Mark Rossiter

Wikipedia image entitled “The Congo River near Mossaka”

I happen to be writing a collection of stories based on a trip I made across Africa some eighteen years ago. One of the stories, ‘The River’, is about a pirogue trip up the then Zaire River (before and since, the River Congo). This is one of the world’s great rivers, flowing from the mountain ranges in the east all the way through equatorial Congo and down to the sea. And from its mouth, the river is navigable past the capital, Kinshasa, back up to Kisangani, where traffic is stopped by the Stanley Falls.

I was part of a group of young people travelling by truck across Africa and a number of us hired a pirogue, a canoe, to take us four days up-river from the town of Bumba to Kisangani. This was no ordinary canoe: two hollowed-out tree trunks roped together made a stable sleek boat, powered by one small outboard petrol engine, our home on the water and under the stars for three nights. Continue Reading »

I’ve been hankering after a new e-reader for a while and this week I made the plunge.

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I am a fan of books on war. There. I’ve said it. Actually I haven’t read many since I was about fifteen years old, but I am still partial to a browse in the Military section of the bookshop every now and then. Which might be rather strange for a committed pacifist who believes that there must always be a better alternative to sending in the soldiers. But there’s something about a war story … Continue Reading »

Advance copies of the UTS Writers’ Anthology 2009 entitled On The Side may now be available from Gleebooks. To be launched at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the anthology continues the UTS tradition of funkily wrapped fine writing at affordable prices. Enjoy yours On The Side!

With great apologies to anyone with perfect (or even approximate) pitch, below is a video of yours truly singing one of his favourite songs from a … um … 1980 … album, The Correct Use of Soap by Magazine …

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My goodness, is it that time already?

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I’ve been reading a lot recently. I just haven’t been bothered to sit down and write about how I felt. I’m doing it now. Here’s some of what I’ve read in the last six months.
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