Paula Morris Zooms to writers from her dining table
8 May, 2021 06:00 PM
5 minutes to read
Paula Morris. Photo / Mike Brooke
By: Paula Morris
Last year, almost every Sunday morning for three months, I sat at my dining table interviewing writers in many different time zones, sitting at their own desks and dining tables, via Zoom. The big Covid lockdown had scuppered the Auckland Writers Festival, so director Anne O Brien created the 2020 Winter Series. Over 12 weeks I interviewed 37 writers and Tina Makereti interviewed another three on my one Sunday holiday. Total views for the series were more than 72,000, with people tuning in from all over the world – especially for big international names like Bernadine Evaristo, fresh from her Booker win, and Neil Gaiman.
Writer, teacher and youth mentor Rawah Arja
Several literary talents fostered by Western Sydney University are among those shortlisted for this year’s prestigious NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
The authors recognised – Rawah Arja, Vivian Pham, Miro Bilbrough, Mariana Dimopulos and Norman Erikson Pasaribu – are students, alumni of the Writing and Society Research Centre, or authors published by the University-based Giramondo Publishing. The youngest, Vivian Pham, is completing a degree in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts.
Western Sydney writer, teacher and youth mentor Rawah Arja was shortlisted for the Multicultural NSW Award and the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature for her debut novel, The F Team (Giramondo).