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| Josephine Wilson at the Margaret River Writers Festival, 2017 |
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| With Josephine Wilson |
- published November 2016
- 300 pages (paperback)
- Dorothy Hewitt Award for an Unpublished Manuscript 2015
- Miles Franklin Award 2017
- contains photographs
- beautiful descriptive writing
- about extinctions in all forms, aging, adoption, race,
- unusual, fascinating, interesting
- brought out so many emotions
An first heard of this book when a small group of us went to the Margaret River Writers Festival, this year. She enjoyed Josephine Wilson's talk and found the book very interesting. It was over there that she asked Josephine if she would visit us and we were thrilled that she found time in her busy schedule to come and talk to all of us all. We enjoyed having her over. She was very informative and lots of fun. We all agree that this is one of the best Author visits we've ever had so Thank You so much Josephine for visiting us.
It was a shame that 6 of us were away and unable to come to this discussion but we did send in some questions:
- The images were an absolute delight. I savored them all and used them to keep tabs on how far I was moving along with the book. The images truly enhanced the reading of the book as I felt different emotions with each image I came across. It was sad to see the extinct animals, a huge reminder of the creatures which once roamed the earth now lost forever. ... I felt a huge sense of loss and horror at the end of the book, looking at the picture of the collapsed bridge. (I have a bridge phobia!)
- Could you talk about the images and your decision to illustrate the book? ... how you chose them?...are they special to you? I have read that you were influenced by WG Sebald and his style of writing ... also that you had a struggle to get the book published because of the pictures. Is this true?
- I also love the use of Caroline’s egg on the cover of the book. Did you have some input there?
- I’d like to know if the characters are based on people she knew as they seem so real and human with their flaws and little idiosyncrasies, or is it a bit autobiographical.
- Also if the restaurant they dined at was based on the old Mead’s restaurant at Port Beach - later known as Salt but is now Coast?
Some Links:
Proximity WA - Extinctions Reading group notes
Reading Group notes - UWA press
The Conversation - on Extinctions-Miles Franklin 2017
Extinctions - Sydney Review of Books
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ABR Review by Gillian Doohey - Extinctions
ANZLitLover's Blog - Lisa Hill on Extinctions
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