgery, chemo and radiation therapy. The mum-of-one was sadly re-diagnosed with cancer in June last year and despite fighting hard in the second round of her treatments, Janice told fans in January that her cancer "won" and that she "fought hard but sarcomas are too tough". Janice's family have announced her passing in a statement shared to her Instagram. "From her childhood home and surrounded by her loving family, Catherine peacefully entered the light and love of her heavenly creator," they said. "We are eternally thankful for the outpouring of love that Catherine and our family have received over the past few months." Before she died, Janice publicly announced that all her music would be signed over to her 7-year-old son, Loren, to support him in the future. Just weeks before her death, she released her final song Dance You Outta My Head in the hope it would spread "joy and fun". "My last joy would be if you pre saved my song 'Dance You Outta My Head' and streamed it because all proceeds go straight to my 7-year-old boy I'm leaving behind," she said, before the song was released. The song went viral, and took he number one spot in several countries and the number five spot on the Apple Itunes globally. Her family have said that the love she received for her final song, was unbelievable parting gift she could have ever received. "Cat saw her music go places she never expected and rests in the peace of knowing that she will continue to provide for her son through her music. This would not have been possible without all of you." Images: Instagram

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How to write a memoir

How to start a memoir My Story by Russell Durling is my 85-year-old father’s account of the highlights of his life. He is writing and editing it, by hand, in several notepads I gave him as a Christmas gift to encourage the memoir project he had talked about for years. In it, my dad shares stories of summer jobs when he was a teenager, breaking up log jams on the Saint John River near his hometown of Meductic, New Brunswick. He’d move from log to floating log to reach shore again safely – and he loved every minute of this adventure, even when he’d land in the water. Reading an early draft, I learned new details of his history, like how when they were children, his cousin Clara had a pet crow. He also wrote about lessons learned from his Royal Canadian Mounted Police career, which was spent mostly in Nova Scotia, and shared insights about how to retire well. Pro tip from my father: to add a decade to your life, ditch the city (if you can). This memoir will be a treasure for our family, and I’m glad my father was finally able to start writing it, after spending a long time talking about wanting to. And I get it. Writing your life story can feel like a daunting project. But it’s worth it, both to the writer and their potential readers. If you’re having a hard time putting pen to paper, here’s advice on how to start a memoir. First, ask yourself why you're writing a memoir Esmeralda Cabral is a writer who works with people who wouldn’t normally consider themselves writers through her workshop, Writing Your Life. Often, she helps people create written treasures for their families, and sometimes they’re writing just for themselves. To her, and those she teaches, memoir writing can be a way of remembering and reflecting on experiences both positive and negative. “There is a clarity that comes when you put something down on paper,” says Cabral. “Remembering and writing helps us make sense of things. If you don’t write it down or tell it, it’s lost. And that’s a shame.” Begin by jotting down your reasons for writing your story. You could summarise those reasons on a Post-It and stick it on your fridge as an encouraging reminder to stay motivated. After all, there are many good reasons to write: to remember and reflect on your past, to capture your adventures, to share life lessons with family and friends, or maybe even to be published. Consider sharing your plan with a friend or family member who can check in and cheer your progress. Where to start You don’t have to start a memoir with day one. In fact, as much as your future readers love you, they may find that approach less than gripping. In her workshops, Cabral helps people to start a memoir by using a photo that is meaningful to them. She asks them to imagine sitting down with a good friend and telling them the story behind it. Or begin your writing with an event or story you are particularly interested in sharing. What grabs you as a big moment? Select a vivid memory and start there. “Plug your nose and jump in and write down all your memories as truthfully as you can,” summarises New York Times bestselling author Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Maybe start with a birthday party you remember, or your first-grade classroom. Try writing at the same time every day, so you can build a routine that will keep you putting words on the page. Write what you want In every life, there is light and shadow, joy and grief. If you are hesitant to write your memoir because you have difficult stories that might hurt others, there is a solution. First, “You don’t have to write about everything,” says Cabral. “It’s okay to have secrets that go with you to the grave.” Simply knowing you have the freedom to not go to the darkest of places in your writing can lift you over those psychological hurdles of hesitation. However, writing often takes on a life of its own. If you find yourself standing outside a door you had marked as “Do Not Enter,” consider Cabral’s advice: “Write about the hard things as if the person you are writing about is reading it. Be as kind as you can. Leave them with dignity.” Who is your audience? If you’re writing for your eyes only, as a kind of personal therapy, then you may be purposely opening doors and exploring what’s on the other side. That’s okay, too. You are creating a treasure for yourself, and that can be very healthy. Besides, whether the writing is for you or for others, you can always hit the delete button or visit the paper shredder later, if you wish. For now, just get it down. Stop yourself from sticking to rules Avoid letting worries over style or structure stop you from writing. If you care enough about grammar, you can ask someone you trust to read it over later on, or even hire a freelance editor if you’re really fretting over verb tenses. Remember, perfection in writing is not your goal. Readers are interested Writers also might hesitate to share stories because they fear they are boring. “I hear a lot of people say, ‘Oh no, that wouldn’t be interesting to anyone but me,’” says Cabral. But our life stories are of interest to others, whether they feel ordinary to us or if they really are extraordinary. They remind us we are all in this together. Writer Pauline Dakin, author of the award-winning 2017 memoir Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood, was surprised how much the unusual story of her childhood on the run connected with readers. She’s since heard from hundreds of people. “They often begin by saying, ‘My family wasn’t nearly as crazy as yours, but…,’” she says. “They are relieved to hear my story. It makes them feel they are not alone.” We are all far more interesting than we know, she adds. It’s just a matter of believing we have a story to tell. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/uncategorized/how-to-write-a-memoir" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Books

Why you should encourage your grandchildren to write stories

In an article published in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41405103" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Language Arts</a>, educators who were interested in encouraging children to write were asked why it was important for children to be encouraged to write. Their reasons were varied and interesting, and worth considering for anyone who has a young child in their life – let’s take a look at some: 1. To entertain As humans, we tell stories for many reasons, but perhaps the foremost reason is that we want to entertain one another. By encouraging children to write their own stories, they can discover what entertains them, as well as what entertains others – well-told, engaging stories. 2. To stimulate the imagination By creating from nothing a story full of characters and original plots, a child’s imagination grows and develops. 3. To search for identity When children write their own stories, they can use the conflict and characters to take their first steps on their search for identity. The power simple stories can have on a child’s self-development is remarkable. 4. To improve reading and writing skills Children need to read and write, so we may as well find a way to make it more interesting for them. Not only will writing help kids learn how to read, it can also help them understand literary devices (suspense, twist, dramatic irony, etc.), and grammatical structures. Now that we’ve explored some of the reasons creativity in writing in our kids, let’s find some ways to help get them started: 5. Inspiration exploration When you’re spending time with your grandchildren, make a game out of looking for fun story inspirations. Interesting newspaper headlines, a unique-looking house, a colouring-in book. You could even keep a box full of story inspirations to explore together with your grandchildren. 6. Unblank the page Anyone who has ever sat down to write knows there’s nothing more intimidating than a blank page. To help kids out, try giving them the opening line to a story. You can create these yourself, find a list of opening lines on the internet, or even borrow the opening line of a book on your own shelf. 7. Work all of the mind If you find that your grandchildren have difficulty focusing on just words, encourage them to explore other aspects of their own creativity by using visuals. Storyboards, illustrations, or even writing the story as a comic book can help stimulate storytelling. Image credit: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

Chatbots set their sights on writing romance

Although most would expect artificial intelligence to keep to the science fiction realm, authors are facing mounting fears that they may soon have new competition in publishing, particularly as the sales of romantic fiction continue to skyrocket. And for bestselling author Julia Quinn, best known for writing the Bridgerton novel series, there’s hope that “that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” For one, human inspiration is hard to replicate. Julia’s hit series - which went on to have over 20 million books printed in the United States alone, and inspired one of Netflix’s most-watched shows - came from one specific point: Julia’s idea of a particular duke. “Definitely the character of Simon came first,” Julia told BBC reporter Jill Martin Wrenn. Simon, in the Bridgerton series, is the Duke of Hastings, a “tortured character” with a troubled past. As Julia explained, she realised that Simon needed “to fall in love with somebody who comes from the exact opposite background” in a tale as old as time. And so, Julia came up with the Bridgerton family, who she described as being “the best family ever that you could imagine in that time period”. Meanwhile, Simon is estranged from his own father. Characterisation and unique relationship dynamics - platonic and otherwise - like those between Julia’s beloved characters are some of the key foundations behind any successful story, but particularly in the romance genre, where relationships are the entire driving force. It has long been suggested that the genre can become ‘formulaic’ if not executed well, and it’s this concern that prompts the idea that advancing artificial intelligence may have the capability to generate its own novel. ChatGPT is the primary problem point. The advanced language processing technology was developed by OpenAI and was trained using the likes of internet databases (such as Wikipedia), books, magazines, and the likes. The BBC reported that over 300 billion words were put into it. Because of this massive store of source material, the system can generate its own writing pieces, with the best of the bunch giving the impression that they were put together by a human mind. Across the areas of both fiction and non-fiction, it’s always learning. However, Julia isn’t too worried about her future in fiction just yet. Recalling how she’d checked out some AI romance a while ago, and how she’d found it “terrible”, she shared her belief at the time that there “could never be a good one.” But then the likes of ChatGPT entered the equation, and Julia admitted that “it makes me kind of queasy.” Still, she remains firm in her belief that human art will triumph. As she explained, “so much in fiction is about the writer’s voice, and I’d like to think that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” And as for why romantic fiction itself remains so popular - and perhaps even why it draws the attention of those hoping to profit from AI generated work - she said that it’s about happy endings, noting that “there is something comforting and validating in a type of literature that values happiness as a worthy goal.” Images: @bridgertonnetflix / Instagram

Books

"Writing songs is my therapy": Ed Sheeran reveals further heartbreak

In the wake of the tragic news of the <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/tragedy-strikes-ed-sheeran-tour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heartbreaking loss</a> suffered by his co-writer and touring partner, Ed Sheeran has taken to Instagram to share his struggle following a series of life-changing events – and how this has altered the course of his new album, Subtract. The singer shared how he “spiralled” into depression last year after his wife, Cherry, was diagnosed with a tumour during her second pregnancy, which couldn’t be treated until after she gave birth. The star explained that he was "trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album" for almost a decade, when the series of events changed everything. “Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. “And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts," he captioned. “Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. “My best friend Jamal [Edwards], a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety. “I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air". <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPY7qyI6XB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPY7qyI6XB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos)</a> </div> </blockquote> The four-time Grammy award winner shared that this album was a "trapdoor" into his soul, and a way for him to make sense of everything he's been through. Sheeran announced the birth of his second daughter, Jupiter, in May of last year. Subtract will be released on the 5th of May 2023, through Asylum/Atlantic. Image: Getty

Caring

Two thirds of Australian authors are women – new research finds they earn just $18,200 a year from their writing

Most Australian book authors do not earn enough income from their creative practice to make ends meet. They rely on other jobs and other support, such as a partner’s income. In the 2020-21 financial year, the average personal income in Australia was approximately $A70,000. Only one-third of authors earned this amount from all their sources of income combined. The average total income for authors, including all sources of income, was $64,900. And the amount they earned from their books alone was far, far less. In 2022, <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/projects/2022-national-survey-of-australian-book-authors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we surveyed over 1,000 Australian book authors</a>. We found the average annual income authors derive from practising as an author is $18,200. That’s an increase from $15,100 seven years ago (adjusted for inflation). But it’s a modest increase from a low base: it represents growth of less than 3% per annum over seven years. Book writing is a profession dominated by women, who make up two thirds of all Australian authors. More than 80% of authors have attended university and almost half have completed a postgraduate degree – a high level of education that is not matched by high income. In our survey (which followed up on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-read-the-australian-book-industry-in-a-time-of-change-49044" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an earlier 2015 study</a>), we asked Australian book authors about their income and how they allocate their time, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on their career, their relationships with their readers and publishers, and more. We wanted to find out what has changed in the last seven years – and whether conditions are improving for Australian authors. <h2>Authors’ earnings and ‘portfolio careers’</h2> If you are planning a career as an author, what could you expect to earn? Education authors earned the highest average income from their practice as an author ($27,300), followed by children’s ($26,800) and genre fiction ($23,300) authors. Even though these figures are above the overall average for authors, they are not enough to live on, to support a family, or to pay rent or a mortgage. At the other end of the spectrum are poets, who earned an average of $5,700 from their creative practice. Literary authors earned $14,500, which is a decrease in real terms since 2015. To break this down, an author’s income from their creative practice includes advances from publishers, royalties on book sales, fees for live appearances, Public Lending Rights (PLR) and Education Lending Rights (ELR) paid by the government for the use of their work in libraries and educational institutions, prizes and fellowships, and rights sales for film, TV etc. Artists’ careers are often known as “portfolio careers” – which sounds more glamorous than the bracing reality of juggling multiple commitments. Some authors have another career as a journalist, medical specialist, academic, teacher or public figure that provides their main source of income. Several authors wrote about the uneven timing of income from their work. One literary author wrote: It’s difficult to capture the life and income of an author because for up to five years nothing might happen except writing, then for about 18 months there is a flurry of (a tiny amount) of cash and editing, and then a month or two of publicity. <h2>The difficulty of spending time to write</h2> We asked authors what prevents them from spending more time writing. Only 6% of authors reported no competing demands for their writing time. Domestic responsibilities affect almost two-thirds of trade authors (62%). One literary author wrote: <blockquote> I managed to devote regular time to writing alongside a full-time job pre-children but the addition of a baby (now toddler) to life has rendered those opportunities non-existent. I now meet my obligations to my publisher by taking annual and sometimes unpaid leave to work on my author duties. It has certainly slowed my career and I can no longer devote time to learning experiences, networking, or applications for prizes, grants and residencies. </blockquote> Insufficient income is a factor for over half of all authors. Some commented that their ability to spend time writing was enhanced by other sources of financial security. A creative non-fiction author commented: <blockquote> Having my first book published the year before I turned 60 meant I faced less financial issues due to owning my own home, superannuation and financial support from my partner. However, if I was less financially established it would be very difficult to live on what I make as an author. </blockquote> The financial insecurity inherent to the profession may contribute to the recognised lack of diversity of Australian authors: a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/fewer-than-1-in-10-aussie-books-published-by-people-of-colour-report-finds-20221013-p5bpj4.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent report</a> found only 7% of books published in 2018 were written by people of colour. As the UK Society of Authors <a href="https://www.societyofauthors.org/News/News/2019/May/Report-on-authors-earnings-diversity-implications" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> a few years ago, “people from less privileged backgrounds who want to write are less likely to have additional sources of household income”. In the 2022 survey, we heard from established, prize-winning authors – including some who’d had a bestselling book earlier in their career – who were contemplating no longer writing books, due to dwindling opportunities for mid-list writers. We all stand to lose if established authors leave the profession. <h2>Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic</h2> Like many Australians, the majority of authors experienced disruption and hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Approximately one-third of authors reported large or modest increases in levels of financial stress. Authors promote their books through live appearances in bookstores, schools, libraries, writers’ festivals and other events. Over half of authors experienced a reduction in promotional opportunities for their next book. One creative non-fiction author wrote: <blockquote> My book [was] released into closed bookstores and I still find myself questioning if there is anything I can do to improve sales, eight months on. It was, and is, devastating. </blockquote> The lockdowns meant that over one third of authors experienced a large decrease in income from paid appearances. We found it difficult to identify a single factor that meant authors were negatively affected by the pandemic. A range of factors could be influential: whether an author lived in a state which experienced lengthy lockdowns, whether they had a book released (and if so, if they had an established large readership base or not), whether they had carer responsibilities (which could include elderly relatives as well as children), and whether they were experiencing financial stress. <h2>Small, good news – and what’s next?</h2> One piece of good news is that authors are 10% more likely to be satisfied with their main publisher than they were seven years ago. Nearly one-third (31.6%) of authors are very satisfied with their main publisher – an increase from just 19.6% in 2015. Authors, large and small publishers, booksellers and libraries are working on joint initiatives to promote Australia’s reading culture in 2023. The industry awaits the federal government’s national cultural policy with anticipation. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/two-thirds-of-australian-authors-are-women-new-research-finds-they-earn-just-18-200-a-year-from-their-writing-195426" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Books

“How do you write to your Queen?” Helen Mirren reveals contents of special letter

Helen Mirren has revealed the secret letter she wrote to Queen Elizabeth when the actress was playing Her Majesty in the 2006 biopic The Queen. The Hollywood legend reflected on crafting the letter in an interview with the <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/radio-times-new-issue-cover-helen-mirren/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Radio Times</a>, saying she felt compelled to write after realising the intensity of the Queen's role firsthand. "I realised we were investigating a profoundly painful part of her life, so I wrote to her," she said. "How do you write to your queen? Was it Madam, or Your Highness, or Your Majesty?" "I said: 'We are doing this film. We are investigating a very difficult time in your life. I hope it's not too awful for you'. I can't remember how I put it. I just said that in my research I found myself with a growing respect for her, and I just wanted to say that." The 76-year-old actress won an Oscar and a Bafta for her portrayal in the film, which is set during the time Princess Diana tragically died. While she never received a response to her letter from the Queen, Mirren said she did receive a letter from the Queen's secretary. Upon opening the response she confessed, "I was very relieved subsequently that I had written that letter." Earlier this year, the actress told <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/helen-mirren-interview-f9-golda-meir-1235097461/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hollywood Reporter</a> that she believes the Queen has watched the biopic. "At the time, it had never been done before, playing the queen. It was quite nerve-racking because I didn't know – no one knew – how the public would receive it, let alone the establishment in Britain," Mirren reflected. "But I got the sense that it had been seen and that it had been appreciated. I've never heard directly, and I never will," she added. Image credits: Getty Images

Movies

COVID changed travel writing

In 2019, international travel and tourism was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/01/global-tourism-hits-record-highs-but-who-goes-where-on-holiday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a $1.7 trillion global industry</a>. A new cruise ship with space for <a href="https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/articles.cfm?ID=3443" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6600 passengers</a> was launched. And dog friendly holidays in the French Riviera were seen as the next big <a href="https://www.luxurytravelmag.com.au/article/these-are-2019s-top-travel-trends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tourism trend</a>. On social media, travel influencers and bloggers vied for commissions and audiences, while the more “old school” travel writers and journalists continued to report from all corners of the world. The grey area around ethics and sponsorship was murkier than ever – and there was of course, an environmental cost: from the carbon footprint of frequent flyers to the social and cultural impact on <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/the-airbnb-invasion-of-barcelona" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over-touristed destinations</a>. Still, the industry was booming. Then, along came COVID-19. For more than a decade, I had made my living as a travel writer, contributing to publications in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and the UK. I’d visited 72 countries on the job. I’d paddled a kayak across the <a href="https://www.traveller.com.au/alone-in-the-isle-seat-auou" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tongan Vava’u archipelago</a>; written about Myanmar’s temples and <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/essays/borderlands/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tijuana and the Mexican border</a>; been hosted on numerous “famils” (familiarisation tours) around the world and met the woman who would become my wife in a Buenos Aires bar while on an assignment to write about the <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2012/07/the-new-australians-of-south-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“New Australia”</a> utopian colony in Paraguay. When news of a virus emerged from a wet market in Wuhan in early 2020, all that stopped. As I slipped into the first of many lockdowns, initially I mourned for the travel life I couldn’t live anymore. Once upon a time, my editor would ring on a Friday afternoon to ask if I could fly to Vietnam on Tuesday. But during my enforced time at home, I realised the travel writing genre I was part of needed some serious re-thinking. The warning signs of a hubristic industry were hard to ignore. In 2019, for instance, the relaxation of regulations for climbers of Mount Everest had resulted in a <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/mount-everest-chaos-at-the-top-of-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“conga line in the death zone above 8,000 metres”</a> of people waiting to summit the peak. The image went viral. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Traffic Jam at the top of the world. A unique situation emerged near balcony when almost 236 climbers rushed to summit Mt Everest on 22 May,2019 following a short summit window. This has environment impacts as well <a href="https://twitter.com/ExplorersWeb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ExplorersWeb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateReality?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClimateReality</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/UNFCCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UNFCCC</a> @climateprogress <a href="https://t.co/mHR37ycfvw">pic.twitter.com/mHR37ycfvw</a> — The Northerner (@northerner_the) <a href="https://twitter.com/northerner_the/status/1131506158781517824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2019</a></blockquote> The notion that the genre might have finally reached its nadir after thousands of years of exploration, exploitation and discovery is not a new concept. But the sheer volume of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/7-ways-travel-listicles-are-ruining-travel-writing_b_5a2d9455e4b04e0bc8f3b5f2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listicles</a>, luxury reviews and Instagram journeys masquerading now as legitimate travel writing is alarming. Pandemic enforced lockdowns got me thinking about how the experience of immobility wasn’t unique. Wars, pandemics, shipwrecks and even prison walls had prevented others from travelling in the past, yet many still managed to travel internally through their own <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Creative-and-Non-fiction-Writing-during-Isolation-and-Confinement-Imaginative/Stubbs/p/book/9781032152516" target="_blank" rel="noopener">isolation</a>. More than two and a half years later, I now believe that despite the angst borne from lockdowns and closed borders around the world, this pause due to COVID-19 has ultimately been a good thing for travel writing – and perhaps the broader travel industry. It has allowed us time to stop and take stock. <h2>A history of re-thinking and re-imagining</h2> Travel writing is one of the most ancient and enduring literary forms. Evidence of the travels of Harkuf, an emissary to the pharaohs, is written on tombs in ancient Egypt. Indigenous Dreaming stories <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-travel-writing/introduction/4CF0BFA6F65A206D5CEBCC35F3AD2A5F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“spoken or sung or depicted in visual art”</a> date back thousands of years. As Nandini Das and Tim Youngs write in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40165322-the-cambridge-history-of-travel-writing?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=UjsOKwdkaJ&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Cambridge History of Travel Writing</a>, <blockquote> Travel narratives have existed for millennia: so long as people have journeyed, they have told stories about their travels. </blockquote> In a literary sense, travel writing can be traced to the emergence of commerce and movable print technology in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. It went on to flourish in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romantic Era</a> of travel and exploration, from the late 18th century to mid 1850s. During this time, western travel writing was embroiled in the colonial project. The journals of Imperialist explorers such as William Dampier and James Cook were enormously popular, along with writers such as Richard Francis Burton and James Bruce who recounted their fantastical journeys to the public back home as they sought to conquer lands for “the mother country”. Travel writing continued to shift, changing forms and attracting different readers. The Grand Tour pilgrimage increased in popularity. Mark Twain’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocents_Abroad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Innocents Abroad</a> (1869), about his voyage on the “Quaker City” cruise ship, was the century’s best selling travel book. “People have been asking the melodramatic question, ‘Is travel writing dead?’ for the best part of a century,” notes contemporary travel writing scholar Dr Tim Hannigan. During the first world war, British travel literature seemed a requiem for a distant era. The war, observes cultural and literary historian Paul Fussell, “effectively restricted private travel abroad. The main travelers were the hapless soldiery shipped to France and Belgium and Italy and Mesapotamia”. But the end of the war, in fact, led to a significant re-thinking of the travel writing genre. Borders reopened, new countries and alliances had formed. People emerged from the isolation of war curious to see, hear and experience what this “new world” was like. This golden era of travel writing in the 1920s and 1930s was chracterised by a new inquisitiveness. Modernist and experimental styles emerged and, as literary scholar Peter Hulme writes, <blockquote> travel writing could become the basis of a writing career – perhaps because those who had just fought a war felt the need for the kind of direct engagement with social and political issues that travel writing and journalism seemed to offer. </blockquote> After the second world war, travel writing became more questioning of authority, with a quality of restlessness. Notable works incuded Eric Newby’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118141.A_Short_Walk_in_the_Hindu_Kush?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=GkIrolRIA7&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush</a> (1958), Wilfred Thesiger’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825419.Arabian_Sands?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Js8VkeOG67&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arabian Sands</a> (1959) and John Steinbeck’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33617956-travels-with-charlie-in-search-of-america?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=fwygWdt9sG&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Travels with Charlie in Search of America</a> (1962), about his three-month journey across the US. In 1960s and 1970s, new books showed how travel writing could evolve again while still displaying the “wonder” central to its appeal: presenting narrated inner journeys, adventure and a richness and complexity that had not been seen before. Peter Matthiessen’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764165.The_Snow_Leopard?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=MfFMUKo9xS&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Snow Leopard</a>, Robyn Davidson’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78895.Tracks?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Ky3md4s1Az&rank=4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tracks</a> and even the creative voice embodied in Bruce Chatwin’s controversial In Patagonia, (a postmodern blending of fact and fiction), showed how travel narratives, rather than offering insular and superior perspectives, could be subjective, creative and affecting. This new era of travel writing post-COVID, I’d argue, has the potential to adapt to a changing world in the same way the genre changed after the first world war. Environmental concerns, Indigenous presence, awareness of the “other” (and of being the “other”) and an acknowledgement of benefits and pitfalls of technology are all central concerns to travel writing today. <h2>New ways to think about travel writing</h2> The work of South Australian based literary academic Stephen Muecke is an interesting example of a different kind of travel writing. Muecke has had a long career of adopting co-authorship practices, embracing Indigenous and diverse voices within his narratives to highlight that there is always more than one perspective worth considering. In Muecke’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13645145.2007.9634820" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gulaga Story</a> he writes about an ascent of Gulaga, or Mount Dromedary in southern NSW. Local Yuin Aboriginal people take him up the mountain to learn aspects of its Dreaming story and the totem of the Yuin. Muecke’s writing includes interviews with anthropologist Debbie Rose and sections of Captain Cook’s journal, from when Cook travelled along the NSW coast in the 18th Century. The latter offers a contrast between Cook’s initial surface appraisal and the deeper meanings of Indigenous knowledge. Muecke writes: Travelling whitefellas tend to think in lines, like the roads they eventually build and drive along, like the chronological histories they tell. Yet there are alternatives: being multiply present, for instance, as if by landing up in someone else’s somewhere, you still remain somewhere else. Maybe other people have been where you come from too; you arrive in their place and they tell you they have seen your city or your country. In <a href="https://re-press.org/books/reading-the-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reading the Country: Introduction to nomadology</a>, Moroccan artist Krim Benterrak, Muecke and Nyigina man Paddy Roe demonstrate how a co-authored, overlapping narrative from three distinct perspectives allows us to appreciate travelling along the northwest coast of Western Australia. Paddy Roe was from Roebuck plains, an area once inhabited by Indigenous people, though now it is silent except for the vast cattle studs. The three examine the different meanings of place in Roebuck Plains and how different people see and interpret it. Central to the book is the premise that their method is not the way of interpreting Roebuck plains. Their nomadology is an “archive of fragments”. Another more reflexive writer of place, English author James Attlee, wrote the book Isolarion while merely travelling along his street in Oxford. His is an example of <a href="https://theconversation.com/great-time-to-try-travel-writing-from-the-home-134664" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vertical travel</a>, where the travel writer focuses on the close-at-hand details, rather than far-off experiences. Such books acknowledge the fraught nature of the travel writer who arrives from a western country or culture to write about other people and their sophisticated cultures. Attlee’s book is also a creative response to travel writing’s long carbon footprint. Will it still be appropriate for future travel writers to fly around the world on junkets (“famils”) racking up carbon miles amid a climate crisis? I think writers and editors should “go local” much more, as Attlee has, not just from an environmental point of view, but also from an authenticity standpoint. Of course, that doesn’t mean writers can only write about their home cities and states, but it would be a logical place to start. <h2>The new travel writing – 5 of the best</h2> Encouragingly, there are already many recent examples of travel writing that can further engage readers in this shift. Here are 5 of the best. <ol> <li> The Granta travel edition: <a href="https://granta.com/products/granta-157-should-we-have-stayed-at-home-new-travel-writing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Should we have stayed at home?</a> presents a diversity of modern voices and stories, ranging from Taipei alleyways, the history of postcards and an Indigenous perspective of South Australia. </li> <li> <a href="https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/zero-altitude-helen-coffey-book-review-emma-gregg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zero Altitude: How I learned to fly less and travel more</a> by Helen Coffey explores the world without stepping inside a plane. Coffey uses bikes, boats, trains and cars to seek unexpected adventures while deliberately addressing the impact of how we travel. </li> <li> <a href="https://www.bradtguides.com/product/minarets-in-the-mountains-1-pb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe</a> by Tharik Hussain explores a “different” Europe to that of most travel writing of the past. Hussain travels through Eastern Europe with his wife and daughters encountering the region’s unique Islamic history and culture. </li> <li> Cal Flyn’s <a href="https://www.calflyn.com/nonfiction-books/islands-of-abandonment-nature-rebounding-post-human-landscape" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Islands of Abandonment</a> doesn’t look for places or experiences that might fit in a top listicle of summer holiday experiences. Instead, it explores the “ecology and psychology” of forgotten places such as uninhabited Scottish islands and abandoned streets in Detroit to observe the slow movement of nature when unchecked by human intervention. </li> <li> In <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/wanderland-9781472951953/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wanderland</a> Jini Reddy, an award winning travel writer who was born in Britain, raised in Canada, and whose parents are of Indian descent, decides to “take her soul for a stroll” away from office job in London in search of wonder, meaning and magical travelling on a random journey of inspiration “ricocheting” through Britain. </li> </ol> In much the same way that we’ve adopted little things like keep cups at coffee shops, and an awareness of ethical food and fashion choices, it is much easier today to find travel writing challenging the genre and exploring diverse perspectives. We’ll just have to do this writing alongside the Instagram influencers. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-changed-travel-writing-maybe-thats-not-a-bad-thing-183814" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Travel Trouble

“Smooth” barista writes secret message to customer

A woman joked that she would not go back to Starbucks after the barista left her a compliment on her coffee cup. Captioning her <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chance_twins/video/7072141664227200261?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> video “AHAHAHA never going back there” the woman shared with her followers the barista’s message. On her coffee cup, the words “secret message” were written on the cup with an arrow for her to turn and follow. There the barista had crossed out some words from the warning message so instead it read, “Careful you’re extremely hot.” The video has already been viewed more than 10 million times and received almost two million likes, with many supporting the barista’s “smooth” move. “That was smooth though not gonna lie,” one person wrote. “Be glad someone made their shot. It’s rare these days!” another commented. “Be careful, coffee, she’s too hot,” another joked. “Spill it on yourself and sue Starbucks because the safety info was blocked. Use the money for your honeymoon,” someone else suggested. Images: TikTok

Relationships

“I just find horror very funny”: RL Stine opens up on writing career

There have been a lot of rumours circulating about RL Stine, the man behind hundreds of children’s horror books. Rumours that he’s dead and that he’s a collection of writers using the same name are not true, but what about the claim he was once writing a new book each week? “That’s not true either,” he told the BBC. “It took two weeks.” The 77-year-old writer behind series such as Goosebumps, Give Yourself Goosebumps, Fear Street and Point Horror has said even he doesn’t know exactly how many books he’s written, or how many copies have been sold. According to Wikipedia, it’s upwards of 400 million, but he believes “that’s got to be a made up number - who counted that?” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIs4FjSFKyE/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIs4FjSFKyE/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by R. L. Stine (@rl_stine1)</a> </div> </blockquote> As for the latest adaptation of his work into a Netflix trilogy, he has a warning for anyone planning to watch them: “My books were PG-rated. These movies are definitely not.” Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy consists of three slasher films set in 1994, 1978, and 1660 that are set to be released over three weeks. Stine said it was a “shock” seeing his work adapted for a grown-up audience, but it’s content doesn’t scare him. “I don’t get scared from horror movies,” he said. “There’s something missing in my brain. I just find horror very funny.” With the Goosebumps series celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Stine’s impact on the horror genre is clear - and he’s agreed to write another six books. “I don’t know how I did it,” he said. “Back in the day I was writing a Goosebumps and a Fear Street book every month. “I’d been writing for 20 years and no-one had noticed - and then to suddenly have that kind of success was exhilarating. It just kept me going. “I’ve definitely topped 300 books now. How crazy do you have to be to write 300 books?” With two of the films already available to watch, Netflix will likely be monitoring how Fear Street is received - with so much RL Stine material to go off, it could be the start of a series of spin-offs. Image: RL Stine / Instagram

Books

Cancer surgeon writes his own joke-filled obituary before dying

A US surgeon has jumped the gun and written a quirky obituary about himself before he died at 48. Dr Thomas Lee Flanagan passed on April 27, but his cause of death is not publicly known. In a post published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?n=thomas-lee-flanigan&pid=198520306&fbclid=IwAR08jHG4hN-UFNjxvslLCmYy1YpR-XK5gFKXnFVh5LEzQX7epBPWJglLDss" target="_blank">Legacy.com</a> - a website dedicated to obituaries - he jokingly described himself as the “Ginger God of Surgery and Shenanigans”. “Yes, I have joined the likes of Princess Diana, John Belushi, and Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter in leaving while still at the top of my game as an iconic superhero who seemed almost too good to be true,” he wrote. According to the post, the army veteran and father of three said he married his wife Amy so he could make husband jokes, then had three children so he could make Dad jokes. “It did not disappoint,” he wrote. “The jokes I mean, but Amy and the kids were pretty good too.” Flanagan writes that his time “was magical” and “saw some other delightful things in my time here - Hawaiian volcanoes, Egyptian pyramids, and even the advent of air fryers.” Though he “dabbled” in a few things, including serving his country in the army and saving lives as a surgeon and MD, his real legacy is the bad Dad jokes and Facebook memes he’ll leave behind. “What was I to this world if not a beacon of light shining upon those who couldn’t scan the internet for their own hilarious and entertaining comic relief?” he wrote. “I guess what I am trying to say is that you’re welcome and you owe me big time.” He ends his obituary announcing he is riding off into the sunset “after re-enlisting with a new unit.” He continued, “Due to the unknown and cosmic nature of my next mission, this will be our last communication. It will self-destruct in five minutes.” Though his whereabouts “are now top secret” he has made new friends called Elvis and Kenny. “The Church of Tom is closed for business, but please continue to worship me, light candles, and send money. You know the deal,” the obituary read. Tributes to Flanagan also flooded in on the online condolence page. “You meant so very much to me. The world is dimmer without you in it,” a former patient wrote.

Caring

"I don't write the rules": Ash Barty on her shock Aus Open loss

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> Tennis legend Ash Barty has downplayed the impact of a controversial medical time-out used by her opposition Karolina Muchova which caused Barty to lose at the Australian Open. Barty's surprising loss has left tennis fans and experts shocked, with the rules coming under fire. “I was a bit lost on the court and my head was spinning so I took a break and it helped me,” Muchova said after the match. “I started feeling a bit lost by the end of the first set. Ash started very good. She played like no mistakes. It was very tough.” It seemed Barty was unable to recover after the 10-minute medical break and lost nine out of 11 games from the end of the second set to the end of the match. She refused to bite when pressed on the incident in a press conference. “I don’t write the rules. I abide by them. All of us players, we abide by the rules that are written,” Barty said. “If she wasn’t within the rules, the physios and the doctors would have said so. That’s the laws of our game, that we have those medical time-outs for cases that are needed. Obviously she needed that today. “I’ve played a lot of matches where there have been medical time-outs. I’ve taken medical time-outs myself before, so that shouldn’t be a massive turning point in the match,” she said. “I was disappointed that I let that become a turning point. I’m experienced enough now to be able to deal with that.” Twitter was ablaze with theories, including one from former World no. 3 and doubles great Pam Shriver. “(It) seemed legit, but it still does not sit well when it pivots a match on a dime,” Shriver said. “Muchova has won 7 of 8 games since leaving the court. Thoughts anyone?” “I am not blaming her, absolutely blaming the ridiculous rule that allows this to happen,” former world No.4 turned successful coach Brad Gilbert said. Former NBA player Jason Collins weighed in on the debate as well. “(Medical time-outs have) been a part of the sport. As a competitor you have to mentally prepare for any kind of gamesmanship from your opponent,” he wrote. “For example— We all know that if you’re up early against Novak (Djokovic), get ready for a MTO or racket smashes or long conversations with him & the chair (umpire).” Barty admitted that it felt "impossible" to turn the tide after the 10-minute medical break. “I felt like I had small windows of opportunity probably midway through the second set and wasn’t able to kind of regroup enough to be clear in the third set how I wanted to play,” Barty said. “I think I just lost my way a little bit, which is disappointing without a doubt.” </div> </div> </div>

News

‘Lit therapy’ in the classroom: Writing about trauma can be valuable if done right

Some of my students have been assaulted. Others have been homeless, jobless or broke, some suffer from depression, anxiety or grief. Some fight addiction, cancer or for custody. Many are in pain and they want to write about it. Opening wounds in the classroom is messy and risky. Boundaries and intentions can feel blurred in a class where memories and feelings also present teachable moments. But if teachers and students work together, opportunities to share difficult personal stories can be constructive. Writing about trauma The health benefits of writing about trauma are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15401383.2018.1486259">well documented</a>. Some counselling theories — such as narrative therapy — incorporate writing into their therapeutic techniques. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1020353109229">Research suggests</a> writing about trauma can be beneficial because it helps people re-evaluate their experiences by looking at them from different perspectives. Join 130,000 people who subscribe to free evidence-based news. Get newsletter Studies <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/writing-about-emotions-may-ease-stress-and-trauma">suggest</a> writing about traumatic events can help ease the emotional pressure of negative experiences. But <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/writing-about-emotions-may-ease-stress-and-trauma">writing about trauma</a> is not a cure-all and it may be less effective if people are also struggling with ongoing mental health challenges, such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Internationally acclaimed researcher and clinician Bessel van der Kolk asserts in his book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18693771-the-body-keeps-the-score">The Body Keeps the Score</a>, that trauma is more than a stored memory to be expunged. Rather, van der Kolk suggests our whole mind, brain and sense of self can change in response to trauma. Pain is complicated. And teachers in a classroom are not counsellors in a clinic. If properly managed, though, sharing stories about personal suffering can be a relevant and valuable educational experience. It’s a strategy that, in a professional setting, could be referred to as “lit therapy”. An empathetic space <a href="https://www.psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2012/feb/17-Working-with-African-refugees-An-opportunity">Dr Jill Parris</a> is a psychologist who works with refugees and uses lit therapy as an extension of trauma counselling. Parris and I also worked together on the project <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27192485-home-truths">Home Truths: An Anthology of Refugee and Migrant Writing</a>, which paired refugee authors with a writing mentor to develop personal stories about challenging migrant journeys to Australia. Parris says writing about trauma is helpful in most cases, as long as teachers and their students monitor stress levels and offer an empathetic space where storytellers are given the time and tools to manage the complex feelings that may surface. “It is important that people feel absolutely free to avoid focusing on traumatic events and this should be made clear from the start,” says Parris. Teachers should therefore be wary of implying traumatic personal stories are inherently worthy subjects, that divulgence alone is more likely to receive a higher grade or publication. It isn’t. In fact, sharing a story may be detrimental. It may be unfair to the author’s future self, the other people involved in their experience, or to the piece’s intention for its readers. Helping individual students identify their own readiness to share personal experiences is an important first step. Parris recommends asking students how they know they are ready to share their story. What has changed to make them ready? Answering these questions helps people sit outside themselves. As teachers, we also need to be mindful that sharing painful memories presents a risk for those hearing them. Vicarious trauma <a href="https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/318/">Vicarious trauma is a real threat</a>. To help mitigate the risk of emotional contagion, teachers should check in with students at the beginning and end of class to monitor feelings, reminding people they are in the present, that the trauma they recounted or heard was survived. If people feel stressed, Parris recommends looking around and forcing ourselves to name what we see, hear, feel, taste and smell as a way of <a href="https://positivepsychology.com/self-regulation/">returning to the present</a>. Discussing what people will do outside class to care for themselves is also useful. As teachers, it is important to help our students organise their thoughts and feelings in relation to the craft of professional writing, which is writing intended for consumption by an anonymous reader. Students are likely to write what they’re passionate about — the good, the bad and the ugly. Their best writing comes out of what’s meaningful to them. Teachers can help guide their students’ search for authenticity. Feelings and experiences matter, but writers and readers also want to know what they mean. Revealing how masters of personal storytelling bridge the personal and the universal is useful in demonstrating the broader purpose of sharing stories. Story craft is part of how author Joan Didion’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7815.The_Year_of_Magical_Thinking">The Year of Magical Thinking</a> is both a personal reflection and a forensic investigation of grief. Part of a writing teacher’s job is exploring how personal stories can contribute to the archive of collective human experience. While I work with adult students, there is also <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-59081-009">evidence</a> narrative writing exercises can help children and teenagers process thoughts and emotions related to challenging personal events. This work is emotionally demanding. Scenes of horrible things people have told me occasionally invade my mind, as if another person’s lived experience orbits my own memories. It’s unsettling. It’s also why stories matter. Because hearing them can help us better understand the people who share them. Stories help us glimpse the humanity in the hardship, showing us while pain is universal, compassion is too. Written by Yannick Thoraval. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/lit-therapy-in-the-classroom-writing-about-trauma-can-be-valuable-if-done-right-145379">The Conversation.</a>

Art

Sailors rescued from tiny island after writing giant "SOS" in the sand

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> Three missing sailors have been found on a tiny island in the western Pacific after a desperate message saying SOS in the sand that was spotted from the air. The men were found on Sunday after they had been missing for three days, and were reportedly "in good health", according to the Australian Defence Ministry. Their call for help was written on the beach of Pikelot Island, 190 kilometres west of where they had set out and was seen by Australian and US aircraft. A ship, the HMAS Canberra, headed to the sailors' aid and a helicopter landed on the beach. The ship brought water and food for the men as well as carrying out identity and health checks. The men were reportedly sailing between the atolls Poluwat and Pulap, a journey of 42 kilometres when they veered off course and ran out of fuel. A Micronesian patrol vessel, FSS Independence, is heading to the island to pick up the men. Canberra's Commanding Officer Captain Terry Morrison said the response by the ship's company to the operation was outstanding. "The ship's company responded to the call and had the ship quickly prepared to support the search and rescue," Captain Morrison said. "In particular, our embarked MRH90 helicopter from No. 808 Squadron and the four armed reconnaissance helicopters from 1st Aviation Regiment were instrumental in the morning search that helped locate the men and deliver supplies and confirm their welfare. "I am proud of the response and professionalism of all on board as we fulfil our obligation to contribute to the safety of life at sea wherever we are in the world." Photo credit: Australian Department of Defence </div> </div> </div>

Travel Trouble

Starbucks worker under fire for writing 'ISIS' on Muslim customer's coffee order

A Muslim advocacy group is demanding an employee of Starbuck’s he fired after they were caught writing “ISIS” on a customer’s coffee cup. The incident took place at a store in St Paul, Minneapolis in early July. According to a Muslim customer, she told the employee her name when first asked but the employee chose to label the cup “ISIS” before she was finished. ISIS is a commonly-known acronym for terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The employee has claimed they misheard the woman’s name, which is Aishah. <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7836845/isis-starbucks.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/e5f19eff67ae4c23b3452d0a9f7f65a3" /> The Council on American-Islamic Relations, however, believe the incident is a result of Islamophobia and is demanding the worker be fired. “After noticing the writing on the cup, she asked the employee why ‘ISIS’ was written on the cup,” it said in a statement. “The employee claimed that she had not heard her name correctly. “Later, a supervisor told the Muslim customer that ‘mistakes’ sometimes happen with customers’ names, suggesting that this is not the first incident.” The Starbucks, which is operated by a Target store in Minneapolis, have since apologised for the incident. According to local outlet Pioneer Press, it says the incident was “not a deliberate act but an unfortunate mistake”. “We are very sorry for this guest’s experience at our store and immediately apologised to her when she made our store leaders aware of the situation,” a spokesperson told the publication.

Travel Trouble

Creating writing: 3 tips to start

Always wanted to write, but had no clue where to begin? It can be daunting to get started and put the first sentence on that blank page. Author and creative writing lecturer Ronnie Scott shared some tips to help you get on track to writing your first novel. Start where you are Looking for inspiration? Take notes – the best ideas might just be waiting in plain sight. Scott advised aspiring writers to carry a notebook and get into the habit of writing down what they see in their surroundings. “It gets you into the habit of thinking, thinking visually, and then translating that into words,” he said. Apart from improving your writing skills, these notes can also help spark ideas and develop the seed for your future stories. Allocate time for research Research is important to provide your story with rich details and authenticity – but it can also distract you from writing the story itself. Scott recommended separating the research stage from the creative parts of the work. “Allocate yourself an hour of research, for example,” he said. “Then for the next days of your work, you are absolutely just going to play in the document … you’re going to write down anything that comes into your head.” Challenge yourself If you have a great story idea but don’t know how to put it into writing, take on small challenges. For example, you can try creating a 200-word version of the story or allocate an hour to get as many words as possible on the page. Even if the end result isn’t satisfactory, the exercise could yield new learnings. “You [might] have something bad on the page,” Scott said. “You can come back to it tomorrow. You can read it critically, you can think, ‘Okay, what was I trying to do here? Why didn’t it work out?’ “You unfortunately have to probably go through a bit of creative discomfort to get yourself to finish something, but once you do that, there are really great things waiting on the other side.”

Books

“Did not deserve to win”: Turnbull writes scathing opinion about ScoMo

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made his feelings about current Prime Minister crystal clear in his new memoir A Bigger Picture. Turnbull doesn’t believe that the Morrison-led coalition deserved to win in the miracle 2019 election and criticised Morrison’s bid to portray himself as a “daggy dad” from the suburbs. "He's a professional politician who understands marketing and messaging better than most," Mr Turnbull writes in his memoir, A Bigger Picture, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/inside-malcolm-turnbulls-bigpicture-world-of-gossip-and-axegrinding-in-new-memoir/news-story/3406c7890aab3e578dedc0cb8861f3b4" target="_blank">The Australian</a> reports. "His cringe-worthy 'daggy dad' persona is more exaggerated than it is conflated, but in net terms it probably helped. ""All that aside, however, the truth is that Labor lost the election that the coalition, after the August coup, did not deserve to win." <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6AmqPZnLvQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6AmqPZnLvQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Scott Morrison (@scottmorrisonmp)</a> on Dec 13, 2019 at 2:34am PST </div> </blockquote> Turnbull also took aim at his former cabinet colleagues in their roles in the coup that led to his resignation in August 2018. Turnbull accuses Morrison of double dealing in his bid to succeed Turnbull when he had to be “propped up” as treasurer. Turnbull also says that Peter Dutton, a coup leader, was a “narcissist” and “self-delusional” for thinking that he could be prime minister. The memoir will be launched next Monday. </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-action-bar-component-wrapper"> <div class="post-actions-component"> <div class="upper-row"> <div class="watched-bookmark-container"></div> </div> </div> </div>

News

Great first time to try: Travel writing from the home

While many are cancelling treks to Nepal, putting dreams of Venice on hold and wondering what we can substitute for a tropical beach escape, it is worth remembering we’re not the first who have had to rethink the notion of travel. There is a precedent for thinking about journeys in a more imaginative sense: travel and the near-at-hand. Vertical travel and travel writing – where we immerse in the spaces around us in greater detail, peeling back layers of history, botany and culture – goes back to the late 18th Century in Turin and a man named Xavier de Maistre. De Maistre wrote <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/328696.Journey_Around_My_Room_and_a_Nocturnal_Expedition_Around_My_Room">A Journey Around My Room</a> while imprisoned in his bedroom for six weeks after he was caught fighting a duel in the north Italian city <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/04/journey-around-my-room-review">in 1790</a>. Rather than sulk through his imprisonment, he decided to challenge the popularity of imperialist travel writing and he wrote a travel book about the contents of his bedroom. De Maistre observed his surroundings, detaching and looking with new eyes to give the reader an alternative perspective on what travel could mean: <blockquote> What a comfort this new mode will be to the sick; they need not fear bleak winds or change of weather. And what a thing, too, it will be for cowards; they will be safe from pitfalls and quagmires. Thousands who hitherto did not dare, others who were not able, and others to whom it never occurred to think of such a thing as going on a journey, will make up their minds to follow my example. </blockquote> De Maistre’s room became a place with latitude and topography. He immersed in the scenes of the paintings on his walls and saw his bed as a vehicle for imaginative transportation alongside his dog, Rose, his trusted travel companion. De Maistre was so taken by the journey that he subsequently wrote <a href="https://archive.org/details/anocturnalexped00maisgoog/page/n6/mode/2up">A Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room</a> to “revisit the country which I had formerly so delightfully travelled through”. Writing of a microcosm There were many inspired by this new style. Heinrich Seidel <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo13345214.html">refocused</a> his apartment into a microcosm where each item had a history and an interconnected story. Similarly, Alphonse Karr produced two volumes and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4516782-a-tour-round-my-garden">700 pages</a> focused solely on his garden where he lived in Montmartre with his pet monkey Emmanuel. In Henry David Thoreau’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16902.Walden?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=nlaVV5Nqqh&rank=1">Walden</a> (1854), the author lived alone and in seclusion in a log cabin at Walden Pond; George Orwell meticulously captured the intricate details of weather, vegetable production and an egg count in his <a href="https://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/26-4-40/">domestic diary</a> from the early 1940s. This notion of rethinking space and valuing the mundane as an ethical and creative choice acts as a counter to the assumed importance of distance with many travel(ling) writers of the era. This has not diminished in the modern era. In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/649680.Isolarion?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=INXscYSn06&rank=1">Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey</a> (2007), James Attlee extends the notion of close travel or “home-touring” as he walks along a solitary Oxford street. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6718808-a-week-at-the-airport?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=MFOKECzsHE&rank=1">A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary</a> (2009) sees Alain de Botton at a desk in the departure hall of London Heathrow’s Terminal 5, confined for the duration of his stay, to understand the airport both as a destination in itself and as a location with a distinct culture. Meg Watson’s essay <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2014/10/03/another-life-paris-thanks-airbnb/14122957881047">Another life in Paris</a> for The Saturday Paper focuses on her experience inhabiting another person’s space as an Airbnb guest in Paris: <blockquote> On my first night in Canelle’s bed, I watch Midnight in Paris and drink rosé from one of her stained teacups. In a classic display of unabashed French nonchalance, the bedroom door is nothing but a clear panel of glass. </blockquote> Within the intimacy of the apartment, Watson shows the reader a closer and more nuanced perspective of Paris. Simultaneously, the voyeurism of this approach also allows the reader to appreciate the sameness of many travel experiences. Tips for your own close travel Look intimately Take a closer look at the items around your house. Especially if you have things from previous travels, take the time to reflect on the item’s journey, write its story, or look through the photos of that period– it might even involve some research of your own, discovering what the pattern on your Moroccan mirror means, or the significance of the Easter Island statues on your bookshelf. Smell deeply Stroll through your garden. Take a closer look at all the plants, the soil and the trees. Look closer again. By sifting through my own soil I discovered shards of 100-year-old-bricks which prompted <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/crow-eaters/">my journey</a> towards a better understanding of the history of my state. Remember the outside world Look out your window. Just as many have in Wuhan, Barcelona and Rome, conversations with new encounters, impromptu music performances and shared meals and experiences (even over a fence or across a road) are much of what we search for in conventional travel. This new dimension can bring surprising togetherness.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134664/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-stubbs-1007399">Ben Stubbs</a>, Senior Lecturer, School of Creative Industries, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/great-first-time-to-try-travel-writing-from-the-home-134664">original article</a>.

International Travel

“Nothing wrong with writing 300 poems”: Delta Goodrem stalker defends actions

A man has been convicted of stalking after he went to Delta Goodrem’s home five times in one day and sent her 300 love poems. James Joseph Lafferty, 47, on Tuesday pleaded guilty in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court to three charges including stalking and intimidation, using a carriage service to harass, menace or offend, and failing to comply with a police direction. The Grafton man went to Goodrem’s Sydney CBD apartment on February 14 and attempted to leave a Valentine’s Day gift but was blocked by the concierge. The Grafton man returned four more times that day. On February 15, the Voice judge went down to the concierge desk to pick up a dress when Lafferty walked past and called out “Delta, Delta”. He then sent messages to Goodrem’s Instagram account including “I’m here”, “please come down and meet me”, and “I’m at concierge”. Police were called and Lafferty was arrested outside the building. He reportedly told police he had sent the singer 300 poems in the lead up to Valentine’s Day and said, “You’d think she’d at least reply”. Lafferty told the court that Goodrem’s “address is on Google anyway”. Legal Aid lawyer Richard Ikaafu said father-of-three Lafferty did not at any point threaten Goodrem’s welfare or safety. Magistrate Jane Mottley noted Lafferty’s previous convictions dating back to 1991 for aggravated break and enter whilst armed, drug possession, damage of property, trespass, drink driving, intimidation and, in January last year, assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Lafferty was placed on an 18-month community corrections order and fined $600. He was also ordered to stay away from Goodrem’s home. Following his sentencing, Lafferty told reporters there’s “nothing wrong with writing 300 poems to somebody” before adding, “It’s better than a sleazy one-liner in a nightclub, isn’t it?”

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Great first time to try: Travel writing from the home

“Nothing wrong with writing 300 poems”: Delta Goodrem stalker defends actions

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