Latest articles

David Walsh interview (Time Out)

Just putting this up because I notice it’s one of four articles of mine (I probably wrote 400 in the four years I was editor) that survived a Time Out website overhaul.

Having applied the concept of “having an edge” to gambling and art alike, Walsh has now done the same with the format of the memoir. Each chapter is a late-night dinner party debate that gets the synapses firing – but the sort of dinner party that guarantees somebody will storm out. Sometimes David Walsh, aged 20, will talk to David Walsh, aged 50 and David Walsh, aged 80. Occasionally he’ll muse over the publishing process of Pan Macmillan in real time. (Apparently there’s an editor there who is refusing to work with him because he is “sexist”.) Then there are the hypnagogic ideas – theories streaking across his train of thought like meteors.

Books

Everything Harder Than Everyone Else

When Jenny Valentish wrote a memoir about addiction in 2017, she noticed that people who treated drug-taking like an Olympic sport would often hurl themselves into a pursuit like marathon running upon giving up. What stayed constant was the need to push their boundaries.

Woman of Substances

Journalist Jenny Valentish investigates the female experience of drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Her travels around Australia take her to treatment facilities and AA groups. Mining the expertise of 30 leading researchers, she explores the early predictors of addiction, such as childhood trauma and temperament, and teenage impulsivity.

Cherry Bomb

Word is The Dolls got their record deal through nepotism, but if it wasn’t for Nina sleeping with the right people they wouldn’t be anywhere at all. Now her aunt’s career is threatening to take off again and eclipse her own, and nobody likes her new material. A stretch in rehab’s starting to look like a good career move.

Services

Workshops + Teaching

“Jenny Valentish teaches her craft with the same real world insights and fearless wit that makes her writing so compelling” — Michael Dwyer, journalism lecturer, Australian College of the Arts College of the Arts.

Manuscript Assessment + Coaching

“Jenny gave me so much clarity and an incredible amount of direction that I had lost along the way – too overwhelmed by a project 10 years in the making” – Mel Bampton, Triple J

Media Training

“The media training Jenny provided for my artist was extremely beneficial and made a massive difference in my artist’s ability to engage with media in a relaxed and personable manner” – Nate Flagrant, Flagrant Artist Management

Talks + Panel Moderation

“She’s smart and experienced, a terrific listener and an excellent speaker: Jenny Valentish is a talented writer who understands how to deliver quality for festival audiences” – Rosemary Sorensen, director, Bendigo Writers Festival