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Janice: Kathryn, we seem to have known each other for ages; yet I (until recently) knew so little of your varied accomplishments in theatre and particularly about the New Theatre. Kathryn: Janice, it’s been a while since I was immersed in New Theatre. I spent over a decade there mostly in the 1980s during which time I designed sets, created scenic art and posters, wrote short skits, did stage management, and occasionally, acted.   More recently, I’ve been writing an essay about New Theatre for a non-fiction book I’m co-authoring with Liz Hall-Downs. The essay is called ‘Reds under the bed’ and it touches also on the history of the New, not just my time there. Of course, I have recently discovered your own family connections to New Theatre through your relative Norman Slater, who’d met the famous singer Paul Robeson, via his involvement with New Theatre, Sydney. For me, working at ‘the New’ in Newtown was a formative time of my creative life, and it certainly shaped the trajectory o...

Jan.s:  Alwyn, you write about the earth with such an immense feeling of belonging.  Alwyn: I guess I’ve always had the feeling that we belong to the earth, not the other way around. Whenever I see those huge open cut mines I shudder at what we do to the earth for financial gain, even the weight of the cities man builds on her seem an imposition. I remember being quite a small child in New Zealand and after an earthquake my father took me to see where the earth had opened in a great jagged scar and I wondered at that early age if the earth had cried out in pain.  Jan s:  Your book “Call of the Currawong” begins with an aboriginal woman in a seemingly benign setting – but the story quickly unfolds to reveal cruel and devastating circumstances. Where did the seed for this story germinate? Alwyn: In talking with some aboriginal women it occurred to me that although their circumstances and the circumstances of my grandmother’s life were v...

Jan.s:   Susanne, you're a powerhouse of a woman who writes about issues that matter! Bullying, burn victims,  to name a few.  Can you share with us what  your currently writing ? Susanne: Ships in the Field is my first picture book. It has been in my mind and heart for many years.  Writing it was an emotional journey that encapsulates my growing up from a refugee family.  I wanted to give a voice to the children and families who have been through war and migration to find laughter, hope and home.  When a ward winning illustrator Anna Pignataro illustrated of Ships in the Field received the manuscript she said that ‘it’s my story.’ Her family came from Italy.  It’s a gift that we were able to bring our own experiences to ‘Ships in the Field’. It is to be published by Ford St on 1 st February 2012   Jan.s:  Susanne:  You have a working relationship with your daughter...I'd love to hear more!!! Susanne: Eve...

Leigh Brill is an author and a motivational speaker, she was born in North Carolina with congenital cerebral palsy. Leigh and I are yet to meet face to face and yet we have found a meeting point across the vast ranges of Blue Mountains on two continents. Here is the first part of what I hope will be an ongoing dialogue with Leigh looking at the compassionate action of her much loved Labradors and the world Leigh is now sharing with us all. Jan.s: Leigh, we’ve yet to meet but it seems we’ve something in common!! I live in the Blue Mountains, Australia and you grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia USA. Can you tell us a little about growing up there and also why the mountains are blue? Leigh: The Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountain Range in the eastern United States. As I understand it, trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the natural chemicals they release into the atmosphere; they contribute to the charact...