For the last couple of years I've been writing a page called 'Encounter' for The Monthly magazine. Each encounter is a brief historical vignette of a meeting between a prominent Australian personage and another (not necessarily Australian) famous figure. These are brilliantly illustrated by Chris Grosz, a former mercenary and tax exile who lives in a shearing shed on the outskirts of Auckland.
All of the encounters are real. Some seem fantastically improbable (Errol Flynn meets Fidel Castro, Daisy Bates and Breaker Morant get married, Enrico Caruso slips Nellie Melba a hot sausage). Others are better known (Gough Whitlam and Zhou En-lai, Harry Chauvel and Lawrence of Arabia, Malcolm Turnbull and Conrad Black, Lionel Rose and Elvis Presley). In each case, my aim is to paint as accurate a pen portrait of the event as my capacities allow - drawing from historical sources or personal interviews. The Monthy employs a very diligent fact-checker who makes me account for the veracity of every comma and semi-colon.
This month's encounter tracks the connection between Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence.
The Monthly online version also has video of a long chat I had with Mungo MacCallum about his observations on the federal election and the fall of the fetid Howard.
Towards the end of this month I'll be in Western Australia for the Perth Writers Festival (22-24 Feb). The Chaser boys will be there in their capacity as public intellectuals so it is bound to be a lot of fun. As well as sessions in Perth, I'll be part of a satellite event in Albany on the 25th. I'm also going to Kalgoorlie for a reading as part of the Big Book Club. I'ver requested it be held at the bottom of the Super Pit or in a Hay Street knocking shop but it'll most likely be at the library.
After WA, I'm heading to Brisbane and the Gold Coast for more Big Book Club events. Then it's head down, tail up and back to work on Murray 7.