Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

Walls, and especially fragments of old walls, always draw me in. High up on the cliffs over Annestown Beach this sliver of wall  blends perfectly into its surroundings. It’s like nature is trying to make it its own but the human hand and heart still linger there and will until the last stone is gone.

There are no clues now about the builder or maybe more than one person was involved. Did they have the time or inclination to bask in the scenery of the Copper Coast? How far back was the wall from the now crumbling cliff? How far did the wall stretch? Was it a boundary wall to prevent animals from falling into the deep sea below? I always think of John B. Keane’s, The Field, when I’m there.

Over the years, did people sit on this wall chatting in the summer sunshine. Maybe it was a…

Interview by Nicole Melanson ~

Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel at seven, and is now the award-winning & internationally bestselling author of more than thirty books. Recently voted one of Australia’s Favourite 20 Novelists, Kate has a doctorate in fairy tale studies and is an accredited master storyteller. Her adult books include The Wild Girl, the story of the forbidden romance behind the Grimm Brothers’ famous fairy tales, and Bitter Greens, called “the best fairy tale retelling since Angela Carter”. It won the 2015 ALA Prize for Best Historical Fiction and came in at No 27 in Dymocks 2015 list of Australia’s Top 101 Books. Kate’s children’s novels include The Impossible Quest, The Puzzle Ring and the award-winning The Gypsy Crown. Kate is a direct descendant of Charlotte Waring, the author of the first book for children ever published in Australia.

Kate Forsyth’s website

Kate’s…

I have been uncharacteristically quiet over the numerous postings on social media about  the leopard attack which has received such outpourings of emotion.

Now that things are a tad quieter, let’s examine this event in detail, and let you all in on a few home-truths…..

First and foremost must be mention of totally irresponsible reporting. Reporting  that feeds emotions rather than the facts. One newspaper even went so far as to refer to the animal as a tiger.

Of course, people lap all this up, sitting back in their comfortable homes, looking at expensive computer equipment and making some of the most inane comments I have ever seen.

Look into the human aspect first.

The leopard was at the edge of the bush, fairly close to the road. The only unusual aspect to this is that leopard are secretive, cautious and very shy. Perhaps the driver should have realised something…

“The Given Note” by Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) first appeared in the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet’s second collection, Door into the Dark (1969).  It was the only one of his poems to be read at his funeral. “The Given Note” takes its inspiration from the legend of the fiddler who brought back the Port na bPúcaí (The Fairies’ Tune) from the westernmost of Ireland’s most westernmost islands, the windswept and forbidding Blaskets. This adaptation of the poem into comics was done at the suggestion of Dr. Marco Sonzogni of Victoria University, Wellington.