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On the beach
Alexander Howard | July 20, 2023Nevil Shute may fallen out of literary fashion but he remains one of Australia’s best and most popular writers, as a theatrical revival of his most famous book attests.
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Remembering Milan Kundera
Jen Webb | July 15, 2023The death of Milan Kundera, that remarkable novelist, essayist, poet, philosopher and fearless critic of Soviet tyranny deprives the literary world one of its brightest stars.
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Roald Dahl and the woke censor
Jason Beale | February 28, 2023Rewriting children’s books written over 40 years ago to conform to overwrought modern sensitivities is disrespectful to authors and readers alike.
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A brief history of the beach read
Julian Novitz | January 4, 2023This year’s summer reading lists – literary, historical, fantasy, thriller, and more – probably contain many novels that are “good of their kind”, regardless of their genre or cover design. And if they’re not, then you might enjoy them anyway.
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A fine romance
Beth Driscoll | October 8, 2022Romance novels seldom garner much critical interest but it remains one of the most popular genres of fiction, boasting sales which dwarf those of literary fiction.
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Sad girl chic
Charlotte Chalken | October 4, 2022Ottessa Moshfegh is to literature what Billie Eilish is to music, and both are laughing all the way to the bank.
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The COVID chronicles
Deborah Lupton | September 13, 2022Pandemics force us to face our mortality, prompting profound questions about life’s meaning. It is not surprising, therefore, that since the days of medieval plague outbreaks, infectious diseases have attracted the imagination of novelists.
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Welcome to the Italian Riviera
Hetta Howes | July 11, 2022In the depths of a cold, wet, grey Australian winter, what better way to escape than literature about one of the most beautiful areas in the world – the Italian Riviera.
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Remembering Frank Moorehouse
Julieanne Lamond | June 28, 2022Frank Moorhouse, who died in Sydney on Sunday, June 26, 2022, made a significant and multi-faceted contribution to Australia’s literary life.
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No place for books in the budget
Ben Eltham | April 5, 2022Despite the continuing popularity of reading for pleasure in Australia, the nations writers enjoy little support from the federal government.
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Hit the road, Jack
Jessica Gildersleeve | December 31, 2020American beat novelist Jack Kerouac typed out his seminal work ‘On The Road’ in just 10 days on a single roll of paper, but after a year of travel bans and lockdowns, there are plenty of other epic road trips we can take with our fingertips this year.
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A room made of leaves
Kerrie Davies | July 19, 2020The newest novel from the author of The Secret River is an imagined diary, detailing the ‘true’ story of Elizabeth Macarthur.
