Why write?
The news is not good for writers. One of Australia’s great authors, Frank Moorhouse, is apparently going broke. He is…
The writer stripped bare
It can be hard to find gifts for a father-in-law. If he’s not into golf, footy or fishing, the choices…
Hannah Kent at Clunes Booktown Festival
Hannah Kent is one impressive 32 year old, with honours for her first book, Burial Rites, including winning the ABIA…
A winter of content has arrived for the bookish tribe
It's footy season again. Aussie Rules supporters have risen out of their summer hibernation and gathered their sashed or striped…
Fiction blurs the line between good and evil
A disabled child is killed, yet the reader finds themselves sympathising with the murderer. A family is slaughtered, but readers…
When pet names go wrong
Terms of endearment help bring people together. They are a way of displaying affection and familiarity between couples, parents, their…
We need to talk about motherhood
The ideal mother looms large in art and popular culture, from the ubiquitous image of Mary cradling Baby Jesus to…
Books as gifts – to buy or not to buy?
There is a tradition in Iceland of giving loved ones the gift of a book on Christmas Eve. Closer to…
The Lure of Shared Sadness
Sadness is something we shun. We shrink from the grieving as if their condition was contagious, and we implore the depressed…
Why we should read difficult books
There are two types of people in the world: one who loves a challenge, and one who likes nothing less…
