Author: maximos62

This image is from December 1965. I was 18 years old, in this photograph. I've written about the Vietnam War era in two of my books: Seen and unseen: a century of stories from Asia and the Pacific, and Beyond Borders: conversations across boundaries. The most recent, Beyond Borders: conversations across boundaries, has a story, … Continue reading Writing About the Vietnam War Era

All artwork by Aurélie Charmeau My April readings are:  4 April     A Forest Encounter11 April     Bunga's Family18 April    An Invitation25 April The Honey Harvest Zoom details:Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, 07:30 PM  UK 9.30 am Central European Time 11.30am Athens 12.30am Jakarta 4.30pm Singapore 5.30pm https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7288045094Meeting ID: 728 804 5094 The Story These readings are chapters from a … Continue reading Story Readings in April

My March readings are:  7 March     Made in Japan14 March     Magic Polygamy and Triangles21 March     First Landfall28 March An Unusual Kind of Thunder Zoom details:Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney 07:30 PM  UK8.30 am Central European Time 9.30am Athens 10.30am Jakarta 3.30pm Singapore 4.30pm Brisbane 6.30pm  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7288045094Meeting ID: 728 804 5094 A brief review of stories  7 March     Made … Continue reading Story Readings in March

This month I'll be reading four stories. The images illustrate themes from these stories: Monday 7  Kampanye - The Campaign Procession The Campaign Procession opens in Sydney, at the height of the paranoia that typified the Howard era. Then the differences between Australia and Indonesia were amplified through fear propagated by the Australia’s mainstream news media. … Continue reading Story Readings in February

Mentawai Islands Siberut: languages and catchments Land Use Map Mentawai A sjhort segment from the story Accustomed as I was to the wide Mahakam River, journeying up the Rereiket River from Muara Siberut to Rokdok village was more like travelling up a mining sluice. It was a raging turbid torrent of sediments and tree trunks … Continue reading Siberut and the Simple Life

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Kenyah Dayak grandmother from Rukun Damai. Mahakam River, East Kalimantan 1989. (Go directly to the readings for February) During this time of pandemic many people have been isolated, confronting numerous problems. Some have lost loved ones, or like me were separated from them by great distances, others endured the challenge of separation imposed by state … Continue reading Readings for January 2022

My apartment block in Singapore The spice seller In my latest book Beyond Borders: conversations across boundaries, there is a suite three stories about Timor L’Este. Some elements in these stories are a little confronting. In the interests of relieving the tension for readers so once readers I decided to use a light tone for … Continue reading ‘Going Down’ & ‘Garam Masala’

A peatland fire My next zoom reading is from my story Memories of Fires Past. This story was inspired by three events. An encounter with the fires of 2003 that surrounded and enveloped part of Australia's capital city, Canberra. Travelling to Riau Province, Indonesia with a group of people from the Singapore based environmental group … Continue reading Memories of Fires Past