UNUSUAL WORK

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 185, 4 May 1936, Page 4

UNUSUAL WORK

Interviewing Authors When Mrs. Coralie Clarke Rees went abroad six years ago- on q travelling scholarship from the University of Western Australia, it was to study drama at the London University. She did that, then married aud spent her last years in London tracking down celebrated authors to be interviewed for Australian papers. , At the Society of Women Writers luncheon last week, states the Sydney Morning Herald,” she told some of her experiences. It was two years. from, the time of her first letter till she finally met Miss Clemence Dane—in between the novelist had made a couple of trips to Hollywood, and they bad missed each other in Devon and Loudon, before they met in Miss Danes fiat in Covent Garden Market. During the whole time they had been writing each other courteous letters. Among the celebrities Mrs. Rees interviewed were George Bernard Shaw —who talks all the time, but no so seintillatingly as he writes, and makes very practical reference to the money question; Mrs. Naomi Mitchison, who is the mother of six children as well as a noted novelist and political writer; and Hugh Walpole, captured in his home in the Cumberland Fells; James Joyce, in Paris, was seen, but Mrs. Rees had to promise not to use him as “copy.” The room of his flat is shuttered, and he is so blind that he could not distinguish his visitor’s features. He was most interested in Australia, and Mrs. Rees supplied him with details of steamship fares and so forth. He remembered tasting tirined kanga-roo-tail soup in Zurich, but did not like it very much. TT -. , Mrs Rees interviewed Henry Handel Richajdson (Mrs. J. C. Robertson) in her home at Regent’s Park, where the room in which she works is shut off with a heavy green baize door. The Australian novelist is tall and quietmannered, very reserved, with small hands and feet. ' She smoked incessantly during the-whole interview, and Mrs. Rees noted on her- desk a large collection of well-sharpened pencils. Henry Handel Richardson writes slowly and laboriously—“ The Fortunes of Richard Mahony” took over 20 years to complete. Alice Grant Rosman has probably made more money than any other Australian novelist —she is a best seller in America, and her novels are eagerly bargained for In serial form. She and her sister give marvellous parties in their Bloomsbury flat, where Miss Alice Rosman’s black cat, Sammy, is king. Whenever Miss Rosman goes out at night she always leaves the electric light and wireless on for Sammy, who seems to -appreciate ■ political speeches more (han anything else. Another remarkable Australian interviewed by Mrs. Rees was Miss Helen Simpson, who, in private life, is Mrs. Denis Browne. She was the only celebrity to invite the interviewer to lunch, although others offered tea or a cigarette.

“It was a very good lunch,” said Mrs. Rees, “as Miss Simpson is au expert on cookery as well as an expert on witchcraft. She possesses amazing energy, and as well as reading the daily newspapers in five languages, she does a great deal of cas.ua 1 journalism, is always broadcasting, and most of her novels entail much research work. She usually collaborates with her great friend, Miss Clemence Dane, for her lighter novels. Withal she is a very good mother. Mrs. Mary’Grant Bruce, author of the well-known series of “Billabong” books for boys'and girls, believes in the power of inspiration, and recalled a vision in which several of the Billabong characters insisted that she write another book about them.