Australian author and academic
On my recent visit to Taiwan, I had the honour of visiting Houjia Junior High School in Tainan as a guest of my friend Yi-Hsiang, a high school English teacher. I had a wonderful time meeting Yi-Hsiang’s students to discuss …
Note: This article is a brief overview of a wider research project I am undertaking on the life of Cyril Montague Birnie and the history of Australia-Japan relations. I welcome any contacts from those with direct or indirect knowledge of …
I recently had the honour of meeting 40 wonderful students from Sefton High School and their teachers at The Children’s Bookshop in Beecroft. I spoke for about an hour about Empire of the Waves, the history of myth and fantasy …
Meeting Sefton High: In Praise of The Children’s Bookshop in Beecroft Read more »
Looking back on the first half of 2018, a turbulent year in world politics – and in my field of Korean Studies in particular – I see how much my reading habits remain an anchor. Having quit Facebook in March, …
Recently I passed my ten year anniversary on Facebook and five year anniversary on Twitter. Both sent notes to celebrate the milestone. At first, it felt a little strange to receive such affirmations from the algorithms of addiction. But soon …
When I was in primary school, there was no day so dreaded as wet-weather day. It troubled me perhaps less than some, as I spent much of the break time in the playground or school library debating or creating fantasy …
Round the Twist on Rainy Days: In Praise of Paul Jennings Read more »
The second half of 2017 brought more highlights in this writer’s life. On the 12th of September, I attended the uniquely wonderful CBCA Lunch With The Stars at the ICMS in Manly (as often commented, a more serendipitously Hogwartsian locale …
As the rector of my church drew attention to the words of Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies exhorting us to vote NO in the Same-Sex Marriage postal plebiscite, one of my friends turned to me and said: “I grew up in …
My journey overland from West Bengal to Rajasthan has been intense, exhausting, beguiling, terrifying, wonderful. As the train rolls into Jaipur I am, if truth be told, running low. Not quite recovered from my fever in Allahabad, I surrender to …
After departing Bundi on a rickshaw ride through sheets of wafer-bodied midges, I board a clanking train for Udaipur, a city famed as one of the most beautiful in Rajasthan. But before I reach my destination, I have a stopover …