The story behind ‘The Americans’ — Barry Lee Thompson

‘The Americans’ – the fourth story in Broken Rules and Other Stories – is an homage to the annual summer holidays I used to take with my parents when I was growing up. We would spend two weeks every year in a seaside location, usually in the UK. For many years Bournemouth, on the south […]
The story behind ‘The Americans’ — Barry Lee Thompson

We enjoyed reading this, Barry’s latest blog post, where he discusses the inspiration behind his short story ‘The Americans’, the fourth of the seventeen tales in his collection Broken Rules and Other Stories.

Elwood Writers met yesterday for its regular fortnightly workshop, and Barry reminded us that he’s exploring the background to each story from the book in turn, which means the next under the microscope will be ‘Gray’. We look forward to hearing how this one came about.

If you’d like to read all four posts so far in this series, you’ll find them together at this link here.

Happy reading.

Australian Short Story Festival 2021

Barry took part in two panel discussions at last year’s Australian Short Story Festival from Adelaide. COVID restrictions meant that participants and attendees from interstate and overseas could not be there in person, and sessions had a Zoom component.

Masculinity with Wayne Marshall, Barry Lee Thompson and Dominic Carew was on Saturday 6 November 2021.

Writing The Family with Barry Lee Thompson and Katherine Tamiko Arguile was on Sunday 7 November 2021.

Video recordings of both sessions are below:

Masculinity with Wayne Marshall, Barry Lee Thompson and Dominic Carew | Saturday 6 November 2021

Writing The Family with Barry Lee Thompson and Katherine Tamiko Arguile | Sunday 7 November 2021

For the full selection of ASSF 2021 videos, visit the YouTube link here. The ASSF website says these videos will be available till July, so they may be taken down by the end of this week.

Happy watching!

Currents

One of the longer pieces I’m currently working on takes a fresh look at the dynamics of ease/unease in online spaces such as those described in ‘Twitch’.
from “The story behind ‘Twitch'” at barryleethompson.com

In Barry’s recent blog about the background to his short story ‘Twitch’, he talks briefly about a story he’s currently writing that shares similar themes. It’d be interesting to hear more about this new story sometime. Come to think of it, it’d be great to hear a little about what other members of Elwood Writers are working on at the moment. But only those who want to share. Writers don’t always like or feel comfortable discussing current work, for a variety of entirely understandable reasons. Oh, hang on just a moment, there’s a call coming in … why, it’s Jennifer Bryce – what a nice surprise! What’s that, Jennifer, you’d love to tell us about a project you’re working on? Well, we’d love to hear about it, so please go right ahead, in your own time. Absolutely no rush.

And now that a forthcoming blog post has been successfully solicited, let’s continue with the current project of spending this wintry Melbourne Saturday afternoon in the warmest way possible, all cosied-up with a good book. The Evenings by Gerard Reve, if anyone’s interested. But first let’s pop the kettle on and open up the cookie tin.

Have a peaceful weekend, everyone.

‘How to Maintain a Thriving Writers Group’, by Barry Lee Thompson

Barry has written the October guest post on Lee Kofman’s blog The Writing Life, over on Lee’s website.

‘How to Maintain a Thriving Writers Group’ offers practical tips to anyone thinking of starting a group, or for those who want to inject momentum into an existing group, or shore up their solidarity, or what have you. Maybe you’re curious about how we work. Or you might want to compare the group to your own experiences. There’s plenty in the post to think about. While you’re there, it’s worth checking out the rest of Lee’s website. Have a wander, linger a while.

Thanks to Barry for writing about Elwood Writers. And thanks to Lee for welcoming us to her blog.

Happy reading and writing to everyone!

Glittering Ceremony

Broken Rules and Other Stories (Transit Lounge, September 2020)

Here at Elwood Writers we enjoy a good old celebration and relish any chance to get dressed up to the nines, so we’re excited to have the opportunity to remotely attend the Queensland Literary Awards ceremony, which will be live-streamed from State Library of Queensland at 6–7:30pm on Thursday 9 September.

We’re really looking forward to cheering on the finalists in all the categories. The evening will be particularly thrilling for us because Barry’s book Broken Rules is on the shortlist for the University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection.

If you’d like to be a part of this year’s awards ceremony, click here and scroll down the page to register for the live stream. It only takes a few minutes. And you won’t have to dress up on the night, unless you want to. You can wear whatever you want. As far as we know.

Congratulations and good luck to all the finalists. Every one a winner.

The Queensland Literary Awards are supported by the Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland and State Library of Queensland. The Queensland Literary Awards also receive funding from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. The commitment of sponsors is critical: Griffith University, The University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland and The Courier-Mail. Philanthropic support through the Queensland Library Foundation is gratefully received from Jenny Summerson and Susan Hocking and Ian Mackie, and their family, through the Hocking Mackie Trust at APS Foundation.
State Library of Queensland

2021 Queensland Literary Awards

Yesterday we had news that Barry is a finalist in this year’s Queensland Literary Awards. His book Broken Rules and Other Stories (Transit Lounge) is one of five titles shortlisted for the University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection.

The Queensland Literary Awards celebrate outstanding writers from Queensland and around Australia, across published and unpublished categories. The awards also offer fellowships and development awards for Queensland writers, and emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers, Australia-wide.
State Library of Queensland

The winners’ announcements will be livestreamed on State Library’s website and Facebook Live at 6pm on Thursday 9 September 2021. You can register for the event here. We’ll be booking our ‘seats’ right away.

Well done, Barry. We’re thrilled for you, and hope you’re celebrating wildly, in whatever way you choose. This may well be a time to shun restraint and fully enjoy the moment! Safely, of course.

Congratulations and very best wishes to Barry and to all of this year’s finalists,

from Elwood Writers