AustLit

'This is a story about what it was like to grow up watching my mum break down — and the magical machine that opened a window to a better place.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Get Up Mum is based on the childhood memoir of author Justin Heazlewood and charts one year in the life of a 12-year old growing up in Tasmania in the early '90s.

'As a child, Justin had a hobby — obsessively capturing the voices of his family and friends on tape, including his Mum who lives with schizophrenia.

'This series is an intimate portrait of what it is like to be both a kid and a carer, and a time capsule of one family's life trying to comes to grips with mental illness in the best way they can.

'So pop in a tape and catch Justin's story, as he switches between love and loneliness, cuddles and chaos, and his quiet lament: "of all the voices Mum hears, I wish one of them could be mine."'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It’s 1992 in Burnie, Tasmania and 12-year-old Justin lives alone with his mum. When she is well, Mum is perfect. She knows he likes his carrots raw and his toast cooled, and she knows how to sooth his growing pains. But when she is sick she cries uncontrollably and never gets out of bed.

'High school is on the horizon and Justin is bursting with adolescent energy. But his mum’s mental illness hangs over him like a shadow and he feels the need to grow up fast.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Comedy series set in a Sydney advertising agency in the 1980s. Each episode reverse-engineers the behind-the-scenes work for a major Australian advertising campaign: 'Solo Man' (1986), Snack Packs (1987), and the 'Grim Reaper' AIDS awareness campaign (1987).

'Funemployed goes beyond the press releases and the hype to show what it’s really like to be a working artist in Australia. Through candid interviews, brutal honesty and lacerating wit, Justin Heazlewood (aka The Bedroom Philosopher) provides a fascinating portrait of life in Australia for artists and aspiring artists alike.

'Justin explores every dark corner of the arts. From starting out to giving up; running a business to burning out; the trappings of fame to the advantages of failure; the obstacles and opportunities.

This is a landmark book, written with the raw passion of someone with over a decade in the ‘trade’. Part confessional and part rogue self-help book, Funemployed is a wholly fascinating insight for everyone who appreciates the arts in Australia.' (Publication summary)