Josephine Moon

Last updated

Josephine Moon
OccupationWriter
Years active2014–present
Children1
Website
josephinemoon.com

Josephine Moon is an Australian author, based in Cooroy, Queensland. She has worked as an English teacher and editor. [1] She has a Bachelor of Communications. [2] She changed to a writing career after having Chronic fatigue syndrome. [3]

Contents

Career

Her first novel, The Tea Chest, was set in Brisbane and focused on tea-rooms and was inspired by the interior of the Chermside T2 specialty tea shop. [4] [5] The book was launched at the Cooroy Library in April 2014. [6] In conjunction with the release of her tea-themed book, Moon supported the Cancer Council Australia's Biggest Morning Tea with a virtual Twitter fundraiser in May 2014. [7]

The Tea Chest was reviewed by Jessica Broadbent in Books+Publishing as very readable but with many different aspects of the story, as the narration rotates from character to character and between time periods. [8] Kerryn Goldsworthy's review in The Sydney Morning Herald noted the familiar premise of "...a group of plucky women with problems get together to run a business...", but that of its kind, the book is well-written with lush and detailed descriptions. [9]

Maree Field's review of The Tea Chest considered the cosy novel's three main characters as likeable and relatable, within the framework of an engaging story. [10] Ann-Maree Lourey considered that it took a while to acclimatise to the book, but that it became very readable. [11]

Moon's second novel, The Chocolate Promise (variously published as, The Chocolate Apothecary), was reviewed by Amy Vuleta in Books+Publishing as a Tasmanian twist on the movie Chocolat. She highlighted Christmas Livingston as a well-rounded central character, with the novel being a relatable and light addition to contemporary women's fiction. [12]

Moon's third novel, The Beekeeper's Secret, was reviewed by Kerryn Goldsworthy as having the same outline as the previous two novels, with strong female characters overcoming adversity whilst establishing niche businesses. Goldsworthy noted that while the books are typical of commercial fiction's easy readability and mild sentimentality, The Beekeeper's Secret has a darker tone, set with a background of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Goldsworthy considered that Moon was "agile and even-handed" in her treatment of the church in the book. [13]

Personal life

Moon is Autistic and ADHD and advocates for better understanding of neurodivergence. She lives near Cooroy with her husband, son and animals including goats, horses and chickens. [14] Along with other Australian female authors Frances Whiting, Susan Johnson and Kim Wilkins, she was interviewed for a 2016 ABC Regional News article about how creativity can co-exist with parenting and work responsibilities. [15]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Garner</span> Australian author

Helen Garner is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, Monkey Grip, published in 1977, immediately established her as an original voice on the Australian literary scene–it is now widely considered a classic. She has a reputation for incorporating and adapting her personal experiences in her fiction, something that has brought her widespread attention, particularly with her novels, Monkey Grip and The Spare Room (2008).

The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued A$60,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thea Astley</span> Australian novelist and short story writer (1925 – 2004)

Thea Beatrice May Astley was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer. As well as being a writer, she taught at all levels of education – primary, secondary and tertiary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margo Lanagan</span> Australian writer

Margo Lanagan is an Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction.

Dorothy Johnston is an Australian author of both crime and literary fiction. She has published novels, short stories and essays.

Dr. Kerryn Lee Goldsworthy is an Australian freelance writer and former academic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan London (Australian author)</span>

Joan Elizabeth London is an Australian author of short stories, screenplays and novels.

The Barbara Jefferis Award is an Australian literary award prize. The award was created in 2007 after being endowed by John Hinde upon his death to commemorate his late wife, author Barbara Jefferis. It is funded by his $1 million bequest. Originally an annual award, it has been awarded biennially since 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerry Greenwood</span> Australian author and lawyer (born 1954)

Kerry Isabelle Greenwood is an Australian author and lawyer. She has written many plays and books, most notably a string of historical detective novels centred on the character of Phryne Fisher, which was adapted as the popular television series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. She writes mysteries, science-fiction, historical fiction, children's stories, and plays. Greenwood earned the Australian women's crime fiction Davitt Award in 2002 for her young adult novel The Three-Pronged Dagger.

Ceridwen Dovey is a South African and Australian social anthropologist and author. In 2009 she was named a 5 under 35 nominee by the National Book Foundation and in 2020 won The Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing.

<i>Drylands</i> (novel)

Drylands (1999) is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley. This novel shared the award with Benang by Kim Scott.

<i>The Childrens Bach</i>

The Children's Bach (1984) is a novella by Australian writer Helen Garner. It was her third published book and her second novel. It was well received critically both in Australia and abroad.

<i>Monkey Grip</i> (novel)

Monkey Grip is a 1977 novel by Australian writer Helen Garner, her first published book. It initially received a mixed critical reception, but has now become accepted as a classic of modern Australian literature. The novel deals with the life of single-mother Nora, as she narrates her increasingly tumultuous relationship with a flaky heroin addict, juxtaposed with her raising a daughter while living in share houses in Melbourne during the late 1970s. A film based on the novel, also titled Monkey Grip, was released in 1982. In the 1990s, when critics identified the Australian literary genre of grunge lit, the book was retrospectively categorized as one of the first examples of this genre.

Peter Robert Corris was an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical and crime fiction. As crime fiction writer, he was described as "the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-writing", particularly for his Cliff Hardy novels.

<i>Not Dark Yet: A Personal History</i>

Not Dark Yet: A personal history is a 2004 book Australian cultural historian David Walker, who suffered a sudden and severe loss of sight due to macular degeneration which limited his ability to continue archival research and forced him to "find another, more personal voice and another way of writing". The book documents his own and his family's relationship to the past. This was a significant departure from Walker's academic work in which he is a pre-eminent authority on Australia's engagement with Asia. However, through this book, Walker found that the personal has a role in the writing of history; "small events also have their place in determining who we are and what we value as individuals and as a community".

Souvankham Thammavongsa is a Laotian Canadian poet and short story writer. In 2019, she won an O. Henry Award for her short story, "Slingshot", which was published in Harper's Magazine, and in 2020 her short story collection How to Pronounce Knife won the Giller Prize.

<i>The Natural Way of Things</i> Novel by Charlotte Wood

The Natural Way of Things (2015) is a novel by Australian writer Charlotte Wood. It won the Stella Prize, for writing by Australian women, in 2016.

Nicola Jane Upson is a British novelist, known for a series of crime novels featuring a fictional version of Josephine Tey as the heroine and detective.

R.W.R McDonald is a New Zealand author, living in Melbourne, Australia best known for his crime novels The Nancys. and Nancy Business

Daniel Davis Wood is an Australian author who is known for the novels Blood and Bone and At the Edge of the Solid World.

References

  1. ↑ Moon, Josephine (1 June 2014). "Books that changed me". The Sun-Herald.
  2. ↑ Frey, Liljana (8 May 2016). "Bees inspire foodie book". Sunshine Coast Sunday. p. 17.
  3. ↑ Moon, Josephine (15 June 2014). "Dream time". The Sun-herald. p. 15.
  4. ↑ Collins, Michelle (12 April 2014). "Lightning effect". The Courier-Mail. p. 18.
  5. ↑ Moon, Josephine (May 2014). "Behind the book 1". Good Reading: 30–31 – via Informit.
  6. ↑ "Plenty of tea but hold the sympathy". Noosa News. 4 April 2014. p. 10.
  7. ↑ "This tea is so tweet". Noosa News. 29 April 2014. p. 8.
  8. ↑ Broadbent, Jessica (February 2014). "Fiction reviews [Book Review]". Books+Publishing. , 93, No. 3: 20 – via Informit.
  9. ↑ Goldsworthy, Kerryn (10 May 2014). "Reviews". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 34.
  10. ↑ Field, Maree (7 June 2014). "The Tea Chest". Southland Times. p. A17.
  11. ↑ Sprogis, Elvira, ed. (27 June 2015). "On the shelf". p. 31.
  12. ↑ Vuleta, Amy (February 2015). "Fiction reviews [Book Review]". Books+Publishing. 94 (3): 20 – via Informit.
  13. ↑ Goldsworthy, Kerryn (23 April 2016). "In short - fiction". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 28.
  14. ↑ Rickard, Ann (8 July 2016). "Success of local writer is no secret: author taps into creativity". Noosa News. p. 29.
  15. ↑ "Is there room for creativity after kids?". ABC News. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.