'I danced and danced because the neon light across the road had just blinked on, because it was the middle of spring, because I was twenty-one, because my father was playing beside me. . . .' In this vivid, seductive, gorgeously written memoir, Mandy Sayer recounts the fascinating years she spent performing on the streets of New York and New Orleans with her father. Gerry Sayer was a jazz drummer, a beguiling Irish charmer with a million stories and an insatiable love for jam sessions and all-night parties. Mandy grew up captivated by his outrageous tales even after he left the family for good and her mother descended into the distance of drink. When her siblings failed him by rejecting the bohemian performing life, Mandy saw her chance to become a character in his stories, part of the only life he really loved. So she learned to tap-dance, and they set off together to satisfy their grand ambitions on the toughest stage in the world - New York. Driven by their dream of making it big, Mandy and Gerry arrived in the city with no place to stay and only costumes to their names. They became part of the thrilling, precarious world of street performers - jugglers, magicians, fire-eaters, dancers - who eked out their livings at the mercy of the elements, the cops, complaining neighbors, and lurking thieves.

Editor Craig Pospisil has drawn exclusively from Dramatists Play Service publications to compile this collection, which features over fifty monologues. You will find an enormous range of voices and subject matter, characters from their teens to their seve

THE STORIES: ALL ABOUT AL by Cherie Vogelstein. In a New York coffee shop, a cad named Gil awaits the arrival of his girlfriend, Allison, so that he can break up with her. In walks their old pal Lenny, a tragically hopeless romantic in mourning ove

The author of "Batman Unmasked" and "Using the Force", turns his attention to Lewis Carroll and Alice taking the reader through a revealing tour of late 20th Century popular culture, following Alice and her creator wherever they go. The result is an in-depth analysis of how one original creation symbolizes different things to different people.

Time travel is not just science fiction; it may actually be possible. Wolf draws on yoga and quantum physics to show that time is a flexible projection of mind. Cheating time, he says, is an ancient metaphysical idea from the Vedas having to do with moving through meditation to a place where time stands still.

The only book on the Sydney Olympics with the official sanction of the AOC. Jounalist Harry Gordon gives the inside story of the Australian Olympic Games and reveals previously unpublished, behind- the-scenes stories about the preparation for the Olympic Games. Features foreword by Cathy Freeman, Reflections by Ian Thorpe.

This study is a collection of critical and scholarly analyses of the organisation of the Australian Film Industry since 1990. Particular emphasis is put on globalisation, authorship, national narrative and film aesthetics.

The Writer Laid Bare is a book for everyone who loves the craft of good writing. Be they a voracious reader wanting to know more or an emerging writer themselves, best-selling author and writing coach Lee Kofman has distilled her wisdom, insight and passion into this guide to writing and emotional honesty. A combination of raw memoir and a professional writing toolkit, Lee examines her own life, rich in story and emotion to reveal how committing to a truthful writing practice helped her conquer writer’s block and develop her own authentic voice. ‘Show don’t tell’ has never been so compelling. Inspired by her popular writing courses, Lee also offers practical advice on drafts, edits and how to achieve a life/writing balance. How combining her writing with motherhood led her to recognise that ‘ the pram in the hall’ issue is real. Plus the ultimate reading list of books you really should read, from Chekhov to Elena Ferrante and Helen Garner. ‘The Writer Laid Bare takes us on an intimate journey into the magical, and often challenging, terrain an author inhabits. Kofman courageously shares with the reader her own probing writerly journey of self-discovery.’ - Leah Kaminsky

What are the classic works of Australian literature? And what can they tell us about ourselves and the land we live in? Providing a selected overview of Australia's greatest literature, Australian Classics is an accessible companion to our literature and a story of writing in Australia from the nineteenth century to the present. Australian Class...