Marisa Wikramanayake

writer, journalist & editor ~ I help you tell stories.

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  • Home
  • Blog
  • Services
  • Journalism work
  • Editorial work
  • Events
  • Free resources
    • Perth & WA Literary Calendar
    • Women who review
  • My Patreon
  • MEAA FAQs

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  • Events,  Updates

    Upcoming events in June 2018

    June 6, 2018 / No Comments

    I am going to be rather tired this month. But that’s a good thing because you get to see me at several events during June. Check out the events page. Continuum Panels The very first one kicks off in two days time: So You Want To Be A Book Reviewer? This is an awesome panel at the Continuum Speculative Fiction Convention at the Jasper Hotel in Melbourne running from Friday 8 June to Monday 11 June. I am on it with Figgy and Elizabeth Fitzgerald and it starts at 5 pm on Friday. We will discuss how book reviewing changes depending on how you do it, what you need to…

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    Interview with Nury Vittachi on the 6th IPEd National Editors' Conference 2013

    March 2, 2013

    Crimescene WA & Real Scientists

    September 23, 2013
    Marisa Wikramanayake waiting to present during the IPEd Conference freelancing workshop in 2013

    Where have I been?

    May 5, 2013
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews

    Samantha Tidy's The Happiness Jar

    February 20, 2014 / 1 Comment

    There is a jar on one of my bookshelves. It smells vaguely of tomato sauce and in it are little twists of paper. The twists of paper hold words – reminders of things that have happened that made me happy – memories, experiences, ideas, facts. I got the idea from a blog post I came across while surfing the internet. A few days after I started it, I got a book in the mail: Samantha Tidy’s The Happiness Jar. It starts with a death, that of Rachel from cystic fibrosis. But Rachael leaves behind a happiness jar full of secrets and a two part will that baffles the daylights out…

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    The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan

    The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan

    May 25, 2016

    AWW 2013: Ann-Marie Priest's Great Writers, Great Loves

    January 31, 2013

    Australian Love Stories

    November 20, 2014
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Journalism,  Literary Journalism

    Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014

    January 6, 2014 / No Comments

    Marisa Wikramanayake announces her intention to participate in the Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2014

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    Marianne de Pierres' Glitter Rose

    February 6, 2014

    Eleni Konstantine's Snoop

    February 13, 2014

    AWW 2013: Amanda Curtin's Inherited

    January 24, 2013
  • A real bookshop by Elsie esq via Flickr
    Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Literary Journalism,  Projects

    Capering criminally with the challenge: what I read for Australian Women Writers 2013

    January 3, 2014 / No Comments

    In 2013, I joined the Australian Women Writers blog and project as the non-fiction contributing editor. This meant I also ended up taking the challenge of at least reading if not reviewing various books by female Australian authors. I read, I reviewed, I interviewed. Here's the round up of the books, the authors and the fun.

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    Australian Love Stories

    November 20, 2014

    Introducing In Conversation With

    April 6, 2015

    Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop

    January 25, 2014
  • Projects,  Updates

    New project: Guys Read Gals

    February 18, 2013 / 1 Comment

    First off, I did not come up with the name. That was all Rob Kennedy‘s fault. Second, last I checked I am not a male member of the species so I am not actually an active participant – I am just there to make sure everything runs properly. And to carry a metaphorical whip so that the guys involved behave like the gentlemen that they are. So what is it? It’s a website. For men. To post reviews of the Australian female fiction authors they have read.  And for women and men. To contribute insightful articles, interviews and opinion pieces on the topics of men reading  and/or Australian female fiction…

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    Salinity threatens freshwater mussels

    September 9, 2010

    Photographing the Perth Royal Show 2012 and failing miserably…

    October 4, 2012

    How to tell if you are a writer

    September 11, 2013
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Journalism,  Projects

    AWW 2013: Marion Halligan's Murder On The Apricot Coast

    February 7, 2013 / 2 Comments

    When I first found this book, I was thrilled. Crime fiction is the genre I love diving into and it always thrills me to find a potentially interesting, intriguing new crime fiction author I haven’t found before. And then I realised it was the sequel, not the first offering in the series. So I searched the shop in vain for another Halligan but there was none to be found. I didn’t want to miss something by reading them out of order. Eventually I walked out of the shop with Murder On The Apricot Coast in my hands. And I started reading. There is the promised murder of course but there also…

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    Drive Me To Distraction by Caitlyn Nicholas

    Caitlyn Nicholas' Drive Me To Distraction

    February 21, 2013

    Marianne Delacourt’s Sharp Shooter

    April 2, 2015

    Introducing In Conversation With

    April 6, 2015
  • Book Reviews,  Competitions,  Journalism,  Updates

    Real men do read – they just don't let the sexy, geek goddesses know.

    February 6, 2013 / 12 Comments

    Rob Kennedy, an Australian poet (and male for the purposes of this discussion) asked this question in a blog post recently: Do real men read books?* He had several issues with this question: What the hell constitutes a “real man” anyway? To which I nod my head furiously because yes, what the hell are we discussing when we talk about “real men”? What makes one man more “real” than the next, apart from the fact that maybe he isn’t some intangible figure in your brain…… moving on. The reason he asked the question in the first place was because he had found a lot of American based programs and websites…

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    Marianne Delacourt’s Sharp Shooter

    April 2, 2015

    Marianne de Pierres' Glitter Rose

    February 6, 2014
    Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen by Carl Muller

    Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen by Carl Muller

    January 5, 2017
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Journalism,  Projects

    AWW 2013: Marj McRae's Not A Man

    January 10, 2013 / No Comments

    “The hero is an eunuch.” said the author Marj McRae. “Wait, what?” was my reaction. She emailed me the link, I downloaded Not A Man in e-book form and dove in. An eunuch – I expected there to be a few descriptions of not so very nice things – violence and rape. I mean, it’s a young boy being castrated. And frankly, I was stunned by the level of research and detail. I now know a lot of very interesting things about castration and about Oxford. That’s right, Oxford. As in Oxford University. You see, Shuki, is not content with the fate of other eunuchs – lovable as along as…

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    AWW 2013: Marion Halligan's Murder On The Apricot Coast

    February 7, 2013

    Interview with Jane Rawson

    March 20, 2014

    Jane Rawson's A Wrong Turn At The Office Of Unmade Lists

    January 16, 2014
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Journalism,  Projects

    Kerry Greenwood's Unnatural Habits

    January 3, 2013 / 6 Comments

      I discovered Greenwood quite by chance somewhere around 2007. And ever since I have eagerly awaited the next installment of a Phryne Fisher or Corrinna Chapman mystery. You can just imagine how thrilled I was when ABC started airing the TV series of Phryne Fisher last year. Accordingly I was excited to find a new offering – Phryne’s 19th outing Unnatural Habits. I bought it to read on my flight overseas at the end of the year and avoided it till I was in my plane seat. Phryne is much the same, the same devil may care attitude towards social conventions that don’t make any sense, the same thrill…

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    AWW 2013: Marj McRae's Not A Man

    January 10, 2013

    AWW 2013: Ann-Marie Priest's Great Writers, Great Loves

    January 31, 2013
    A few right thinking men by Sulari Gentill

    Sulari Gentill’s A Few Right Thinking Men

    June 6, 2016
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Projects

    The Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013: Suggested Reading List

    January 3, 2013 / 6 Comments

    So I mentioned to a writing group that I am part of on Facebook that I am trying to do this challenge. And I asked them to suggest titles. Because otherwise I was going to be stuck. And they have come up trumps. Now I am only going to review certain books in certain genres so I can say now that I probably won’t get to review all these but YOU can. If you are part of the challenge, then off you go, pick one and get reviewing! If you suggest any titles I will keep updating this list. Author | Book | Genre | Comment if any Kathryn White…

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    You May Also Like

    Marianne de Pierres' Glitter Rose

    February 6, 2014
    A few right thinking men by Sulari Gentill

    Sulari Gentill’s A Few Right Thinking Men

    June 6, 2016

    AWW 2013: Marion Halligan's Murder On The Apricot Coast

    February 7, 2013
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