The Big Issue | Vin Maskell

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The Final Quarter

September 24, 2018

Here, in full, is The Final Quarter, first published in The Big Issue (#570, 7 – 20 September 2018). Your local vendor may still have some back issues. (So to speak.) Leonard Cohen probably never kicked an Australian Rules football but I know what he meant when he sang “I ache in the places […]

The Final Quarter (preview)

September 9, 2018

It’s been a while since I’ve written for The Big Issue Australia. The Final Quarter is another footy story but it quotes Leonard Cohen at the start: “I ache in the places where I used to play”. Find your local vendor and ask for the latest edition, # 570. Cheers

Down the Garden Path (preview)

September 23, 2017

The Big Issue has just published Down the Garden Path. Here’s how it starts: My neighbor pulls up as I’m standing in my front yard looking, again, at all the weeds, wondering where on earth to start. “What’s the plan?” he asks cheerily, closing his car door. “Oh, there’s no plan,” I say. “There’s never […]

Tour de Failure

July 28, 2017

Here’s the cycling story The Big Issue ran a few weeks back under the headline Tour de Flat. (#540 30 June to 13 Jul7 2017). Cheers. Flat tyres fill cyclist Vin Maskell with dread but he always gets back on his bike. Eventually. I was stranded by the roadside, about eight kilometres from home. Flat […]

Tour de Failure (preview)

July 1, 2017

Never thought I’d be in a magazine with Nicole Kidman on the cover. The latest edition of The Big Issue Australia features the Kidman story (written by Margaret Pomeranz), an interview with Ben Mendelsohn, a look at The Handmaid’s Tale – and a yarn about cycling and the existential perils of getting a flat tyre. […]

Tree Change

November 26, 2016

This story was first published in The Big Issue #523 (21 Oct – 3 Nov 2016) I’ve stopped collecting freshly-cut logs and tree stumps from nature strips. I’ve stopped pulling over a little excitedly, opening up the back of the car, hauling the wood into the boot and driving off, a little triumphantly. My back’s […]