Gilly Flower

Usually it's me asking the questions in interviews, but on Thursday I will be the interviewee for Melbourne radio station 3RTT's environmental Green Room programme.

=> Read more!

I've been meaning to put up this link for ages, although I imagine most (all?) of you are aware of the issue anyway.

If not though you may like to consider checking it out, and - assuming you agree of course - adding your name to those who oppose this decision, which is obviously a global one.

"To all authors and illustrators

Many of you will have noticed that over the last week we have hugely expanded the Comments sections on the website www.notoagebanding.org Many hundreds of concerned people had written to us, and we have chosen a typical selection of their views and arguments and put them into separate sections incorporating the views of Education Professionals, Librarians, Book Trade, Authors, Government, Family Members and Readers.

It is our opinion that your publisher may well be startled to learn of the response to this age-banding initiative from so many informed people who currently purchase our books, often in considerable numbers.

We are therefore asking you to forward this letter to all the editors and publishers with whom you deal, in the hope that they will be good enough to take the time to look at this huge variety of comments. For convenience, at the foot of this email we have provided links to each specific section, though of course it may be simpler in many cases for the recipient of the email simply to go directly to the website and click on particular sections there.

Please do not simply assume that others will be in touch with the people with whom you yourself deal. We believe that those who work in publishing houses will easily understand how very important this issue is to all of us, and everybody else who cares and knows about young people's reading. They therefore surely will not mind getting a copy of this email from several different sources.

Thank you."

Sitting down to write a piece for my blog was not part of tonight's plan. The idea was to join fellow writers and poetry lovers for Launceston's annual Poetry Cup - that much anticipated Festival event where the winner is decided by the loudest and most enthusiastic audience applause.

I even had a poem to read, one I've been practising on and off all day to ensure I performed to perfection on the night. It's a poem (a political poem naturally) that I wrote several weeks ago, but which those at last Saturday's writing workshop afternoon suggested was 'a good Cup poem'.

This event does tend to attract entries that deal with topical and current affairs, be they global or local, so it's fair to assume Tassie's political situation will be well represented this evening, as will the global financial crisis, and America's presidential (and Wall Street) respective soap operas.

So what happened? Well, admittedly I was running a little late (I'll blame J for returning home late from his fishing trip which delayed dinner), but I followed the directions on the flyer, and drove up and down the road where the Bowls Club venue was supposed to be, but I'm blowed if I could find it. No signs anywhere, no obvious car parks, no familiar-looking vehicles. Nothing at all. And because I was really late by this time I wimped out and drove home.

Doubtless somebody will tell me tomorrow where I should have gone, and what a great evening I missed. In the meantime this satirical take on our late and unlamented premier is what could (at a very large pinch) have won me the Cup!

Spin doctors

They can crop his face
from the photos
airbrush him from the picture
but it seems
his fingerprints
cannot so easily be coaxed
from the records.

We're rolling up the blinds
you see,
exposing the view,
and it ain’t pretty.

These manipulative medics
don't want the world
to witness how
an eye for a lie,
or a tooth for a sooth
are extracted.