GENTLE AND FIERCE
Gentle and Fierce is a new book of illustrated memoir essays by Vanessa Berry.
COMPOUND EYE/
DUM BEAR
When my new book was coming closer to being finished, people started to ask me what it was about...
Read more...
DUM BEAR
When my new book was coming closer to being finished, people started to ask me what it was about...
Read more...
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT/ HOUSE ORNAMENT
The early drafts of 'The Butterfly Effect' began with a quote by Vladimir Nabokov: "It is astounding how little the ordinary person notices butterflies...
Read more...
The early drafts of 'The Butterfly Effect' began with a quote by Vladimir Nabokov: "It is astounding how little the ordinary person notices butterflies...
Read more...
ANIMAL CHRONICLE I/ CAT CATALOG
I kept the notes for Animal Chronicle in a spiral notebook that had the pages inside divided up into exactly 1000 squares. It was intended to enact a dream-fulfillment exercise...
Read more...
I kept the notes for Animal Chronicle in a spiral notebook that had the pages inside divided up into exactly 1000 squares. It was intended to enact a dream-fulfillment exercise...
Read more...
MINK COAT/ MIRROR PHOTO
Sometimes I call to mind a particular photo that I am sure will unlock some part of the story I am writing...
Read more...
Sometimes I call to mind a particular photo that I am sure will unlock some part of the story I am writing...
Read more...
GLASS FISH/ GLASS FISH
Long ago I saw a film in which one of the key locations was the spare, neat living room in the protagonist's apartment...
Read more...
Long ago I saw a film in which one of the key locations was the spare, neat living room in the protagonist's apartment...
Read more...
RABBIT ISLAND/ ŌKUNOSHIMA MAP
Waiting at the ferry terminal, I picked up a map of the island...
Read more...
Waiting at the ferry terminal, I picked up a map of the island...
Read more...
FRANK THE BEAR/ FRANK
Frank stands in his position in the Biological Sciences building...
Read more...
Frank stands in his position in the Biological Sciences building...
Read more...
THE FLY/ JOURNALS
I wrote 'The Fly' based on my journals, which I've kept since the late 1990s...
Read more...
I wrote 'The Fly' based on my journals, which I've kept since the late 1990s...
Read more...
THE SINKING HORSE/ THE NEVERENDING STORY
The Neverending Story is, essentially, a story about a magic book...
Read more...
The Neverending Story is, essentially, a story about a magic book...
Read more...
THE WORD OF A SNAIL/ OFFERINGS TO SYLVIA PLATH
Sylvia Plath is buried in Heptonstall, a hilltop village in Yorkshire amid the moors. I learned this...
Read more...
Sylvia Plath is buried in Heptonstall, a hilltop village in Yorkshire amid the moors. I learned this...
Read more...
THE CERAMIC ZOO/ OTTER FIGURINE
Again I take the ceramic otter from the shelf of the bookcase where I keep it with my other figurines...
Read more...
Again I take the ceramic otter from the shelf of the bookcase where I keep it with my other figurines...
Read more...
WILDPARK/ MARZIPAN PIG
The first time I came across marzipan pigs was in a Berlin department store, the Galeria Kaufhof...
Read more...
The first time I came across marzipan pigs was in a Berlin department store, the Galeria Kaufhof...
Read more...
A SPIDER IN MY CUP/ THE CURE - LULLABY 12”
In conversation I sometimes start a story by saying, 'When I was a goth...'
Read more...
In conversation I sometimes start a story by saying, 'When I was a goth...'
Read more...
PEREC’S CAT/ LIFE A USER’S MANUAL
My favourite-ever author photograph is Georges Perec with a black cat on his shoulder...
Read more...
My favourite-ever author photograph is Georges Perec with a black cat on his shoulder...
Read more...
LASSIE COME HOME/ Collie ‘Perfect Companion’ Pullover
One of my aims with Gentle and Fierce was to reflect on the presence of animals in everyday urban or suburban life...
Read more...
One of my aims with Gentle and Fierce was to reflect on the presence of animals in everyday urban or suburban life...
Read more...
ANIMAL CHRONICLE II/ WORLD OF STRANGE ANIMALS
By the time of the Black Summer bushfires I had been working on Gentle and Fierce for a couple of years...
Read more...
By the time of the Black Summer bushfires I had been working on Gentle and Fierce for a couple of years...
Read more...
THE CURRAGH/ ISLE OF MAN POSTCARD
For a long time all I knew about the Isle of Man, besides the fact it is a small island in the middle of the Irish Sea...
Read more...
For a long time all I knew about the Isle of Man, besides the fact it is a small island in the middle of the Irish Sea...
Read more...
FLY AWAY BIRD/ MAROUBRA MAGPIES
When I was writing 'Fly Away Bird', an essay on grief, signs and magpies, I found out plenty of things I didn't formally know about them...
Read more...
When I was writing 'Fly Away Bird', an essay on grief, signs and magpies, I found out plenty of things I didn't formally know about them...
Read more...
JUNK BUG/ TIN OF PAPERS
Much of my writing I do at my desk, but at certain points I'll take my notes or a printout outside...
Read more...
Much of my writing I do at my desk, but at certain points I'll take my notes or a printout outside...
Read more...
GENTLE AND FIERCE/ HOUSE BEAR
When I started writing the book that became 'Gentle and Fierce', I didn't know that these qualities...
Read more...
When I started writing the book that became 'Gentle and Fierce', I didn't know that these qualities...
Read more...