Birdbook Notes (February 2025)

This is my first ‘Birdbook Notes’ newsletter for the site. Apologies that it took so long! I’m  going to start off with a little debrief flashback on what happened in the 2024 To Sing of War Book Tour, and then let you know about the events coming up for the book in 2025.  

(This newsletter is perhaps a tad long, apologies in advance, but it’s also a belated wrap-up of  2024.) 

It’s hard to write about the year of 2024 without thinking of the wider social global and  national events that occurred. Wars going on in so many places, but on the mind are the conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and Palestine and Israel. There were government  decisions in Australia that caused havoc in universities and resulted in changes to course  

offerings and job losses. Booktopia closing and then opening again, smaller book publishers  being absorbed by larger. The American election loomed large, and the joisting for positions  by Australian Labour and Liberal candidates as they readied for the 2025 election, added to  the unsettling atmosphere.  

What a year! 

That said, there was a much to celebrate.  

Small things first. For me, getting back into the garden and trying to rid it of invasive Kikuya  grass (only halfway there in this battle), meeting up with family and with old and new  friends. And then, yes, so many great new books to read and To Sing of War published.  

Charlotte Wood’s highly original Stone Yard Devotional was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, Alexis Wright’s Praise won the Stellar Award and Miles Franklin Literary Award, and  Melissa Lukashenko’s Edenglassie gained numerous well deserved awards, including the  HNSA ARA Historical Novel Award. 

The 2024 To Sing of War Book Tour allowed me to meet with so many great readers,  booksellers and authors.  

There were launches in three cities: 

1) Sydney, at Gleebooks, where I talked with author Hayley Scrivenor (Girl Falling and Dirt  Town). My two brilliant agents, Jeanne Ryckmans and Lou Johnson from Key People  Literary Management were there, plus stellar HarperCollins publisher Catherine Milne, and  then HC publicist, Lily Capewell who has since returned home to London (replaced by the  astute Luiza Grinstein) and a whole lot of family and friends.  

We went to the Glebe Pub after and celebrated.

2) In Adelaide at Matilda’s bookshop I had an in-conversation event with author Jessica  White (Hearing Maud). And after, another pub dinner with family and friends—some I hadn’t  seen for yonks. 

3) In Melbourne at Readings with author Kate Mildenhall (The Hummingbird Effect). A group of wonderful authors had dinner after. On this night I also met author Marion Taffe, whose debut novel By Her Hand, is coming out shortly. I met up with my cousin Jenny, andold friends Kate and Neil.

I started the festival side of the book tour off at the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, talking about Historical Novels, alongside Bruce Pascoe (Imperial Harvest). The session was  beautifully moderated by Kate Mildenhall. Kate’s latest book (The Hummingbird Effect) is a  favourite of mine, as it is a braided narrative. My last two books have been braided narratives  and it’s a form I love. (This love started way back with Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, but kicked  off more acutely with David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. However, if you haven’t read Anthony  Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, then do. It’s another braided novel and a brilliant read.)  

At Bellingen, I also moderated a session on war books, with two authors whose novels are  very different from each other. Politico, by Yumna Kassab, and The Sun Will Rise, by Misha  Zelinsky. These two novels found a way into my heart. I met at this festival author Siang Lu,  whose book Ghost Cities, I immediately read and was completely absorbed by. And I also  caught up with the Narratives library folk, who run a passion project out of a little van that  tours the festivals to record authors reading from their novels. 

The Melbourne section of the tour was organized by Jill Langhammer from Literary Listings.  Jill is truly amazing and we became firm friends on this tour. If you know me, you know I  love food, and, as well as stopping off at multiple Melbourne bookstores, Jill and I made time  for a few Melbourne iconic food stops: a bowl of spaghetti at Florentino (the cellar bar not the fancy restaurant), coffee and cake at St Kilda’s Monarch Cakes, and we finished in  Carlton Street at a bar close to Readings bookstore. 

Jill at Florentino!

In 2024, I also had author talks and in-conversation events at various libraries: Stanton Library (Sydney), Goulburn Mulwaree Library, Brighton Library (Victoria), Wollongong Library, Woollahra Library at Double Bay (Sydney). At Brighton, historical fiction writer  Jane Sullivan (Murder in Punch Lane) and I, interviewed each other, which was lots of fun.  By the way, her book is a great read. I had a brilliant conversation about To Sing of War with  Caroline Baum (Only), at the South Coast Writers Festival, (see pictures below), with  Michaela Bolzan at the Southern Highlands Writers Festival, and with Emily Maguire  (Rapture) at the Canberra Writers Festival, where we were interviewed by Rebecca Harkins Cross. I ran a masterclass in Canberra on Transforming Characters. I enjoyed listening to Michelle De Krester talk about her fabulous new book, Theory and Fiction, with Bernadette  Brennan, and went to a discussion between Shankari Chandran and Suzie Miller, hosted by  Nicole Abadee, about the social justice issues in Shankari and Suzie’s books.

Later in the year, I had a great conversation with author Sarah Turnbull (Almost French and  All Good Things) at Ryans Pub Thirroul, supported by Deb and Amanda from Collin’s  Bookstore Thirroul.  

To Sing of War was well reviewed across the board, including Kate Evans and Richard Aedy’s  review on the Bookshelf, one of my go-to podcasts and by author James Bradley, along with  many others. I chatted with Sarah L’Estrange The Book Show and Annie Hastwell on the  Tsundoku podcast and with Claudine Tinellis on Talking Aussie Books. 

To Sing of War was given a Special Commendation in HNSA ARA Historical Novel Prize. I  went to this event with author Lauren Chater whose book The Beauties was also given a  Special Commendation. In the foyer of Parliament House, where the event kicked off, I had  a very long chat with one of my agents, Lou, about the next book and how we might think  about it. One of the tricks of being a writer is to have the next book started once the previous one is finished, as it moves you on immediately to the kind of mental musing that is most  joyful about writing – the making up stuff bit.  I finished the year with an In Conversation with Michaela Kowalski at Woollahra Library.  It was a treat to end the year this way. Michaela has a deep and abiding interest in some of the  issues covered in the book, especially anything to do with spies and secrets. She is also very  funny and smart. With us were Jaime Harrison, from the library, and Jane Turner from  Gertrude and Alice Cafe Bookstore, and Jane’s friend, Paula Marcon, helping out on the day. 

A book tour sounds glamorous. It was great fun going to bookstores and conversing with booksellers about To Sing of War, signing books, talking with readers. Half the time, though, I  also felt like an idiot. There is an expectation on book tours that you will always feel confident yet sometimes, I felt the opposite.  

So it was lucky that I could finish off the year of 2024 with a short visit to Bundanon for a  writer’s retreat. I could only stay for two days and one night. Here I pressed the pause button  on all the other things that were happening in my life. I sat with the flies and the heat,  listened to Country, and worked on a wonderful essay project with five other writers, two  Indigenous, three non-indigenous. Our aim is to ‘essay’ about the lessons gained from  Country about writing.  

2025 

Now it is 2025, and the To Sing of War book tour will continue for a few months. It will kick  off next with an in-conversation event with Sarah Turnbull at Bookoccino in Avalon on  Thursday 13 February. (Book Bookoccino tickets here.) Bookoccino is a famous Sydney bookstore in Avalon Beach, now owned by Sally Tabner and Raymond Bonner. 

Then on Saturday March 1 at 10.45 North Stage, I’ll be speaking with Sarah L’Estrange at  Adelaide Writers Week. I can’t wait for this event. Sitting outside and listening to authors  talking about their work is one of my favourite Adelaide memories, and it is still all for free. 

This has to be one of the best writers’ festivals around. And here I get to see lots of family and  friends.  

At the Manly Writers’ Festival, on Saturday 29 March, at 2.50 in the Darley Smith  Building, I’ll be talking about To Sing of War on a panel titled Australian Historical Fiction with Meg Keneally (Free) and Siobhan O’Brien (All the Golden Light) hosted by Victoria  Haskins.  

I’m also on panels at the Newcastle Writers Festival on Saturday the 5 April and Sunday 6  April, but times and details are still to be released.  

Finally, if you liked reading To Sing of War, then do leave a review, it really helps! You can leave your reviews on Good Reading (Link here) and Amazon (amazon link here).  For Amazon you have to sign on first (but they don’t hassle you with Spam or charge). 

Meanwhile friend and writer Garth Thomas sent me some AI generated images of characters  in the novel. They are fun! See if you can pick what image goes with what character.

That wraps up this newsletter. 

Thanks for being here with me! 

Cheers

Catherine