Straight from the authors’ mouths
Recommended reads
Prepare to take your seats (or beds) whatever the case may be as we have a slew of recommendations for our season finale. Richard Glover kicks off with You Daughters of Freedom by Clare Wright, a momumental history of the suffragist movement. Both Kate and Sarah are strong feminists, so it was right up our alley. Usually, we just run the publisher's blurb but to celebrate the finale, Kate has reviewed both Richard's and Debra Oswald's suggestions. Enjoy!
Richard Glover’s take on 70s life and food
Author Q&A
ABC talk-radio presenter and author of The Land Before Avocado, Richard Glover, shares his thoughts on the 1970s with Word of Mouth TV. After incorporating extensive research and personal experience, he reminds us that the Australia of 50 years ago is not the great place that nostalgic, dewy-eyed boomers would have us believe: it was boring, insular, authoritarian and intolerant. Nor is our country going to the dogs; life has improved on nearly every metric. On the upside, he says going back in time offers a great opportunity to laugh at ourselves and to appreciate just how far we've come.
The Land Before Avocado – Richard Glover
Sarah's review
Richard Glover really knows how to pick his topics and The Land Before Avocado, set in the 1970s, is no exception. Despite being the land of plenty, Australians endured a myriad of deprivations, which Richard investigates with excruciating humour. The cars, the food, the fashion - they all left something to be desired. Yet the clumsiness of the period is reminiscent of any pubescent teenager, and The Land Before Avocado reminds us that the 1970s was a tipping point for Australia, the decade in which it graduated from small pants to big pants. A wonderful read.
Li-Young Lee’s sublime ode to the peach
Iconic literary food moments
In honour of our super '70s episode, we decided to dedicate this moment in literary time to a poet who was actually writing during the period. Li-Young Lee is a Chinese American poet renowned for the zen-like simplicity and passion of his poems, a refreshing break from the angst of modern poetry, and he penned the most sublime poem about peaches, titled From Blossoms. Of course, our guest Debra Oswald's novel The Whole Bright Year is set on a peach farm in Australia in the 1970s, so it seems the perfect celebration. It is a poem so vivid in its evocation, it lingers in the memory, suspended in time. Enjoy!
The Whole Bright Year – Debra Oswald
Kate's review
The gorgeous title and cover of this novel are instantly enticing … and then I open the book and find a quote from Homer referencing my favourite Greek myth, the story of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, whose daughter Persephone is ravished away by Hades, the god of the underworld. At once I wonder if Debra Oswald plans to allude to the myth in a book that I know (thanks to the blurb) is set in Australia in 1976. I love books that drawn on myth and folklore in bold and unexpected ways, and so I settle in to read with a heightened sense of anticipation and interest.
Debra Oswald and Richard Glover’s super 70s giveaway
We're living in the 70s
Thanks to Penguin Books and Harper Collins, Word of Mouth TV has a super 70s giveaway to celebrate the season finale with one of Australia's most talented literary couples, Debra Oswald and Richard Glover. Their books The Whole Bright Year and The Land Before Avocado will take those of us who remember it on a rollicking romp back in time to Australia in the 1970s - few better times to be. And for those so careless as to be born post-1980, they will take you to a place of wonder that defies belief - a foreign land. You know the drill! Don't forget the hashtags!Episode 14: Debra Oswald and Richard Glover’s 70s knockout double
Join us for this fun and fab night with one of Australia's most talented and interesting literary couples, Debra Oswald and Richard Glover, as they share the backstories of their fantastic books: The Whole Bright Year and The Land Before Avocado. Both books were set in the 1970s and it was an absolute blast from the past as we ventured back into one of the most fun and fascinating eras in Australia's recent history. This season finale is a classic and very funny!! It was just a fantastic way to end the first season of Word of Mouth TV.