AustLit

'Child adoption practices in twentieth century Australia were largely reliant on Christian agencies to facilitate the separation of child from mother and the subsequent re-homing of that child with others, almost always married couples referred as suitable parents by their local minister or priest. Stories told by adoptees are frequently stories of loss, grief and abandonment, as recorded in memoir, government inquiries and research studies. The creative work presented in this paper is titled another Exodus: men women leaving children. In this work I chose to ‘embody’ the ‘shell’ of the King James Version of the first two chapters in Exodus, a book in the Bible’s Old Testament. The work forms part of my broader study of experimental writing, in this case combining a bricolage approach to research with the hermit crab form of the lyric essay, undertaken during my creative practices research. The reader is invited to form fresh, and perhaps transformed, understandings of the impact of the Christian churches’ role in adoption policy and practice in Australia, and the subsequent effects of that influence and intervention on our collective cultural and emotional psyche.'

'A half-naked body of a girl is discovered on a driveway in Mt Martha. A young man researching his grandfather's defection to Australia from the Hungarian Olympic team in 1956 is having trouble with his love life. An old man living alone with his cat discovers hidden clues ... Set in Melbourne in the 1950s and the present, this crime novel was inspired by an unsolved murder in 1953. Historically accurate in the details, it blends social commentary with character development and resolution.

'If you like Rankin's Edinburgh and Mankell's Ystad, you'll love Simpson's Melbourne. This is a gritty and disturbing work of crime fiction. ' (Publication summary)

'What happens when the keynote speaker at an important arts festival is found dead?

'Welcome to modern Melbourne, UNESCO City of Literature, home to arts festivals galore as well as the internationally famous Melbourne Cup horse race. But the Imagine Festival, held in late August, has more surprises in store than the Festival Director planned when he discovers Deborah Dangerfield's lifeless body upstairs at the Malthouse Theatre.

'Join Senior Sergeant Brendan O'Leary, a family man who's struggling to keep up with life's changes and Ange Micelli, fourth daughter of Italian migrants, who's fit, fiery and ready to go. Together they make a formidable team in this fast-moving thriller that uncovers much more than just the identity of the murderer.

'Through Simpson's spare and gritty prose, threads of political intrigue, society gossip and secret adoption are woven together, capturing the essence of urban Australia.'  (Publication summary)