Sylvia Petter's Blog, page 12

Mercury Blobs

Mercury Blobs is a collection of stories and flash fiction published by Raging Aardvark Publishing, Australia, in 2013. Cover Art: Sharon Ratheiser Cover Design: Sessha Batto A review in The… more

Back Burning

Back Burning spans continents, zooming in on snapshots of relationships from childhood and young love, through adulthood and career, political pursuits and history, to awakening in old age. Powerful stories… more

Reflections on this summer in Vienna

Early June, I was privileged to listen to Anita Heiss in readings, talks and at the Stephen Wurm Symposium at which Anita gave the keynote: Aboriginal writing: celebrating  the new Australian literature. Dr Anita Heiss, member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales, academic, author and social commentator, is an Adjunct Professor with Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS. I have since read her book Am I Black Enough for You? and am looking forward to getting a copy of h...

The Vienna Conference - for the love of story

The 13th International Conference on the Short Story in English is now over. It was held in the Juridicum in Vienna and welcomed writers and scholars from 38 countries. So many readings, so many papers, all on at the same time it was impossible for one person to cover it all. So here are some very different takes on the conference from the blogs of participants, as well as links to coverage by the local and national media in Austria:
ORF (Austrian National TV and Radio) in German, here, here a...

Of languages and literatures and a couple of heart strings

It’s been ages, but I have been busy.  But now that I have completed a big secret task, I can blog again.
Preparations for The Conference are going apace and have been taking up most of my away-from-work time (I do have a job that also needs to be honoured due to the what it’s about and the people I work with – all super.)  I’ve been seeing how different attending a conference is to organising one.  The latter thus far has been a bit like a Kneipp therapy of hot and cold dunkin...

Diving into a serendipity bath

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My Writing Process – Blog Tour

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2014 will be hectic!

First of all, best wishes to you all for 2014! 

There´ll be lots going on in my writing life this year, but I can´t lose track of what´s going on in the world.  Believe it or not, there are still those who want to make it a better place. I wish them well. They are doing it for us and our children. So in any little way, I feel we can also do our bit, whether it´s through speaking out against wrongs, being there, listening, offering solidarity, just being human, I guess. That being sa...

Tis the Season!

It´s the night before Christmas as we celebrate here in Vienna on 24 December and I´m looking back on the wonderful gifts I have already received in December.

A really fun interview getting personal with  Massimo Marino and another on FC Malby´s blog abut the Vienna Conference next July.

Then there was the print publication in a UK charity anthology. A Test of Time,  of my story, "The Rules of the Game", which was has also been published as a mobile download at Ether Books. (Monies fr...

Does asking hurt?

This blog post was going to have a completely different approach, but maybe I can weave what I had initially intended into my current concerns.
Does asking hurt? And if so, who does it hurt, and why?
Here, I´m speaking specifically about writers, but it could relate to anyone in need.
Recent discussion in a group laid open the following:
Writers ask for support such as „buy my book“, „write a review“, „spread the word“. All three are intended to go together but do not do so, necessarily.
Someone...