What are words worth?

Words and phrases change their meaning over time, sometimes because they’re so widely misused – like ‘beg the question’ or ‘disinterested v uninterested’ that the original sense is forgotten.

Australia’s crumbling castle

Australian networks used to produce iconic shows like The Castle, but the amount and quality of home-grown Australian focused drama on our screens is dwindling, according to a new report from QUT.

Lives of girls and women

Alice Munro, who has died at the age of 92, was one of the world’s most beloved writers of tender, insightful short stories, a Nobel Prize winner, and a Canadian national treasure.

Simple twist of fate

While our ‘fate’ is often seen as determined by inevitable events, a higher power or circumstances beyond our control, our fate is largely in our own hands and determined by our actions, choices and character.

Things fell apart

Social media continually bombards us with piecemeal fragments of a selectively curated approximation of something that passes for reality, stoking division and angst.

Only the astronauts

Adrift in outer space, a motley crew of human-made objects tell their tales, making real history a little sweeter and stranger, in the new collection of short stories by Ceridwen Dovey.

In praise of Paul Auster

The passing of Brooklyn novelist Paul Auster, who burst onto the literary scene with his ‘New York Trilogy’ in 1987, will sadden lovers of fine writing around the world.

Reality Bites at 30

Here’s something to make you feel old, the Generation X classic Reality Bites has turned thirty years old. The good news is that the film stands up and is as much fun as ever.

Not in my name

The appalling events in Bondi Junction have given us all pause for thought in recent days, in a world where such horrors are all too common.

The year the music died

While megastars can still draw large crowds, other bands have struggled to find a live audience after the pandemic, spurring the Federal Government to launch an inquiry into Australia’s live music industry just two days before Splendour in the Grass was cancelled.

The pen is mightier than the knife

Knife attacks are in the news after the murderous assault in Bondi Junction and the terrorist stabbing of a Bishop in Sydney, and a new book by Salman Rushdie reflects on his own survival from a terrorist knife attack in 2022 while he delivered a lecture on freedom of speech.

The silent truth

Conflict has marred the whole of human history, but the hope for peace is everlasting in the human imagination. In a world riven by war from Ukraine to Israel, Yemen to Mayanmar, we should all remember our common humanity and the healing power of art.