Riding the new wave - hang in there, baby!

SJ Finn in dappled shade
that's me on her knee

So we missed the Melbourne's New Wave panel, with "four of Melbourne's hottest young writers talking about their debut novels, and how it feels to send them out into the world". The panel featured  SJ Finn (This Too Shall Pass), Raphael Brous (I Am Max Lamm), Jessica Au (Cargo) and Melanie Joosten (Berlin Syndrome)"  The session was chaired by Estelle Tang, who writes such lovely things about books and the festival.

But what we did manage to do was catch up with SJ Finn before the gig. How does she feel about on a panel titled Melbourne's new wave when she's been writing beautifully for years?  She's got a nice laugh, she has, and she told me she's got no problem with it... she's read the books by the other panelists of course and she reckons it's all fine writing, so she's in good company.

We found a dappled spot to sit in and spent some time wagging our chins before the session, on Miriam's lunch break. Nothing like a lunch break to get Miriam's chin wagging.

SJ Finn's got a really nice energy about her - which you would have noticed probly if you went to the panel this afternoon!  We started off talking about her book, about the story itself and about one of its major themes, of the way big decisions in your life end up with a double alteration - an alteration in the way you look at things, in the way you live... and the other alteration is in the world's response to what we do. Sometimes we have to make a decision that will put us through enormous changes - life changes. When Monty from This Too Shall Pass makes the changes she has to make, to be true to herself, the response from 'the world', from those around her is somehow more about the world than it is about Monty. Not all the responses are positive. Sometimes a negative response is the price you pay. We talked about the 'mainstream' and Miriam wondered if there is such a thing. Perhaps a construct, said Finn... a backdrop against which real life is shown in stark relief. So again, like in our short chat to Mandy Sayer last night, we encounter this idea that writing can bring to life the paradox of living a unique life, by setting it against a mainstream; by speaking of the extra-ordinariness of a normal life in an ordinary tone of voice.

And on her own journey, of getting this book written, edited, published, reviewed? Finn says it's been a learning curve.  She's staying grounded. There's always something else to look to. She says, you read the reviews and even though ten out of 11 are great, the niggly little comment in number 11 will be the one you focus on. She reckons the thing to do is be tenacious. Hang in there. Just keep working, writing, reading. We think she might be onto something.

The Stella Prize - launchy thing

Every festival has its themes, and this one has a few. One of the big ones, getting comments and replays all over the shop is Feminism (note capitalisation). As you can imagine, Miriam has some thoughts on what she tends in her trademark minimalist style of articulation to call 'that whole thing'  and no doubt she'll be gearing up to put some thought-through thoughts on paper at some point.  But like many women, she experiences a conflict when these subjects are in the air. She's of the generation separated from the kind of fight for equality that Germaine Greer and Anne Summers were fighting - those women were at university at the same time as Miriam's mother, and so their names and their thoughts were part of Miriam's bringing up, as a girl and a young lady [was she ever that?]. Miriam's grandmother was a single mum bringing up two girls on her own in the fifties - something a little bit unheard of at the time.  She feels ambivalence about the idea of Women's anything. The Women's Jazz Festival, Women's writing prizes... she'd rather believe that it isn't necessary. That that fight has been fought and won and now we're just getting on with being human beings.

Which is why the address by Anne Summers AO at the launch of The Stella Prize was a bit of an 'oops!' moment for Miriam. It sent her away thinking... Summers talked about the state of play for women writers in 1975 when Damned Whores and God's Police was first published. And how much improved it was when she wrote an introduction to th 1994 edition. And now, she says, we've taken some steps backwards. You know those moments when you realise you've been wandering around, not really looking at reality, but relying on some previous version that you were comfortable with and forgetting to check whether anything's changed?  That's what Miriam's been doing [which I could have told her if she'd bothered to ask]. We'll be keeping our ears peeled for updates.

Mandy, love and a free drink for Miriam

Hanging off Mandy Sayer's drink. Nice!
(she's fascinated by one of my stories here)

Okay, first thing. Embarrassing. Mandy Sayer turns up at the appointed meeting place (Beer Deluxe of course, everybody's appointed meeting place isn't it?) and a drink is ordered at the bar. Miriam does that thing where you turn your wallet upside down to make sure you've retrieved every last coin [you know, the gesture; it evokes the moths of disuse] and starts mumbling about  hoping she'd have enough change. Mandy immediately grabbed a lobster out of her own bag and bangs it down on the bar. Nice of her, but what the hell was Miriam thinking?

So, on with the chat but you know what Miriam's like. We're out under an umbrella in the cold, she's blushing a bit on the inside because she's been socially clumsy (she should be used to it by now - I am!!)  She's had a long day in the office, her shoes hurt and all the questions she prepared seem to fly out the window.

Luckily, there's a connection, kind of. Mandy's had a life filled with jazz - a strong connection with the music - and she's a writer who Miriam loves reading. We both really enjoyed her latest book Love in the years of Lunacy. Mandy's speaking today at the festival about The Fiction of Love on a panel with Craig Sherborne (Mandy says you've got to read his book The Amateur Science of Love. It's effing wonderful), Jo Case and Eleanor Catton. There's a few of those unexplored dark corners in gender relations in Mandy's book, we noticed. It's not a spoiler to say that the main character, Pearl, attempts and somehow pulls off a pretty good impersonation of a bloke through a large section of the book. We loved the whole thing actually the music, the setting, the relationship between brother and sister, the love, the jungle.

One of the things we like most about Mandy's writing is the way she writes so naturally and without affectation about odd behaviour. There's an acceptance behind this, that the human experience is rich and varied; the acknowledgment that a mainstream life is not actually the norm. Paradoxically.

So much for the interview. Miriam says 'thanks Mandy!' for the Gin and Tonic and for being so gracious about Miriam being a ditz. Miriam owes you one. I'll make sure it happens, don't worry.

Event details?  Today, Friday 2 September at 11:30 am The Fiction of Love