update: sydney writers' festival

Today I just caught one full session at the festival, though heard bits and pieces of two others.  Old scrags (Australian for a frumpy-ish older woman, from what I could gather) and sheilas was about Australian female characters and sounded really interesting, but I couldn't get in because it was full so I just listened to a bit of the broadcast outside.  I poked in to one where a woman was speaking about her journalism/fiction writing experiences, too.  The theme of the festival this year is about the line between public and private life and I find it a very interesting topic ... perhaps if I catch you in person, we can discuss it more then!

The main session I went to today was entitled "Who Needs a Linear Narrative?" which I thought was really great.  Two writers -- one American, one ... British?  Posh Australian? -- spoke at length about their narratives (presumably reasonably nonlinear ones) and I found it really fascinating.  The answer to the title question, one said, was presumably 99.9 % of the population if his sales were anything to go on.