An invisible thread for me is the morning cobwebs. Invisible and annoying. A wrap around the face as I quickly destroy the hard work of a tiny spider, which is genetically programmed to start all over again. I once watched a spider create a classic web from beginning to end in Papua New Guinea, though not one of the famous bird-eating spider variety, just a common garden variety, it was mesmerising and I had the time. Time is what I'll find over the Christmas season for the book The Invisible Thread: One Hundred Years of Words edited by Irma Gold and containing the words of a formidable collection of writers and poets whose invisible threads of writing connect them and us all in Canberra and endorse our own belief in the literary excellence of our city. Nietzsche was right, invisible threads are the strongest ties.
To launch it we sat in the emerging art precinct that is the NewActon site and sprawled in around and under shelter from the heat in the smart deck chairs and on the platforms to hear Blanche d'Alpuget read an excerpt from her story in that sexy, cognac and cigars voice we've only ever briefly heard. She was in a rush. A quick visit for the launch and then off to the airport, but time enough to say she's well into her current project of three books about France and England in the 12th century. Felicity Packard of Underbelly scriptwriting fame was the official launcher reading a poem by Kevin Gilbert that was a perfect start to proceedings and a reminder of his exceptional talent as a writer, and just a few other tantalising pieces from Francesca Rendle-Short, Adrian Caesar and Meredith McKinney before editor Irma Gold explained the long hard yards of getting this book published.
■ social@canberratimes.com.au
