Thursday, April 3, 2025
HomeCultureBooksNight Fishing: Stingrays, Goya and the Singular Life

Night Fishing: Stingrays, Goya and the Singular Life

Night Fishing: Stingrays, Goya and the Singular Life
Vicki Hastrich
Allen&Unwin, 2019

In a summer of catastrophic bushfires, devastating loss of life, and relentless political slyness Vicki Hastrich’s Night Fishing: Stingrays, Goya and the Singular Life is a book of solace.

Its 13 essays offer us the space to look more closely at nature and linger peacefully; the opportunity to celebrate the coast, water and creativity; the chance to disconnect from our online lives with their bombardment of bad news and apocalyptic images.

Hastrich was once a camera operator for the ABC and her roving eye guides us gently back to her childhood via the waterways of the Brisbane Water estuary, near Woy Woy on the NSW central coast. We dream with her, fish with her, grieve with her as she examines her life, her writing and the environment – stitching her localised reflections seamlessly to a wider world of art and philosophical thought.

In “From the Deep it Comes” Hastrich mourns the fact that there are almost no hidden places left in the natural world to discover, “though our requirement for the wonder they furnish goes undiminished”.

These private recesses help us survive and to create, she says. They are also where “present experience mixes with memory, and associations knit”.

Luckily Hastrich has a bolthole, and shared its bounty with us.

_______________
books@ssh.com.au

spot_img
- Advertisment -spot_img
- Advertisment -spot_img

The Player Kings: Part 1

Sport for Jove’s The Player Kings: Part 1, a reframing of Shakespeare’s historical cycle, Richard II, Henry IV (parts 1 & 2) and Henry V into a durational dramatic event, is compelling, astonishing and revelatory.

Mikelangelo shares ‘the strange magic of the world’

From the Sydney Opera House to Budapest to London’s West End, from arts festivals in Adelaide, Edinburgh and Tasmania, Mikelangelo – the “Nightingale of the Adriatic”, the “Balkan Elvis” – appeared with his new band, the Long Lost Friends, at Petersham Bowlo on March 21 and left the crowd singing, swaying and spellbound.

‘Story is a way to let world know that I have thought’

Not many young people can say that they’ve published a book before they’ve even finished high school.

Consistently good coffee, food and service

Andres, the manager at Coffee Tea & Me at 93b Redfern Street, thrives in the fast-paced environment of the café, embracing the morning rush.

The seen and unseen – art as a means of storytelling, connection and praise

Sydney-based artist Gloria Liang creates with a deep sense of purpose, seeking to capture more than just images – she aims to express the emotions, stories and faith that shape her artistic journey.

Storytelling workshops designed and led by young people

As a creative writing organisation, developing literacy-based workshops for young people is Story Factory’s bread and butter. But it’s not often that those workshops end up being designed and delivered by young people themselves ...