Culture
Books
This cosmic horror story is like a warning from the future
John Morrissey’s evocative speculative fiction recalls the genre’s best writers, yet it is uniquely Australian.
- by Declan Fry
Latest
‘So many stories to tell’: First Nations poet wins prestigious literary prize
The acclaimed writer’s award comes just four years after her debut collection became the first poetry collection to take home the Stella Prize.
- by Kylie Northover
“Wuthering Heights”: The strokes that changed the moors
How tiny strokes of punctuation are rebranding the moors – and our reality.
- by David Astle
Can a kindly ghost save a greedy, unrepentant oil executive in the afterlife?
In Vigil, Booker Prize-winner George Saunders asks if it is ethical to invite absolution to those responsible for the planet’s environmental decline.
- by Jack Cameron Stanton
After my parents died, people could not bear to be in the presence of an orphan
When Erin Vincent was 14, both of her parents were killed in a road accident in Western Sydney. Almost 40 years later, the number 14 began haunting her, appearing everywhere.
- by Jenny Valentish
Bob Carr on marriage, grief and finally learning how to do a load of laundry
Life became very dark for the former foreign minister after the sudden death of his beloved wife Helena.
- by Jacqueline Maley
A labour of love, this book spotlights the influence of French New Wave cinema
In this modest but ambitious book, nine Australian writers grapple with the ways in which particular French New Wave films and their creators engaged in filmmaking
- by Tom Ryan
Opinion
Literature
My husband said he’d ‘build another bookshelf’. It was the sexiest thing he ever said
Book-hoarding needs a new name. I’m going to suggest “intellectual gardening”.
- by Cherie Gilmour
From art world satire to a real-life art discovery: 10 new books
Our reviewers cast theirs over recent fiction and non-fiction releases
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
It was a love I told no one about. Years later, I received a sign
Small and seemingly ordinary, those 92 paintings stayed in my heart until, finally, I knew what to do.
- by Claire Thomas
Analysis
Sydney Writers' Festival
Caught between audiences and supporters, arts companies face an uncertain future
Sydney Writers’ Festival is caught in an intractable bind that has major consequences for ideas and talks festivals across the country.
- by Linda Morris