Helen Garner is always interesting and this Q&A is no exception. I completely agree about the festivals in smaller centres. Perhaps my favourite session ever was in Mildura with David Malouf and Chris Wallace-Crabbe in conversation. My experience with Joan Didion, though, is diametrically opposed to Helen Garner's. I tried reading her when I was in my twenties and it just didn't resonate. I picked up 'Play It As It Lays' this year, aged fifty-five, and I was deeply moved and impressed. Best of all, I am glad that Helen remains a 'bottomless pit of existential uncertainty'. That surely means we can still look forward to her magnificent writing for a while yet.