Skin in the Game: The pleasure and pain of telling true stories

StellaPrize long-listed author Sonya Voumard's Skinin the Game is original, incisive, and hugely entertaining. The daughter of a European refugee mother and ajournalist father, Voumard recounts with aplomb her passionate but questioningrelationship with journalism and the nature of the interview. There's adisastrous 1980 university encounter with Helen Garner which forms the seed forher fascination with the dynamics of the interview and culminates in herconnecting again with Garner more than three decades later to work out whatwent so wrong. There are the insights of a career played out against the changing nature ofjournalism including the author's time as a Canberra correspondent. And thereare revealing and tender portraits of Kings Cross, of growing up in suburbanMelbourne, her father's love of journalism, and a family journey to theBonegilla Migrant Reception Centre where her mother's Australian life began. Throughoutit all Voumard is a sharpshooter, never afraid to hold a mirror up to her ownlife and practices as a journalist, to dig deep into the ethics of journalismand the use of power, and to sensitively explore the intertwined nature of lifeand work and personal relationships. The writing is at turns sharp, funny,direct, strong, and affectionate. 'I've immense admiration for howSonya Voumard so deftly wields a writer's scalpel, both on her subjects andherself. Together, these dispatches provide a fascinating insider's account ofAustralian journalism and a forensic look into the myriad pitfalls involved intelling people's stories.' - Benjamin Law, author of The Family Law and Gaysia