Tanya Dalziel

It is indeed.

The book covers all of Gail's work from the first short story collection, which is House of Breathing, through to her most recent novel, which is The Death of

noah glass so the book addresses gail's work thematically it doesn't address it novel by novel but rather looks at some of the kind of key patterns that i see appearing in gail's work so what's her best book don't ask me it may be her next book maybe her next book so we'll wait and see

Yeah, so building on the work that Paul and I did for that earlier book, we're looking now at creative couples, particularly in Australia and particularly in the 60s, and thinking about writing as being a collaborative act.

So we're trying to push that idea that writing isn't only about individuals in garroted rooms, but rather thinking about creative couples in their social context.

So that's the next project that stems from that book.

Well, I mean, I guess in the case of some couples, they actually write collaboratively, like side by side at the desk.

But I think there's also a lot of friction in relationships that have artistic pursuits at their centre as well.

So we're really interested in investigating the domestic arrangements around creative couples and also thinking about the ways in which they work together and how they think of themselves as couples.

So our interest really lies with those couples that see themselves as creative partners as

Yeah, not a lot recently because I've been working, but I have been reading Alison Whittaker or rereading Alison Whittaker's Lemons in the Chicken Wire.

Alison Whittaker is a Gomeroi poet and also she's a law scholar, so she's very busy.

And Lemons in the Chicken Wire is her first volume of poetry that looks at queer Aboriginal experiences in Australia.

rural New South Wales.

And the poems are really both kind of immensely private and also politically pointed.

And they're also funny and sharp and have a real interest in language.

So they have Gamalore language in them as well as English.

And I think it prompts

English speakers to think about what and how they know and also invites Indigenous self-recognition and connection.

So that collection to me is a really striking debut poetry collection.