‘An icy, grief-stricken story overshadowed by the twilight feel of Celtic myth…’

Author Michael Pryor asked me to write about my favourite book from childhood. Choosing a favourite book is impossible; would it be The Jungle Book or The Silver Chair, The Lord of the Rings or Harriet the Spy? In the end, I wrote about a book I realised powerfully influences my adult writing.

It’s worth checking out Michael’s website. The guest posts on favourite books are fascinating and I love that Michael feels it necessary to list his favourite dinosaur (Triceratops). He’s right, this is vital information and I’m now racking my brains for my favourite dinosaur. I think it has to be one of the many Australian ones, such as Eric the opalised plesiosaur. 

‘Lovely Sky Monsters’

Camille Seaman is an amazing photographer whose work I’ve just seen for the first time. The Atlantic has published a stunning photoessay on supercell storms; if you’ve read WHEN WE HAVE WINGS, you’ll know why I love these.

There’s also an interesting article on Seaman chasing supercell storms, Chasing Danger, Capturing Beauty, in the NYtimes Lens blog.

(above photo was posted to the Lens FB page)

The earlier story, on icebergs, is also a must.

Not only are the photographs superb, I’m particularly interested in how the article describes the way Seaman’s eye and sensibility were shaped by her grandfather: ‘Every day, from when she was 5 until his death when she was 13, he would make Ms. Seaman and her brother sit outside without moving, for one hour. After an hour, he would call them into the house and ask what they had seen.’

Lens is a relatively new photojournalism blog but appears to have quickly become essential reading/viewing for people serious about photography and photojournalism.

My Essay, The Last Space Waltz?, Shortlisted for ABR Calibre Essay Prize 2012

The judges have shortlisted five essays for this year’s Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, which is worth a total of $10,000. They are ‘The Last Space Waltz? Reflections on 2001: A Space Odyssey and NASA’ by Claire Corbett; ‘Mapping the Edges of the Night’, by Ratnam Keese; ‘Imaginary Exile’, by Bronwyn Lay; ‘Now They’re Gone’, by Colin Nettlebeck; ‘Body and Soul: Copyright Law and Enforcement in the Age of the E-Book’, by Matt Rubinstein. Winner to be named in July, prize $7000…2nd and 3rd prize are $2000 and $1000 respectively.

It’s very exciting, especially as the shortlist was chosen from about 220 essays.