Culture
Books
M.L. Stedman’s achingly human epic is like an Australian Gone With The Wind
A Far-Flung Life is cut from a similar cloth from Stedman’s bestselling debut The Light Between Oceans
- by Tom Ryan
Latest
Jacinda Ardern and Booker Prize winner lead Melbourne Writers Festival line-up
The festival, which is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary, will welcome the former New Zealand prime minister as well as a number of decorated authors.
- by Kerrie O'Brien
A sharp take on parenting culture and ‘mummy politics’
Lisa Moule’s novel circles the lives of four women navigating the emotional and psychological tumult of the school playground.
- by Jessie Tu
Five books that offer a disquieting window into our possible futures
Recent works of speculative fiction collectively capture our current preoccupations with technology, climate, authoritarianism and moral uncertainty.
- by Andrew Leigh
The billionaire tech bros who think they can live forever. Seriously
Aleks Krotoski’s The Immortalists is a gory, slice-by-slice dissection of these wealthy maniacs’ obsession with the promise of eternal life. It’s like a train wreck.
- by Pat Sheil
Should we cancel the books of writers who behave badly?
If they’d had social media in the interwar years, poet Ezra Pound would have had a huge following – and he’d also have been cancelled dozens of times
- by Jane Sullivan
Two new books to help you feel better about the world
Anthology Love celebrates love in all its guises and permutations, and a debut collection whole reflects on the lasting effects of colonialism through playful poetry.
- by Thuy On
She turned her childhood sexual abuse into a bestseller. But was it her story to tell?
High-flying venture capitalist Amy Griffin wrote a memoir about the sexual abuse she endured at school – now she is being sued by a former classmate.
- by Lucy Denyer
How this ’90s grunge rocker survived the ‘chaos incarnate’ of Courtney Love and Hole
Melissa Auf der Maur played bass with Hole, dated Dave Grohl and was mentored by Billy Corgan – now she is telling her story.
- by Michael Dwyer
Opinion
WordPlay
From Sabrina Carpenter to J.Lo, when did everything get so code-coded?
Charting the rise of the suffix of the moment.
- by David Astle
Cynical vampires, gritty crime and Bob Carr’s moving memoir: 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll