How Hoges ribbed the PM at John Brown’s book launch

Last week I promised to go along to the launch of the new memoir by former federal minister John Brown and I knew you’d want me to report back, so here goes.

John Brown AO, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Paul Hogan AM at thew launch of Brownie: Minister for Good Times book launch at the Winx Stand at Royal Randwick in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

Last week I promised to go along to the launch of the new memoir by former federal minister John Brown (Brownie: The Minister For Good Times) and I knew you’d want me to report back, so here goes.

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was there, and he has never looked trimmer.

He gave a fine speech.

Paul Hogan – Hoges! – was there, and he also gave a fine speech, ribbing the PM about a recent episode of the ABC’s Hard Quiz, where a kid apparently turned up with Albo as his
expert topic. “He won,” said Hoges, “He got every question about Albo right. And I thought, get a life, kid.”

Like a Canberra marriage, the audience dissolved.

Brown was, at the time of the launch, two weeks shy of 92. He’d now be about a week away from his birthday, and he’s as handsome as ever, and apparently on the lookout for a girlfriend. So if 92 is your cut-off, ladies, you’d better hop to it.

John Brown AO, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Paul Hogan AM at the launch of Brownie: Minister for Good Times at the Winx Stand at Royal Randwick in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

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I also this week attended the launch of Strife, which is the Binge series based on my buddy Mia Freedman’s book, Work Strife
Balance. Well, that’s what it was called when it hit the shelves.

I remember an early version carrying a quite different title, which was maybe Balance is Bullsugar, or something like that. The Binge series stars Asher Keddie as Eve, founder of a fledgling women’s website. As we all know, in real life, Mia’s company,
Mamamia, became a huge success. It was quite the night, with Mia’s husband, children, parents, friends and colleagues on hand to help her celebrate. The book is out under the new title, Strife.

Walking the red carpet at the premiere of an Australian original series, Strife, which is based on the memoir of Mia Freedman. That’s me (left) with Paula Joye, Mia, and Leigh Sales.

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Speaking of adaptations, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams is now a play, and it’s been on at the Sydney Opera House. From the blurb: “It’s 1886 and the very first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is being compiled. Four-year-old Esme Nicoll is hiding under the sorting table as her father and his male colleagues decide which words stay and which go … Esme collects the discarded scraps to compile her own far more radical, far more magical dictionary.”

I haven’t managed to get there but, like many of you, I adored the book, so it’s on my do-to list.

The Dictionary of Lost Words, co-production by State Theatre Company South Australia and Sydney Theatre Company., Anthony Yangoyan, Brett Archer, Chris Pitman, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Rachel Burke, Angela Mahlatjie . Picture: Sam Roberts Photography

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Here’s a novel idea. Well, it’s not actually an idea for a novel, per se. It’s the UNSW Book Idea prize, and it’s a prize for any idea that grabs the attention of the judges.

Charmaine O’Brien has won it, with her pitch to write a history of Australia’s first “celebrity cooks”.

From the blurb: “Who were Australia’s first cooks? How did their backgrounds, social standing and cultures affect the commentary on the food they prepared?

“These are some of the questions addressed by O’Brien in her proposal, The Devil at Work? Australia’s First Celebrity Cooks.”

The judges said the book will “challenge preconceived ideas about Australian food history and Australian history more generally … It will re-imagine Australian food history, taking the reader into the kitchens, dining rooms and public spaces of 19th and early 20th century Australian food personalities.”

The judges also praised O’Brien’s “beautiful writing and storytelling abilities.” The Book Idea prize is a partnership between UNSW and UNSW Press, offering manuscript development for the winning entry. The judging panel included the newly married (congratulations!!!) Fiona Inglis, managing director of Curtis Brown Australia, and member of the UNSW Press Board; Roanna Gonsalves, award-winning author and lecturer in creative writing at UNSW Sydney; Harriet McInerney, publisher at UNSW Press; and Paul O’Beirne, Senior Project Editor at UNSW Press.

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Okay so last week I made you guess who was coming to Brisbane in the new year and the answer was Richard Ford, and this week I’m going to make you guess again, because the Brisbane
Writers Festival has announced a new guest, and it’s Rebecca
F. Kuang, whose Yellowface – an absurdist comedy-thriller – has become a bestseller. It concerns a writer who steals a manuscript, and an identity, from a dead writer, to become the
“ethnically ambiguous toast of the publishing industry”.
Tickets online.

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This week’s pages: housework. Who loves it? I have to admit that I do find it rather soothing to polish smooth surfaces in the kitchen, and fluff the pillows in the bedroom, and I was entranced by Home Work, a new collection of essays in which Helen Hayward interrogates the satisfaction she, too, derives, from keeping house. You’ll find an extract in the pages today. It’s so lovely to have Peter Craven on a new Proust translation because, honestly, if you’re ever going to have a go at those books, wouldn’t the summer holidays be the time? Speaking of the holidays, I’m thrilled to see Braindrops on the Notable Books page. Yes, it’s the second volume in the “puzzles for a brainy day” series by Jeff Northam, who designs these pages for you each week. He has been drawing brain-benders for more than 20 years, and I can confidently report that he loves doing it as much you love solving them. Book two is glossy and glorious and it’s going to keep you – and the children, and the grandchildren – well occupied over the summer, and it might even keep some of us off our phones, which just has to be a good thing. Bravo, Jeff! You can order here: braindrop.com.au or pick one up from Better Read Than Dead bookshop in Newtown, Sydney.