Friday, July 29, 2011

Alice Pung: Reflections on writing


When I was living in the States I befriended a rare and generous soul, a poet and professor named Robert Cording, who had this to say about writing poetry:
The poem has to feel, I think, as if there’s a real person struggling with real experiences that will not yield some handy lesson, but nevertheless are not entirely without meaning. The voice that convinces will always be the voice of the individual, not as a spokesperson for this or that idea.”
When I came to write my second book, Her Father’s Daughter, I had to remember this to get me through the darker parts.

Monday, July 25, 2011

What we’re reading

What do publishers read in their spare time?

Well, when we’re not reading Black Inc. books like the amazing new Alice Pung memoir or the hilarious novel we’ve got coming out in August or James Boyce’s new book of history, we’re reading books by other publishers.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the books we’re currently reading: