Cirrus@Austlit

'David Walsh - the creator of The Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Hobart - is both a giant and an enigma in the Australian art world. A millionaire who made his wealth gambling, he has turned a wild vision into a unique and bizarre reality, he is in turns controversial, mysterious and idolised. A Bone of Fact is his utterly unconventional, incredibly absorbing and brilliantly surprising memoir, about which he says:

'Stanislaw Lem, noted Polish science fiction author and notorious smartarse, once told an American colleague that his new collection of short stories would be published in a paper bag. This conjured a mental picture of the stories being selected by lucky dip. The idea that my life story could be told that way, without a disabling manifesto, is appealing.

'Unfortunately Mr Lem had actually said 'paperback' (his meaning concealed underneath his thick accent), a wholly ordinary practice to deliver extraordinary stories. My story lacks Mr Lem's magical reality and philosophy, and it also lacks a paper bag.~

'One friend who perused an early manuscript of A Bone of Fact suggested I consign it to a garbage can, and I like the idea. The idea of a vignette popping out every time you depress the foot-pedal is a good one. So if you are reading this after it having popped out of the trash I'm probably paying royalties.'

(Publication abstract)