The Big Issue | Vin Maskell

Browsing All Posts filed under »The Big Issue«

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 […]

Tree Change (preview)

October 21, 2016

My latest Big Issue story is an 800-worder called Tree Change. And, no, it’s not about moving to a rural idyll.

The Do It Yourself Postal Service

September 26, 2016

This story was first published in The Big Issue # 518, 12-25 August 2016. My mate Paul and I have started a new postal service. An exclusive, boutique service. We have a catchment area of four linear kilometres and a clientele of two. There are no premium rates. No sorting of letters in faraway […]

The DIY Postal Service (preview)

August 15, 2016

The Big Issue has just published a story about letter-writing, and friendship, and delivering your own hand-written letters on your own bike. I have a postie’s bike, but not in good working order. Salvaged from a skip, it’s a rusted machine with a cracked leather seat, flat tyres and a chain that won’t budge. Still, […]

Between a rock and a rifle range

February 23, 2016

‘The foreshore is bleak and desolate with a beauty not at once obvious…’ The Age, 1990 I am sitting on a rock 300 metres from shore. The tide is out. The rock protrudes from the water. Behind me is Port Phillip Bay and beyond that, well beyond, is Bass Strait and then Tasmania. Ahead of […]