The Empty Page Blog

The show is encouraging writers and published authors to phone in to discuss their views. The talk back number will be given out during the program, and the discussion should be interesting because they have booksellers and publishers on the panel. It would be great to get some first hand views from writers too.

Premier Anna Bligh today announced an acclaimed New Zealand poet, musician, producer and teacher of creative writing as Queensland's 2009 Poet-in-Residence.

It's been a bit quiet here at The Empty Page, while I've been on leave. So you're in for a festively plump post today, filled with International Protect a Poet Day, the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, how parallel import restrictions may illiminate ockerisms from Australian novels and Vladmir Nobokov's long-lost notecard novel.

Sophia Nugent-Siegal released her debut poetry collection Oracle when she was just 16. Sophia will be one of the featured poets at Riverbend Books: Poetry on the Deck, presented by Queensland Writers Centre and Riverbend Books on Tuesday April 28.

Philip Neilsen is a poet; fiction writer for adults, young adults and children; an editor; and a literary critic. He’ll be performing on Tuesday 28 April in Brisbane as part of the Riverbend Poetry Series, presented by Queensland Writers Centre and Riverbend Books.

And can you imagine being married to a fellow writer? Would you emulate the literary and love union of Joan Didion and John Dunne and edit each other's work? Or would your partner steal your thunder? Man-in-the-know, Eric Pauchner, says: "it’s not the bourgeoisness of our life that fascinates people, but the idea of our competing against each other for awards and readers and book contracts."

Helen Avery is a Queensland poet, born in Western Australia, but raised in Jimboomba, Queensland. She studied at the University of Queensland and Kelvin Grove Teachers College, before moving to Longreach for love – of the landscape, the lifestyle and the man she was to build a family with. They became the inspiration for much of the poetry she writes.

She’ll be performing on Tuesday 28 April in Brisbane as part of the Riverbend Poetry Series, presented by Queensland Writers Centre and Riverbend Books.

Fiona Doyle is a firecracker of a woman, whose talents span writing, drama, dancing and teaching. Her writing is a beautifully personal account of Aboriginal identity and traditional land and spans young adult and bibliographic writing. Whispers of this Wik Woman is her most famous story, covering the life and influence of her grandmother, Indigenous Wik activist Jean George Awumpun from Cape York. It won the David Unipon Award for Indigenous writing in 2003. You can read an excerpt from her book here.

Many of Queensland’s children’s authors will take part in a peaceful protest in front of Brisbane city’s Dymocks Bookstore on Thursday 16th April.sherylgwyther.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/queensland-childrens-authors-to-protest

Ever been at a party and someone has asked you where you're from? Well now you can say, 'Poesia' if you're a poet, 'Recensentia' if you're a reviewer, 'Vereinigte Buchhandelsstaaten' if you're a bookseller, and 'Leserrepublik' if you're a reader. All courtesy of a German illustrator Alphons Woelfle (1938) who created a glorious map of the land of books. Ausgezeichnet!