Introducing Fiona Capp
Posted by: Reading Victoria Moderator
16 December 2008
Fiona Capp is next Summer Read author blogging from 16 – 20 December.
Fiona trained as a journalist, has a PhD in English and has worked as a freelance writer and university tutor in English, journalism and novel writing. She is the acclaimed author of Night Surfing, Last of the Sane Days, and That Oceanic Feeling.
Her book Musk and Byrne is one of the books on the Summer Read shortlist.
Musk and Byrne is set in 19th-century Victoria and tells the story of passionate and headstrong Jemma Musk who seeks to establish herself as a painter and an independent woman. But scandal and tragedy set her on the run from the law, and a legend — that of the beautiful Musk and her accomplice Byrne — is born.
As part of the free Summer Read events across Victoria, Fiona will be appearing at:
• Portland Library, DiscoverIT Centre, 38 Bentinck Street, Portland on Thursday 12 February 2009, 7.00 – 8.00 pm
For more information phone 0355222 265 or book online at http://summerread21.eventbrite.com
• Caulfield Library, Glen Eira Town Hall, Cnr Glen Eira and Hawthorn Roads, Caulfield on Thursday 26 February 2009, 7.00 – 8.00 pm
For more information phone 9524 3623 or book online at http://summerread32.eventbrite.com
What Fiona says about summer reading
“A few years ago when bushfires were raging through Gippsland and other parts of Victoria I was reading Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ about a man and his son making their way to the West coast of America through an unrelentingly grey landscape devastated by some kind of apocalyptic event, most probably a nuclear war. The sun is blocked by a thick cloud of dust that cloaks the earth and everything on it. Eerily enough, while I was reading, the smoke from the Gippsland fires had veiled the sun here, creating a lurid, apocalyptic light that made the scenario in ‘The Road’ feel disturbingly close.”
December 18, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I’m really glad to hear that ‘Musk & Byrne’ took you back to places you loved as a child. The bush around the goldfields has that same magic for me, too. You mention the privileges of being born a woman in 20th century Australia. I wouldn’t want to have been born in Jemma Musk’s time but when writing the book I hoped that the desires and conflicts that she faced as a woman, artist, mother and lover would still feel relevant today.
December 17, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Hi Fiona.
Reading is so powerful like that. I love that it draws on our experience, both present and past. I was really aware when reading Musk and Byrne of the look and feel of the Australian landscape and the smell of dry bush, and bushfires. I spent a lot of time around Mt Clear near Ballarat as a child, most of my extended family lived in Ballarat and the surrounding countryside. Being a city child, I loved the bush. I used to explore and find old mine shafts, and just wander around in that beautiful, dappled light. It made the experience of reading “Musk and Byrne” very nostalgic for me. It also catered to many of my childhood fantasies, I used to visit Sovereign Hill and long for the carriage rides and beautiful dresses in the millener’s store. Little did I realise the privileges I had by being born a woman in 20th century Australia.