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The South Coast Writers Festival 2023

In a talk titled One Act, this was the way two memoirists from Coeldale were billed: ‘Anne Howell and Rachael Mogan McIntosh have lived through interesting times. Anne woke up in hospital from a coma to find she had no memory of her adult life. Rachel moved her husband and eccentric young family to regional France to live for a year. Simon Luckhurst (author and producer of the Ear Movies podcast) interviews Anne and Rachel to find out more about their experiences, the lessons they learned, and why they decided to write the story of one specific life event.’

All That I Forgot was released on November 1, 2022. The first launch took place at Collins Books, Thirroul on November 4, 2022. I was introduced by my friend Annie McNamara, former head of the South Coast Writers Centre and Book Club guru.

Exterior Collins Booksellers THirroul where All That I Forgot had its first launch and before Christmass 2022 came in third in the bestseller list.
Friends and readers gathered at Thirroul Books on November 4 to help me launch my memoir All That I Forgot. Over to the right is Annie McNamara, former head of the South Coast Writers Centre, book club guru and my neighbour of 15 years.
Friends and prospective readers gathered to my first launch. These include artist Derek Kreckler in the back row, musician Mel Wishheart, Judy Burke, artist Lesley Goldachre, and in the front Row artist Kendal Heyes and marketer and former colleague/friend Joan Martin.
Author of All That I Forgot and ex-journalist Anne Howell speaking about writing All That I Forgot her amnesia about waking from a coma with retrograde amnesia
Explaining the finer details of what its like waking from a coma with your autobiographical memory erased, and also some concepts gone too.
Crowd shot featuring Kendal Heyes front centre, whose photographic image from his SCreen Memories series is featured on the cover of Anne Howe'll's memoir All That I Forgot
Champers anyone? Kendal Heyes helping to celebrate a memoir that he workedon hard behind the scenes in Anne Howell's editing team.
Stuart and artist Moira Kirkwood among the many supporters at the inaugural book launch of All That I Forgot, Anne Howell's amnesia memoir.
Author Anne Howell and artist Mai Nguyen-Long at Collins Books THirroul at the first launch of Howell's memoir, All That I Forgot.
Anne Howell signing at the Collins Books Thirroul launch held on November 4, 2022, a warm and fun Friday night.
Not bad making it to the number three on the Thirroul Collins Booksellers bestseller list in the period leading up to Christmas 2022. Happy Christmas to my debut memoir.
Top ten bestsellers leading up to Xmas at Collins Books THirroul.

The first Sydney launch of All That I Forgot was held at Gleebooks, Glebe on November 10, 2022. I spoke with author Professor Cathy Lumby. Writer and artist, George Alexander read out selected passages from the book. I was introduced by Samantha Miles co-founder of Bad Apple Press, my publisher. Thanks to artist Mai Nguyen-Long for the photographs.

Samantha Miles from Bad Apple Press gave the opening speech at Gleebooks, Glebe where Anne Howell's memoir, All That I Forgot, was launched on November 10, 2022.
Anne Howell with her opening remarks at the Gleebooks, Glebe launch of her amnesia memoir, All That I Forgot.
Professor Catharine Lumby is an Australian academic, author and journalist, currently Chair of the Department of Media and Communication at University of Sydney Prior to Lumby's move to academia, she was a feature writer and columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, a news writer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and a columnist and senior writer at The Bulletin. She was the foundation Chair of the Media and Communications Department at the University of Sydney (1999-2007) and the foundation Director of the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (2008-2013). She joined Macquarie University in 2013 as Professor of Media. Since 2004 she has been a pro bono gender adviser to the National Rugby League (NRL). In 2017 she almost resigned from the role, stating that she was disappointed by the lack of off-field behaviour change of NRL players towards women and that it highlighted continued disrespect. In 2013 Lumby was appointed by Tony Burke, Minister for the Arts, to the Council of the National Museum of Australia. She was re-appointed for a further three-year term in May 2016. Lumby wrote the foreword to End Rape on Campus Australia's report, Connecting the dots: Understanding sexual assault in university communities, submitted to the Australian Human Rights Commission in January 2017. Lumby is a contributor to The Guardian on gender issues. She is a Member of the Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Cultural Studies and the Feminist Media Studies journal.
Formr Sydney Morning Herald journalist Anne Howell with the microphone at Gleebooks Glebe. This event marked the launch of her amnesia memoir, All That I Forgot.
George Alexander By birth an Australian, by heritage mixed Greek-Italian, George Alexander grew up in the working class Sydney suburb of Botany in a family that spoke five languages. He studied Italian at the University of Sydney before dropping out to travel Europe. He has worked in academia and was a coordinator of contemporary art programs at the Art Gallery of NSW for fourteen years. His books include The Book of the Dead (1985), Sparagmos (1989), Mortal Divide (1997), which won a NSW Premier’s Literary Award, and Slow Burn (2009). A novel which mixes fiction and biography, imagination and memory, Mortal Divide is one of the great works on the relationship between migration and identity in Australian literature. First published in 1997, Giramondo is proud to release the book in a new edition, with illustrations by Peter Lyssiotis.
Daniel Silver and Jessica Xavier have flown up from Tasmania to join Anne Howell at the launch of her memoir, All That I Forgot, at Gleebooks, Gleeb on November 10th 2022.
Artist Laurens Tan, Kendal Heyes and friend graphic designer, Barbara M.
Anne Howel''s high school English teacher from the Australian INdependent International School, writer Peter Neale. He is with visual artist and Anne Howell's child-hood friend, half-Indian Mahalya Middlemist.
Visual artist Mai Nguyen-Long, who recently exhibited two bodies of work at the Berlin Biennale, meets singer and performer Eliane Morel.
Senior journalist for The Australian newspaper, Natasha Robinson attends Anne Howell's Gleebooks launch with the Garmons.
Eliane Morel and photographer Andrew Worssam. Andrew Worssam's photograph of Anne Howell's head scars has now appeared in The Daily Mail, the Weekend Australian and more media outlets.
Visual artists Laurens Tan and Kendal Heyes. Friends and fellow Illawarra residents, both artists have work on the international stage.
Authors Anne Howell and Professor Cathy Lumby, at Gleebooks to launch Anne's memoir about losing her working memory for over a decade.
The book signing table, ready for proceedings to begin at the Gleebooks launch of All That I Forgot, a book published by Bad Apple Press.

All That I Forgot launched at Ditta Bartels’ home

I grew up in Mosman and it features in my memoir, All That I Forgot, many readers have remarked, in an unexpected light. My friend Ditta Bartels hosted a beautiful launch at her home in Mosman where she regularly holds events for the community including concerts, book launches and yoga classes. The audience was very receptive and asked many questions about memory and what it means to us as humans.

WRITERS’ FESTIVAL
I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP

The I Am Not Making This Up event was the inaugural writers’ festival held in the Illawarra, NSW< Australia, for non-fiction writers. I joined the wonderful Phillipa McGuinness and Caroline Baum on stage for a session about the mind and body. The event was put on by The South Coast Writers Festival, Caroline Baum and Collins Books Thirroul. It was a great talk. I loved reading Phillipa’s latest book, Skin Deep, which is jam-packed with interesting ideas and facts about human skin (on topics as diverse as race and the history of dermatology), and I highly recommend it. I found that my amnesia memoir, All That I Forgot, and her beautifully written book about skin have some unexpected things in common! Making This Up thanks to the talented photographers @ironbark_photography and @jfahy.au

I Am Not Making This Up non-fiction writing festival.

Sessions I attended included Heather Rose talking to Caroline Baum about her memoir Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here and the fascinating session with ex-homicide detective Gary Jubelin talking to crime writer Andy Muir about Jubelin’s book Badness.

Andy Muir and Gary Jubelin

All That I Forgot

Published by Bad Apple Press

What if you woke up in hospital one day thinking you were a girl aged nine, when instead you were a grown woman with a child?

What if you could not remember giving birth to that child, did not know who your supposed husband was, or even remember how to read and write?

And what if the people helping you remember were not, in fact, telling you the whole story?

In 1991, after neurosurgery, Anne Howell caught meningitis and fell into a coma. She woke with amnesia, losing her autobiographical memories, including the birth and, indeed, the existence, of her young daughter. She was told she had a husband, a happy home life, and a loving relationship with her mother, but none of these things turned out to be true. As Anne gradually recovered, she began to suspect the things some of her family and friends were telling her about herself were convenient fabrications, especially as returning memories revealed a darker version of her past than theirs.

Against this backdrop of unease and intrigue, Anne is forced not only to confront her new physical limitations but to try and work out who she really is.

Buy from Bad Apple Press