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Mar 24
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Better Reading Q&A Blog

Better Reading Q&A with Laura

By Media, Writing No Comments
Q&A with The Women and the Girls Author, Laura Bloom Better Reading: What inspired the idea behind this book? Laura Bloom: I think it was a feeling of yearning for more connection and meaning in my life as I was raising my family; questioning the ways we do it now – from our living arrangements to our friendships to the way we conduct our romantic lives – and wondering if there might not be something better. What better time to look to for that than the 70s? A time when ordinary women suddenly had the freedom to make big changes...
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Jan 08
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I’m still missing you, Demetrius

By Friendship, Life, Mentoring, Writing No Comments

  ‘I wonder what D would say about this?’ I think, as I open up the latest headlines about what’s going on in Washington Born in the US, but with roots in Jamaica, reality TV, and great literature, he always had an original and an apt way of getting right to the heart of things, in a way that would make me laugh, or sometimes cry. It’s been five years now, since I learned on Facebook of my good friend Demetrius Graves’ death from a sudden asthma attack , and I wonder, still, when am I going to get ‘over…

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Dec 22
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Jesse Blackadder and Australia’s small town cultural life

By Life, Storytelling, Workshops, Writing No Comments

Jesse Blackadder, my co-creator on the ‘Dream Riders’ series of novels for young people – and principle author of Book Two in the series: Storm) died this year. Six months ago, during lockdown, after a short and unexpected illness. As well as her grieving partner and family and friends, she has left behind an important cultural legacy: the Storyboard program. Founded by Jesse in 2016, Storyboard brings writers into schools to run writing workshops in the Northern Rivers region of NSW where we both lived. In that short amount of time it’s already reached over 27 000 young people, not…

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May 13
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Introducing “Frankie”

By Friendship, Storytelling, Writing No Comments

Frankie is Book 1 in the Dream Riders series – a new middle-grade series I am co-writing with Jesse Blackadder, about horses, friendship and being true to yourself. The novels follow the lives of the Dream Riders as they enter the magical world of Pocket of Dreams ,and learn to ride without saddles or bridles, using only skill and rapport to direct the horse. It’s a skill they must draw on in every aspect of their lives, as they face their own challenges. The series sits within the classic tradition of stories about young people and horses – books like My Friend…

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Oct 17
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Where are all the clever girls?

By Life, Storytelling, Writing No Comments

Last week I finally got to see Bruce Beresford’s new movie, Ladies in Black, based on the novel by Madeleine St John. Two hailstorms and a cyclone had previously stopped me, and I was beginning to think I wasn’t meant to go. But the skies cleared, I went, and I absolutely loved it – especially the idea that ‘there’s nothing so wonderful as a clever girl,’ which is said by one of the characters in the movie, and is a theme which is developed and celebrated. It also made me sad. Angourie Rice, who plays one of the clever girls in the movie – Lisa –…

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