On bras, breasts & living in the 70s

-- a small video reading from The Age of Fibs

Hello lovely readers and writers,

It’s a very special feeling when a book manages to claw its way to the top of a To-Be-Read pile after several years, and you get a surprise fabulous review-comment like this:

"Loving @bethspen ‘s book so much. Exciting, liberating, inspiring - makes me think of all the wonderfully creative things possible in this world.

Just cried during the tiny piece of micro-memoir about her mum.

All writers should read this book. It is a masterpiece."

Thank you so much, Walter Mason! 

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So in celebration of slow writing, slow to find-their-readers books (in a culture which usually gives books a couple of months on the shelves to make a splash or they are sent back), and slow reading (which is definitely me), I thought I’d share some bits from previous books over the coming months.

’Slow’ is especially appropriate for The Age of Fibs, which is a ‘new and selected’ with pieces spanning several decades.

In fact, one of the longer stories, ‘The Death of Mr Propinquity’, was written — on a typewriter — almost 40 years ago! (Yes I feel old.)

It was never published because it was too long for journals and too short on its own, and didn’t fit the theme of my first book of fiction, How to Conceive of a Girl.

It’s been really lovely to have readers tell me of their fondness for poor embattled Mr P, and to have him emerge intact out of the days before mobile phones and the internet. So maybe I’ll read bits of his story some other time.

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Meanwhile: here’s extracts from the title story, ‘The Age of Fibs’.

Or if you prefer to read — I’ve also posted the text here.

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And if that triggered some memories, please do share your bra stories — or 70s stories — or more recent ‘sprouting’ stories — in the comments.

Did you have a ‘fibs’ bra (if you are of this vintage)? Did you stop wearing bras in the 70s - or during covid lockdowns?

I’m always amazed at how many women say they wear bras for comfort and yet often have deep welts and grooves on their bodies from the straps and underwiring… and also say that the first thing they do when they get home is rip their bra off. Hmm.

‘Comfort’ is a very complicated thing.

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In other news, I am delighted to have two poems long-listed for the Canberra Uni Health Poem Prize. These are from my new manuscript and often when you write poems that are part of a longer narrative work, they don’t necessary thrive on their own. So I was very pleased to see these two make the cut.

I also love that there is a ‘health poem prize.’ And love the range of intriguing titles in this list. Health is, after all, a pretty broad and fundamental topic:

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And just when I thought the pomegranate must have died… (life in the old girl, yet.)

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And finally, a few of my favourite memes from this week in politics:

mr.davidcamacho

A post shared by @mr.davidcamacho

I thought this one below must have been fake — surely in 2024 a newspaper wouldn’t use the old ‘men angry / women emotional’ trope? But nope, it was a real headline. (sigh).

While the rest of the world’s news declared the debate a disaster for Trump, Australian media from the Australian to the ABC just couldn’t make up their minds who was the most impressive or believable. This normalising of a pernicious mix of racism, lying, and extreme claims as a kind of reasonable political position seems to be setting the stage for the next federal election, with Dutton surely taking notes.

But hooray again for the childless cat ladies --

Swift, who currently has more than 284 million followers on Instagram — also shared a link to Vote.gov — and signed it ‘With love and hope, Taylor Swift… Childless Cat Lady.’

Then Linda Rondstadt joined in with her post —

And even Stevie Nicks swung by as a ‘dog lady’ — urging people to vote.

so with love and hope,
thanks so much for reading!

Love your comments (and please let me know if you’d like more readings of poems and stories, and if you prefer video or audio).

And if you know someone who might like to subscribe — here’s the button for that —>

xxx beth