Come Writers & Critics

Kate Legge has sold film rights to her book about her husband Greg Hywood’s infidelity.

Claire Keegan’s So Late In The Day (Allen & Unwin) landed on my desk last week. It comes in hardcover; it’s 47 pages long and it costs just $18 and it is the best $18 you will spend all year.
It’s sublime.

Just beautiful.

I read it in under an hour, and it stayed with me for days, and it’s with me still. It must be, because here I am, talking to you about it, and I’ve put it on Instagram (@overingtonc) as part of the series I’m doing on books you might like to give as Christmas gifts.

If you don’t know Keegan, her short stories appear in The New Yorker, and elsewhere. She’s the youngest child from a large, Irish Catholic family and she’s won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Edge Hill Prize for the finest collection of stories published in the British Isles, the Davy Byrnes Award as well as the Irish Novel of the Year Award, the Ambassadors’ Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. She’s brilliant.

If you happen upon a copy of So Late In The Day at a bookshop this Christmas, buy two. You’ll want to keep one.

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Jen Rewell, winner of the 2023 Furphy Prize

Still with short stories, the Furphy anthology 2023 is out. It’s published by Hardie Grant, and it comprises 16 short stories from this year’s competition for the Furphy Literary Award.

The organisers say: “Like a box of assorted chocolates, there is something for everyone ... These talented writers, from all over Australia, are waiting to share their words and worlds with readers, so plunge in and find your favourite.”

This year’s winner was Jen Rewell for an uplifting love story called Away to Me.

Judge Anson Cameron says it’s written “with a light touch. It’s funny. The language is clear ... It’s populated with rodeo clowns and decorated with CB radios atop kitchen fridges (and) just when you think it might be headed for a clichéd gloom it ambushes you with fabulism and, perish the thought, happiness.”

The Furphy, which is named for the family that sponsors it, is for a short story that celebrates “Australian life in all its diversity.” Lest you think the short story is falling out of favour, they report receiving more than 620 entries. The 2023 judging panel - Anson Cameron, John Harms, Margaret Hickey, Stephanie Holt, John Kerr and Thornton McCamish – clearly had their work cut out for them.

Adam Furphy, of the family, commented, “We received many entries, of such high standard, that selecting a long list and narrowing it down to a short list of sixteen was not easy. We want to acknowledge everyone who entered and please do so again next year. We love reading what you submit.”

This year’s winner lives in Perth. She describes herself as a journalist, communications writer, pianist, hockey player, weightlifter and mother of three daughters. Her story was inspired by the elderly couple her family camps next to every year when they go on summer holidays.

“They are generally brusque with each other in public but they glow with a well-worn love that looks wonderfully comfortable,” she said.

Renwell receives $15,000, publication in the 2023 anthology along with all the other short-listed entries.

The 2023 Furphy Anthology

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Infidelity & Other Affairs, Kate Legge’s book about her former husband, Greg Hywood’s betrayal of their vows, is to be made into a film. The deal by Thames & Hudson was announced this week by Werner Film Productions, which made the Newsreader, Secret City, and the beloved teen drama franchise, Dance Academy. Legge will be a writer for the adaptation. Formerly a journalist on The Weekend Australian Magazine, she has also written a novel, The Unexpected Elements of Love, which was long-listed for the Miles Franklin award.

Kate Legge's Infidelity and Other Affairs will be adapted for screen

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Today’s pages: Clementine Ford is a culture warrior, based in Melbourne. She doesn’t think marriage serves women all that well. Our critic, Antonella Gambotto-Burke, did not buy the arguments in her book. You’ll find Antonella’s review on Page 13. We also have eight new titles in our Notable Books column; Samuel Bernard looks at Bryan Brown’s crime novel, and please don’t miss the extract from Lorin Clarke’s book about growing up with her dad, satirist John Clarke. You’ll weep, but in a good way. There’s a story in there about the way he used to address the envelopes to teachers at her school that is completely charming.

As for next week’s pages, well, don’t miss them, because we will be announcing The Australian’s Book of the Year, and our critics will be listing their favourite reads of 2023. There are some sublime choices, and, as usual, some books I’ve never heard of, but now want to read. Not long to wait now for the fat man, and you should feel free to buy books for everyone, if you’re Christmas-inclined.