When British colonialists came to this country, most of them couldn't actually see it, so fixed in a European mindset were their ideas of beauty and functionality. Gradually, as the population changed and indigenous culture began to be heard, writers found inspiration in the subtle, enigmatic, delicate landscapes of this country. Gemma Rayner hosts Peter Doherty, Kim Mahood and Charles Massy to talk about where they have found inspiration. Do different landscapes inspire different kinds of writing?
Kim Mahood is a writer and artist based in Wamboin, near Canberra, whose 2000 memoir, Craft for a Dry Lake, won the NSW Premier’s Award for non-fiction and the Age Book of the Year for non-fiction. Her artwork is held in state, territory, and regional collections, and her essays have appeared in Griffith Review, Meanjin, and The Best Australian Essays. In 2014, she was awarded the H C Coombs Fellowship. Position Doubtful was shortlisted for the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Award for non-fiction and the 2017 Australian Book Industry Award for the Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year.
