Goodbye Sweetheart is the name of the
latest book by Marion Halligan, but we heard Marion in all her glory talking
about all sort of things relating to her life as an author.
I first heard Marion speak at the first NWF about
memoir and she fascinated me then, and she still does now. I haven't read any of
her full books, but a few of her short stories. I want to read some of her
stories, but I have so many other books to read, I know I don't have time for
her at the moment, but I know I will soon. I am a Librarian, not being able to
read everything is an occupational hazard!
Despite all this I just love hearing Marion
speak, she looks like someone's posh granny, in fact she reminds me of my own
grandmother. She is a little bit posh, very well spoken and presented. However,
she has this sassy and spicey side to her which belies her appearance...I love
that! She'll be talking about something and Bam, a swear word or a sexy tidbit,
I love people like that!
The talk started referencing the fact that the
Australian Women's Weekly refused to publish one of Marion's short stories some
years ago. She was told there was "too much unease" for AWW readers within her
story. You have no idea how much this amused me! She had already been published
in literary journals and knew that Sylvia Plath has tried to publish in similar
magazines and did not have success either. Marion had given up on AWW and was ok
with it she smirked. Of course she is, my heart just melted a little there and
then.
Although she did say she didn't like the title of
Literary Fiction, but she is aware she doesn't really do happy
endings.
She likes to explore grief and said she loved
Joan Didion's Year of magical Thinking...tick...so did I! In fact I adore Joan's
writing.
Marion changed publishers when she was told her
book, The Fog Garden, had too much sex in it. It was a fictional take on her
husbnad dying, but she had made a lot of it up. She was refused a Miles Franklin
nomination because of this, people suggested it was not fiction. Marion had
spoken about this, the fine line between memoir as fiction, in the first
NWF.
She then referenced her actual memoir, A Taste of
Memory, about food, travels and so forth, it is a memoir in essays.
She likes to write about grief as it is a part of
life. The worst thing you can say to a grieving person is, 'don't worry, you'll
get over it, it will pass." She said she didn't want that when her husband died,
she earned her grief and she wanted that. Death is a fact in our
lives.
Death is a catalyst in her new book. She likes
her characters, even those that might not be that nice. She feels that 'novels
are ways of asking people to think about their lives.'
There was a small digression here about naming
characters, and she admitted to judging people on the names they give their
children...I do the same!
Marion also spoke about sense of place within novels and find those that work best are based on some sort of reality, that is
concrete details of something real, you get the essence of that in the work, and you believe it.
Marion doesn't do much research, just uses what is in her head...and what a remarkable head it is.
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