Multimedia
Professor John Stephens
Once upon a time...
Professor John Stephens talks about books for children, their readers, and Australian writers. He even answers the sticky question, 'What should a child get out of a book?' This interview was recorded after John received 11th International Brothers Grimm Award in 2007 for his research in children's literature.
How To Talk to Girls At Parties
Neil Gaiman read from a new short story 'How To Talk to Girls At Parties' one rainy evening to an enthusiastic audience of 250. Invited to Macquarie University as a guest of the Sydney Writer's Festival and sponsored by the Department of English, Gaiman gave a brilliant reading of his never-before-heard coming-of-age/science fiction short story. The reading was hosted by Professor John Stephens, and was followed by a Q & A session from the audience.
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Andrew O'Hagan
Direct
from London to Australia as the department’s Writer in Residence,
before his appearances at the 2007 Sydney Writers’ Festival, Andrew
O’Hagan inspired an audience of over 100 here at Macquarie on 21st
May 2007. Speaking as both a novelist and non-fiction writer O’Hagan
discussed the relationship between writing and editing, read a scurrilous
dialogue between young Mark and the priest David from Be Near Me,
and from his London Review of Books essay, ‘Disgrace Under
Pressure’ on Tony Blair and what’s inside European lads’ magazines.
Mermaid of Cockatoo
During the early years of European habitation Cockatoo Island in Sydney
Harbour was a grim place of incarceration and punishment - for convicts,
for orphaned and wayward girls, for homeless and orphaned boys.
Marina is 14 years old and dreams of escape from the island prison. She's a keen and sensitive observer of the privations and sorrows which surround her but has a rich inner life in which freedom is just out of reach, just over the waters. Perhaps the mermaids of her imagination will help her reach the further shore.
Ella Cook is Marina.
With music arranged and composed by Coralie Joyce.
Sound engineers - Steven Tilley and Michelle Goldsworthy.
Produced and directed by Jane Ulman.
Written by Jane Messer
Originally Broadcast on Airplay, ABC Radio National, Sunday 18 February and Friday 23 Febrary 2007, and first published in Best Stories Under the Sun 2 - Traveller's Tales, 2005.
The Write Stuff
Macquarie's writer-in-residence Canadian novelist and poet Aislinn Hunter
and creative writing lecturer Jane Messer discuss what it takes to be a
successful author. Listen to their conversation in the ‘podcast archives’ at
MQtv.
Writing Verbatim Theatre
As part of her residency here, playwright Alana Valentine talked in our
English Research Seminar series about how she goes about writing verbatim
theatre, including talking to Rabitoes fans and opponents for her play Run
Rabbit Run and working with indigenous women for Parramatta Girls.
Hear about current debates and questions that surround contemporary Australian
theatre writing.
The Ballad of Desmond Kale
Roger McDonald’s novel won the 2006 Miles Franklin Award, and here
Roger talks frankly to a Macquarie audience about the real and imaginary
characters that compelled the writing of the novel, and the surprising
alchemy possible with Australian wool.
State of modern literature
John Stephens, head of the Department of English, and lecturer Dr Marcelle Freiman, discuss the state of modern literature, along withpoetry readings from Marcelle and our 2006 writer-in-residence, Aislin Hunter. Recorded by 2SER FM, and now available as a podcast from MQtv.