One of my joys in mid-life is discovering a love of gardening and plants. Over the past few years I have really embraced having green things and managed to keep most of them alive. When we moved to my current house I worked on my courtyard hedge on a regular basis, and then my elderly cat began going outside and using it for her business. She was frail and ill, and it seemed more important to give her the space. When she passed away I wanted to re-claim and re-vamp, and here it is. I cleaned everything out, trimmed hedges, planted new plants, bought these long sticks from temu and the coloured pots that are hanging off the fence and spent the past few weeks getting it spick and span. Now, every morning as I sit at my kitchen table and look outside into the courtyard, I feel so joyous and happy. And I'm so excited to see how it transforms further as all my plants bloom and grow.
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✨ "Twelve authentic and powerful stories about growing up Muslim in Australia ✨🌏
Beauty queen 👑, kickboxer 🥊, lawyer ⚖️, Rugby League star 🏉, activist ✊, writer 📝, lesbian 🌈, atheist 🚫 – the contributors to this collection show the diversity of the Muslim experience and the influence of culture, family, and gender in shaping identity. 🤔🌏These stories by known and unknown Australian Muslims peel back the stereotypes to reveal funny and touching experiences that will connect with readers. They explore body image, gender, romance, career, faith, football, friendship, and family, and the challenges of growing up in multicultural Australia. 📖✨💖 ‘Growing up Muslim in Australia is the book that will change how readers look at the world...Coloured with many shades of humor, warmth, sadness, anger, determination, and honesty, it will resonate with readers from all backgrounds and beliefs.’ Bookseller + Publisher 🌈📖 Shortlisted for the 2015 Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Award for Information Books and was selected by the Grattan Institute for the 2015 Summer Reading List for Prime Minister. 🏆📚 Teaching notes written by Amra Pajalic. Suitable to be used in the classroom to teach own voices texts and to support memoir writing. Amra Pajalić is an award-winning author, an editor and teacher who draws on her Bosnian cultural heritage and is available for talks and presentations about growing up Muslim, as well as memoir writing or writing workshops. 🗣️💬 🔗 https://www.amrapajalic.com/book-me.html 🛒 Order from your favourite bookstore and dive into these real life stories today! 📚🌟 My latest article for ABC Education sharing my experiences as a teacher about the importance of developing handwriting skills with students today and my strategies for doing this.
https://www.abc.net.au/education/it-is-important-for-students-to-develop-their-handwriting-skills/103786028 So excited to be launching my audiobook of my romance Hollywood Dreams written as Mae Archer, narrated by Sanya Simmons and James Palumbo, published in partnership with @twintalespublishing 🌟Hollywood Dreams🎬 Dreams of Destiny Series, Book 1 She’s fallen for his greatest role. But can she fall for him? 💋 🍾She’s fallen for his greatest role. But can she fall for him? Tom is a method actor living as a war hero when he falls for Maree, and realizes too late that he’s made the mistake of a lifetime. Marie meets Tom Calvert on the rebound after the man she fell in love with disappears. Will Tom Calvert be able to convince her he is the real deal? 📚🎧Hollywood Dreams, romantic suspense novel, by Mae Archer is now available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, dyslexic font, large print, and audiobook. 🕶️ Retail links: https://books2read.com/Hollywood-Dreams 📚🎧All editions purchase links: https://www.amrapajalic.com/hollywood-dreams.html Audibook links: https://books.apple.com/au/audiobook/hollywood-dreams-unabridged/id1745411545 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hollywood-dreams-mae-archer/1119714223?ean=2940192784891 https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/hollywood-dreams-9 https://www.everand.com/audiobook/730868734/Hollywood-Dreams https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/hollywood-dreams/780825 https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Hollywood-Dreams-Audiobook/B0D3N24KYY?qid=1715410274 https://open.spotify.com/show/6Y05fgF2pX3Y4W73Rv68xU https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798875130946-hollywood-dreams https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/hollywood-dreams-by-mae-archer https://www.storytel.com/tv/books/hollywood-dreams-5573477 https://www.booktopia.com.au/hollywood-dreams-mae-archer/audiobook/9798875130946.html Enjoyed a lovely High Tea event with my tiny at Overnewton Castle this afternoon for Mother's Day. Feeling all sleepy and full after a delicious spread. Here's some photos of me on the grounds and the gorgeous castle during the day.
PS Need to find a new pose. But what do I do with my hands? This week’s writing update:
Had our event for the book Growing up Muslim in Australia hosted by Bruno Lettieri, with my gorgeous friend and co-editor Demet Divaroren. Was such a beautiful atmosphere at the heritage Emerald Library and the amazing Alice Pung came to support us. So grateful for my friends and collaborators. This business can be lonely, and so having your people really helps. Finished an article commissioned by ABC Education and sent it off. So grateful to Ara Sarafin for his support in helping me develop these articles and reach deeper. Pitched another idea to The Age and have some notes from the editor to flesh out and write a draft to submit. Accepted some proofreading work and have been chipping away at it. Have handed over my crime novel to developmental editor so that’s in the background. Have been diversifying my interests and also working on my garden at home over the past few weeks and can’t wait to debut it in photos when I get the chance to put my finishing touches. I always wanted to be the sort of person who gardens and has flowers, and there is something so empowering about becoming who I want to be. So, I haven’t been working on my own fiction as much, for a number of reasons including feeling a bit under the weather, but am still slowly moving the chess pieces around for my crime fiction trilogy that I want to publish in one go. Had our event for the book Growing up Muslim in Australia hosted by Bruno Lettieri, with my gorgeous friend and co-editor Demet Divaroren. Was such a beautiful atmosphere at the heritage Emerald Library and the amazing Alice Pung came to support us. So grateful for my friends and collaborators. This business can be lonely, and so having your people really helps. Have been so privileged to have my piece St Albans read and studied by students at Ivanhoe College. I've been answering questions and created some video recordings so decided to create a page dedicated to this piece and my answers. https://www.amrapajalic.com/st-albans-piece.html Every once in a while an article pours out of me, without any work or effort, because it's been percolating for decades in my subconscious. This is one such article where I share what it's like to be a multicultural writer in the traditional publishing space and the challenges faced, in a tongue in cheek, sarcastic voice. theage.com.au/culture/books/want-to-be-a-multicultural-writer-in-our-safe-white-scene-there-are-rules-20240412-p5fjg3.html |
AuthorAmra Pajalić is an award-winning author, an editor and teacher who draws on her Bosnian cultural heritage to write own voices stories for young people, who like her, are searching to mediate their identity and take pride in their diverse culture. She writes memoir, young adult and romance under the pen name Mae Archer. Sign up and receive free books.
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