25th Anniversary of the death of Graham Greene

Today marks 25 years since the death of one of the great writers of the 20th century, Graham Greene.

Henry Graham Greene was born on 2 October 1904. His father was a teacher and Green was a boarder at one of the schools, Berkhamsted School, Hertfordshire, where his father taught and became headmaster. Unhappy at the school, he attempted suicide several times. He attended Balliol College, Oxford where he studied history. After university he worked first as a private tutor and then as a journalist.  He converted to Catholicism in 1926, after meeting his future wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning.

Graham Greene’s first novel was published in 1929 – The Man Within and it was the success of this novel which enabled him to work full-time as a novelist although he continued as a freelance journalist, writing book and film reviews.

Like Virginia Woolf who we met in March, Graham Greene suffered from bipolar disorder.

He died aged 86 in Vevey, Switzerland on 3 April 1991 of leukaemia.

Further reading : the Graham Greene wikipedia page, Seeds of fiction : Graham Greene‘s adventures in Haiti and Central America, 1954-1983, The man within my head : Graham Greene, my father and me and Shades of Greene : one generation of an English family

Give some of these a try: The power And the glory, The end of the affair, Brighton rock, Our man in Havana and The quiet American

Centenary of the death of Henry James

100 years ago today American author Henry James died in Chelsea, London. He is best known for writing about the New World meeting the Old; the clash of cultures as Americans encounter Europe and Europeans.  He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.

Henry James was born in April 1843 in New York into a well-to-do family. Between 1855 and 1860 the family spent a lot of time in Europe often in France where the young Henry became fluent in the language.

Henry James had his first work published in 1863, a review of a stage performance and a short story, A Tragedy of Error, was published in 1864.  His first novel, Watch and Ward was published several years later in 1870.

In the late 1860s he travelled again to Europe meeting other prominent authors such as  John Ruskin, Charles Dickens, Matthew Arnold, William Morris and George Eliot. In 1869 he settled in London where Macmillan publishers, who published stories in installments, later to be published in book form. TBy late 1875 James had moved to Paris for a year where he met the authors Emile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, Guy de Maupassant and Ivan Turgenev among others. In fact, he spent the next three decades until his death in Europe.

More can be read in this Wikipedia webpage.

Podcast with Domini Stuart

Before her author talk at Blaxland Library last week, local journalist, author and speaker Domini Stuart joined us as a guest on our latest podcast episode. Domini spoke to us about her recent book Poor Me! How I stuffed by getting into debt so you don’t have to. Click here to take a listen online, or search for ‘Listeners in the Mist’ in the iTunes store to download our podcast for free.

Poor Me! is a helpful guide for people of all ages who are finding themselves with spiralling debts, and it is also a cautionary tale for young adults looking at getting a credit card, buying their first car or needing to rein in their spending.

You can can follow Domini on her Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/DominiStuartBooks and be sure to check out all three of her books on her website: www.doministuart.com

Artread is almost over!

July has been all about Artread – books, films and games about art and creativity. But before we leave July and enter August, which is Fur-read (book about animals!), you may wish to check out this new video featuring dress designs by Robyn Caughlan, indigenous artist, textile designer and author. The video contains recent interviews in China regarding Robyn’s national costumes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-vnG_m3VRI

Several months ago, Robyn Caughlan, Jason Foster and Peter Seymour did a fabulous author talk at Blaxland Library, with Robyn talking about her book Waiting at the Gate: a Memoir (with Jason Foster). You can hear our audio interview with Jason online, or search for ‘Listeners in the Mist’ in iTunes.

Author Maggie Counihan at Blaxland Library

Author Maggie Counihan at Blaxland Library.

Today we were lucky enough to host a wonderful author talk at Blaxland Library with the adventurous author and traveller Maggie Counihan, who truly embodies her own motto that “Age is no barrier”. Her first book, Backpacking to Freedom: Solo at Sixty details how, at the age of sixty, Maggie went on her first solo trip to India – and has never looked back. This book, as well as her latest book, Bring on the Birthdays: Ageing with Adventures, are now available from her website: http://www.maggie-rollo.com. This website also has a selection of great travel photos and  insightful travel tips from Maggie and her partner Rollo.

If you couldn’t make it to the talk at Blaxland today, never fear because Maggie had some time to chat with us for our ‘Indigi-Read’ podcast for May. Click here to listen as she discusses her early life and her life-changing decision to follow her dreams and experience the world on her terms.

Podcast with Shamala Ratnesar

In our latest podcast episode, host John Merriman is joined by Shamala Ratnesar, author of ‘The Total Life Diet’ and recent guest speaker at Springwood Library. Click here to listen online, or search for ‘Listeners in the Mist’ in iTunes.

Shamala is a leading Australian dietitian, author and speaker based in Sydney. She started Omega Health Solutions – now known as The Total LIFE Diet Centre – because she wanted to make a difference. With diabetes and obesity having reached epidemic proportions and cardiovascular disease being the world’s biggest killer, there was a real need for truly effective programs that would give people long-lasting results for life. You can visit her website here for more information.