Conversations at Rochester Road: Carmel Bird Discusses Her Writing with Shirley Walker

The scene is the living room in Carmel Bird's Victorian cottage which,when it was first built, was in the country, among orchards and vineyards. Now part of a streetscape, it is submerged in its own riotous garden: flowering shrubs, wisteria and blue plumbago climbing over everything, and the rose 'Thérèse of Lisieux' in full bloom beside the gate. Perhaps the prolific flowering this year is a result of the breaking of the drought, the end of the EI Niño weather pattern of recent years. The conversation turns to Carmel's extensive list of publications.