Tall And True Short Reads

Season Three: Episode 64 (12 December 2022)

Memories and Imagination is a memoir piece from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the piece: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/nonfiction/biography-memoir/memories-and-imagination

Link to my #5YearOldSelfie tweet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tallandtrue/status/1159625729455222784

Young Minds UK: https://www.youngminds.org.uk/

John Banville: http://john-banville.com/

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

• Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Fairhead/e/B086HZ36NM
• Apple Books:     https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-fairhead/id1436773436
• Rakuten Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/au/en/author/robert-fairhead

Episode Insight

I wrote Memories and Imagination in August 2019, inspired by the hashtag #5YearOldSelfie challenge on social media. And the “Memory is imagination, and imagination is memory” quote by Irish author John Banville, whose 2005 Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sea, I’d just read.

As I admitted in the piece, I invoked a writer’s licence for the challenge. For a start, I didn’t “tag three friends to help spread the love” on social media. And in the photo posted, I was closer to four than five. But unlike my son and his generation, born and raised in the digital age, I don’t have hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of photos of the younger me.

The three things I told the child in the photo, however, were from the heart:

• Don’t cry, you’re not the only one in the world whose parents have separated.
• Tomatoes and peas aren’t that yucky, but you’re right about Brussels sprouts.
• And save up your pocket money and buy Apple shares.

And sorry, Mum, I didn’t imagine the guinea pig. I remember having one when I was five.

I hope you enjoyed my memories and imagination. You can read this memoir piece and all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections, including my latest collection, Twelve More Furious Months, from the Amazon Kindle and Kobo online bookstores — links are available in the show notes.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will be in your podcast feed shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from Seasons One, Two and Three.

And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite app — doing so helps other listeners find my writing.

You can support this podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.

And finally, please tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

• Slow Clock Ticking: https://freesound.org/people/Julien%20Matthey/sounds/457651/

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads is produced using Audacity.

Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.

Acast Podcast Supporter Page

Support this show https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.