ESSAYS and FEATURES
I have had the joy of writing many features and essays, at one time six years of a column for A2 at The Age, then regular contributions to The Saturday Paper. There is a special thrill when I get a brief for a subject I don’t know much about, such as Victorian-era fashion, and delve into research, interviewing and then putting what I’ve learned on the page. I can find only about a third of my Age columns online or free to view, but here they are. Details of others are in my publishing history.
Profile of violinist Ilya Gringolts and the program with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Feb 2023
Interview with composer Samuel Adams for the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ‘Americans’ program, November 2022
Q&A The Influence column, Paul Selwyn Norton, artistic director, dancer, choreographer, for The Saturday Paper, July 2022.
‘Elements‘, an essay for Meanjin, 2021. Behind a paywall.
In late 2020 I began a new fortnightly column, interviewing artists on their works in progress. NB: The Saturday Paper has a paywall after viewing three articles in a week.
Q&A The Influence column, Ben Lee, musician, for The Saturday Paper, July 2022.
Q&A The Influence column, Robert Lukins, novelist, for The Saturday Paper, Feb 2022.
Interview with Gabriela Lena Frank, composer, for ACO program notes, Feb 2022.
Q&A The Influence column, Alice Cummins, dancer, choreographer and somatic practitioner, for The Saturday Paper, Feb 2022.
Angela Tiatia, visual installation artist, for The Saturday Paper, Jan 2022.
David Hallberg, ballet dancer and artistic director of The Australian Ballet, for The Saturday Paper, Jan 2022.
Emma Donovan, singer and musician, for The Saturday Paper, Dec 2021.
Amrita Hepi, dancer and visual artist, for The Saturday Paper, Nov 2021.
Stephen Dupont, photographer, for The Saturday Paper, Nov 2021.
Jo Lloyd, dancer and choreographer, for The Saturday Paper, Oct 2021.
Charlotte Wood, novelist and author, for The Saturday Paper, Oct 2021.
Robynne Murphy, filmmaker and activist, for The Saturday Paper, Sept 2021.
Damiano Bertoli, artist, for The Saturday Paper, Sept 2021.
Marco Fusinato, artist, for The Saturday Paper, Aug 2021.
Mitch Cairns, artist, for The Saturday Paper, Aug 2021.
Andrew Ford, composer, author and broadcaster, July 2021.
Luminous women of the baroque, program essay for Baroque Revelry concert by The Australian Chamber Orchestra, August 2021. Link is for the concert website, with link to download the program a way down; my essay begins on page 18.
Q&A The Influence column, Amanda Lohrey, novelist and winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, for The Saturday Paper, July 2021
Q&A The Influence column, Constantine Costi, opera and theatre director, for The Saturday Paper, July 2021
Q&A The Influence column, Alexander Briger, orchestral conductor, for The Saturday Paper, June 2021
Q&A The Influence column, Bryony Anderson, puppetmaker and artist, for The Saturday Paper, June 2021
Q&A The Influence column, Lynette Wallworth, visual artist, for The Saturday Paper, June 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Toni Jordan, novelist, for The Saturday Paper, May 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Ling Ang, visual artist, for The Saturday Paper, April 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Ben Salter, musician and composer, for The Saturday Paper, March 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Rhoda Roberts, artist, actor, activist, community leader, arts director, for The Saturday Paper, April 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Ursula Dubosarsky, children’s author, for The Saturday Paper, March 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Dan Golding, composer, academic, journalist and radio presenter, for The Saturday Paper, Feb 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Nardi Simpson, novelist and musician, for The Saturday Paper, Feb 2021
Q&A In Progress column, Liza Lim, composer and teacher and writer, for The Saturday Paper, Jan 2021
Q&A In Progess column, Garth Nix, author, for The Saturday Paper, Dec 2020
Q&A In Progress column, Kate Mulvany, actor and playwright, for The Saturday Paper, Dec 2020
Profile of Richard Tognetti, violinist and Artistic Director of Australian Chamber Orchestra, for ABC, June 2020
Profile of violinist Satu Vanska from Australian Chamber Orchestra, for The Saturday Paper, September 2019
Excerpt from a memoir essay, Clinging. Dumbo Feather online magazine August 2019. Longer version first published in Split, anthology (Ventura Press), 2019
Interview with singer Lior for the Australian Chamber Orchestra program, August 2019.
Review of Nicola Redhouse memoir, Unlike the Heart, for The Saturday Paper, March 2019
Profile of Angelica Mesiti, video installation artist, for The Saturday Paper, April 2019
Profile of Shaun Parker, choreographer and dancer, for The Saturday Paper 2020
Profile of Satu Vanska, principal violin with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, for The Saturday Paper, 2020
Profile of Yvette Coppersmith, visual artist and winner of the Archibald Prize, 2018
Profile of Diane Busuttil, choreographer and dancer, June 2018
Guest blog on what I’m currently reading, for Meanjin literary journal, September 2018.
A letter to my young son for Mothers Day, in the era of #MeToo, for Spectrum liftout in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, May 2018
Piece about Stradivarius and ACO, April 2018, plus another long essay in the printed program.
Profile of Evelyn Ida Morris, musician and composer, for The Saturday Paper, April 2018
Portrait of John Neumeier, ballet choreographing legend, for the Saturday Paper, September 2016
Portrait of Joe Scotland, art studio director from London, for The Saturday Paper,
Long profile of Father John Misty, a.k.a. Joshual Tilman, musician, for The Saturday Paper, April 2016
Profile of Simon Phillips and Carolyn Burns, theatre director and writer, The Saturday Paper, April 2016
Profile of Daniel Crooks, visual artist, The Saturday Paper, March 2016
Essay, ‘A Child’s Right to a Good Earth’, for Right Now (human rights organisation), November 2015
Profile of Mary Coustas, artist and mother, The Saturday Paper, November 2015
Profile of Richard Mosse, installation artist, The Saturday Paper, October 2015
Profile of Ally Warren, bird of paradise, The Saturday Paper, June 2015
Profile of Glyn Johns, sound engineer, The Saturday Paper, April 2015
Excerpt from ‘Mothersight’, a personal essay in Mothermorphosis (MUP), an anthology of memoir essays about motherhood, 2015. Here published in Fairfax’s DailyLife section.
Op-ed about women and footballers, News.com.au, April 2015
A writing exercise, for Writers Victoria, March 2015
Profile of Sir Andrew Davis, conductor, The Saturday Paper, March 2015
Op-ed about drugs, second chances, and Bali 9 men facing execution, for News.com.au, Jan 2015
Op-ed about Malcolm Turnbull, The Saturday Paper, December 2014
Profile of Daniel Andrews, Labour leader, The Saturday Paper, November 2014
Profile of Angus Sampson, actor, The Saturday Paper, November 2014
Profile of Craig Wiese, The Saturday Paper, September 3014
Profile of Robyn Archer, talent, for The Saturday Paper, June 2014
Profile of Dan Sultan, musician, for The Saturday Paper, July 2014
Profile of Vanessa Cross, paramedic, for The Saturday Paper, May 2014
Profile of comedian Greg Fleet, for The Saturday Paper, March 2014.
An essay on writing sex/erotica, in Talking Books e-anthology, published by Xoum, March 2013. Originally appeared as an article in Newswrite, the NSW Writers Centre newsletter.
Luna Park 100 years, an article about the place and its place in my life, The Age, December 2012
Op-ed in Fairfax (the Age) about political rhetoric and how inane it is, August 2012
‘My favourite novel’ for the Weekend Australian‘s Review, August 2012
An op-ed piece for the Fairfax papers series on drug decriminalisation, June 2012, published in Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
A piece from a few years ago, on how I write, for editorial company The Fine Line (UK). A cardio sprint on a tightrope.
Not really an essay, but a guest blog on the subject of writing, for Kill Your Darlings journal, December 2011
‘After the Words’, reflections on memoir writing during and after publication, in Griffith Review edition ‘Such is Life’, August 2011.
A memoir piece that appeared in Madison magazine, about a relationship that changed me: Jack, who also appears in The Romantic. August 2011.
Sex Work and Feminism, in Meanjin, March 2011. A look at the ways various schools of feminism treat the issue of sex work, and how sex workers themselves see their profession.
‘A Forest Lament‘, in The Age 2010, about logging of old-growth forests in eastern Victoria. Here it’s on the website of Environment East Gippsland, an organisation I worked with closely while writing this piece, which is one I am proud of, as forest conservation is one of the more important parts of environmental husbandry and one that is not well understood by most people.
‘Cry of the Vanquished‘, in The Age 2008, about Euripides’ Women of Troy.
‘Victorian Secrets‘, in The Age 2008, about an exhibition of 19th century women’s fashion.
Interview with author Kathleen Stewart, author of The After Life.
‘History of pleasure and pain‘, in The Age 2008, about an exhibition on drugs and their social history.
‘An age-old myth reawakens‘, in The Age 2007, about a production at The Malt House Theatre about Sleeping Beauty.
‘Sticky Business‘, in The Australian 2007, about writing erotica and sexy scenes.
International Whores Day, for Scarlet Alliance website 2007. A feature about the sex worker pride movement and their annual parade in Sydney.
‘Gardening? Not in my backyard,’ in The Age (for some reason this link goes to someone who re-published it online).
‘Don Quixote in Shanghai’ is a short memoir piece about my four months in Shanghai, which appears in the the Griffith Review Annual Fiction Edition 2010.
Big Ideas feature on drug debate and legalisation in Crikey.com, Nov 2010
BOOK REVIEWS
I love writing book reviews — it’s at once a brisk and business like thing, and one which requires consideration and epiphany and leaving the book alone after reading while things sink in. It’s never justice to sum up a book in 600 or 900 words, it’s always an insult of a kind, but for a writer it’s a great challenge.
Again, these are the ones I can find online. Most of these were written for The Age and Australian Book Review.
Unlike the Heart, Nicola Redhouse, The Saturday Paper, March 2019
A Loving, Faithful Animal, by Josephine Rowe, Australian Book Review, July 2016
You Feel So Mortal by Peggy Shinner, Weekend Australian, Sept 2014
The Empress Lover by Linda Jaivin, in Australian Book Review, April 2014
What I didn’t expect (when I was expecting) by Monica Dux and Welcome to your new life by Anna Goldsworthy, in Weekend Australian, April 2013
The Conversation by David Brooks, in The Weekend Australian, 10th Nov 2012
The Memory of Salt by Alice Melike Ulgezer
‘Our Kind of People: Thoughts on HIV/AIDS’ by Uzodinma Iweala
‘Melbourne’ by Sophie Cunningham
‘Sex and Stravinsky’ by Barbara Trapido
‘The Inconvenient Child’ a memoir by Sharyn Killens
‘Iran: My Grandfather’ by Ali Alizadeh.
‘My Dirty Shiny Life’ by Lily Bragge
‘Love Machine’ by Clinton Caward
‘Smoke in the Room’ by Emily Maguire
‘Figurehead’ by Patrick Allington and ‘Document Z’ by Andrew Croome
‘Heavy Allies’ by Wayne Grogan
‘The Porn Report’ by Catherine Lumby, Katherine Albury and Allan McKee
‘The Scandal of the Season’ by Sophie Gee
Kate Holden 
Hi Kate,
How are things? I was just putting you on my “women who rock” and In My Skin on my “books you should read” board on pinterest (quite a fun way to waste time) and wondered what you were up to. I’m so pleased to have found your site. I don’t mean to sound American/gushy, but you’re such an inspiration. I thought you might like to add the piece your wrote for The Fine Line to your essays. Here’s the link if you do.
http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/cardio-sprint-on-a-tightrope/
Take care,
(Another) Kate
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Hey other Kate!
Nice to hear from you, I hope the Fine Line and all your other projects are going well. I’m doing well, just turned 40 and turning also my mind to new things. Hoping to finish a new book one of these days! (I have a few on the go, you know how it is…) But bless you, what ridiculously nice words you send.
Have I not got my Fine Line essay up on my site? I shall remedy that immediately — thank you for the link! There are few things as easy and pleasurable to write as ‘how I write’ pieces…
Lots of good wishes to you too and hope things are thriving.
Cheers
Kate
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Hey Kate,
It’s great to hear you’re doing well. Let me know when you finish a book and I’ll be straight online ordering it.
I have an interesting thing to share with you, actually. I re-read In My Skin a few weeks ago (I loved it even more than I did the first time – damn, you’re an incredible writer) and it got me thinking about the treatment sex workers receive and how unjust, to put it mildly, it is. I’ve long thought that about sex workers, but decided, instead of sitting at my desk feeling cross, I’d try and help so I’m now working with an organisation called SCOT-PEP that campaigns for sex workers’ rights in the UK. I’m so excited about it. We’re putting together a campaign to lobby Parliament because sex workers have no rights whatsoever – the only legislation in place is designed to keep them out of sight by arresting them for things like “loitering”. A member of the Scottish Parliament just proposed a bill to criminalise paying for sex because she thinks it’ll stop men going to prostitutes and, as a result, all the prostitutes will disappear, so she’s on the hit list, as it were. I’ll keep you updated.
Stay well!
Kate
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Hi Kate,
Hah, that’s so strange, I didn’t get to check these messages on my website moderator queue for a while, but just earlier today I came across your blog entry about the SCOT-PEP group and your feelings about sex work, and was all impressed, and then I realised it was you! Well, how terrific and I AM very impressed. You’re much more active than I am! Good on you – and I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments in your blog post. The Swedish Model really does nothing to achieve its ostensible aims. But it’s so impressive that you changed your mind. I know why I changed MY mind but that was from dint of hard experience!
I hope the sex worker community appreciates your efforts and you’re having fun with all the amazing people in that world. And the editing world too. Do let me know!
Cheers
Kate
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Hi Kate! I thought I’d let you know about some sex worker rights campaigning I’ve been doing. Rhoda Grant, a Scottish politician, wants to criminalise the purchase of sex and has a bill proposal under consultation so people can contact her in favour or opposition to it. I sent her a fairly lengthy submission with lots of evidence and such opposing the bill, then did a blog post on the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/kate-l-gould/why-im-opposed-to-crimina_b_2233755.html
SCOT-PEP were really pleased with the submission I did to Rhoda and they wrote a brilliant submission, along with other sex work heavyweights, so, hopefully, the bill won’t come to be. Rhoda is clearly thick as mince and moral with it which makes for quite a dangerous combination if people are going to accept what she says instead of questioning it.
I hope you’re well. I’m reading In My Skin and The Romantic for the third time just now – I love them more every time I do. Have you got any more coming out?
Kate x
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Hi Kate!
Lovely to hear from you again. Sorry, got a bit distracted by Christmas and summer…. but that’s great. I’m so impressed with your activism — makes me feel like a slacker. But sex workers really really need people from inside the industry and out to resist bad laws and support good ones — so not just good on you, but thanks!
You’re reading them for the THIRD TIME? Woman, you need to get out more! But I am very flattered.
Thanks Kate. You’re inspiring.
xxxxxxx K
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