As I mentioned at my Warrane/Sydney launch of Public.Open.Space. in November 2023, the sad state of the world makes it uncomfortable to talk about book stuff right now, which has made me even more grateful that my book is about control and protest, silencing and speaking up.
Because writers, artists, anyone with a platform, and anyone living on or benefiting from unceded land have an obligation to use our platforms to do so, to listen, learn, interrogate that learning, insist on media justice and speech free of bias and hate, and to recognise and act on our responsibilities.
Meanwhile, there has been a lot of talk in the #BookTok community about keeping politics out of ‘safe’ bookish spaces – which is both as nonsensical as it is impossible. Even having the choice to engage in this discourse is political – and that comes with responsibilities as well.
Check out my ‘and another thing’ rant about the politics of publishing for more. (These vlogs are usually a Patreon exclusive, but this one’s for everybody else too).
On the subject of politics, the last few weeks have also seen me transition from solo writer to proud unionist. Not just because of MEAA’s recent work for freelancers like me, but because of their leadership in calling for a ceasefire and media justice at a time when more than 100 of our journalist colleagues have been killed in the last two months alone (compared to <20 in two whole years since the invasion of Ukraine. So grateful in these impossible times for community, leadership and all those speaking up. Join your union if you can.
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LARSEN | KEYS 
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