On tour: David George Haskell
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Biologist David George Haskell travelled the world to explore the biological networks of different trees for his book The Song of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors (Nero). He is...
The Fictional Dimension: Bram Presser on ‘The Book of Dirt’
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Bram Presser’s The Book of Dirt (Text, September) is ‘a remarkable tale of Holocaust survival, love and genealogical sleuthing by a grandson intent on finding the truth about his grandparents’...
The Museum of Words (Georgia Blain, Scribe)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
The Museum of Words, written as Georgia Blain knew she was dying of brain cancer, will be posthumously published. Her instinct, to the end, was to find meaning by writing...
Wish You Were Here (Sheridan Jobbins, Affirm)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Driving solo along the great American highways in a Chevy Camaro, Sheridan Jobbins is not only a feminist role model, she embodies proof of life after heartbreak. Following her marriage...
Terra Nullius (Claire G Coleman, Hachette)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Part science-fiction and part old Western, Terra Nullius is an ambitious debut by the winner of the 2016 black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship, Claire G Coleman. Jacky is a ‘Native’ who...
The Choke (Sofie Laguna, A&U)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Sofie Laguna is a writer who can wrench beauty even from the horror of a child caught up in the toxic world of bastardised masculinity. Fearsome, vivid and raw, her...
The Last Days of Jeanne d’Arc (Ali Alizadeh, Giramondo)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Few historical figures have held the public imagination quite like Joan of Arc. A French heroine and Roman Catholic saint, she believed that God had chosen her to lead France...
City of Crows (Chris Womersley, Picador)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
It’s quite a change of setting from 1980s Melbourne in Chris Womersley’s previous novel Cairo to the world of magic and witchcraft in 17th-century France in City of Crows. It’s...
The Book of Dirt (Bram Presser, Text)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Three books in one, The Book of Dirt is a remarkable tale of Holocaust survival, love and genealogical sleuthing by a grandson intent on finding the truth about his grandparents’...
A Naga Odyssey: Visier’s Long Way Home (Visier Sanyu with Richard Broome, Monash University Publishing)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Nagaland is hill country straddling the region where India, China and Myanmar meet. Co-author Visier Sanyü’s family were living a fulfilling traditional life there in the village of Khonoma until...
Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek (Anthony O’Neill, Xoum)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Seven years after the death of Edward Hyde and the mysterious disappearance of Dr Henry Jekyll, the people of London are amazed to find that the brilliant scientist has returned....
Parting Words (Cass Moriarty, UQP)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
When Daniel Whittaker dies he leaves an unexpected legacy. His three middle-aged children—Evonne, Kelly and Richard—must track down and hand-deliver a series of letters to recipients they have never met....
Rain Birds (Harriet McKnight, Black Inc.)
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Set in regional Victoria, Rain Birds divides its time between two female protagonists. Pina has lived with her partner Alan in the area for years. Alan has early onset Alzheimer’s,...
The Enigmatic Mr Deakin (Judith Brett, Text)
Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Born in gold-rush Melbourne in April 1856 to parents of modest means, Alfred Deakin as a child was an avid reader and a day-dreamer. As a student at the University...
Myth and legends: Sulari Gentill Q&A
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Sulari Gentill (S D Gentill) is the author of the ‘Rowland Sinclair’ mystery series, as well as ‘The Hero Trilogy’, which retells the Iliad and the Odyssey for a YA...
Modern love: Jean Flynn on ‘Lovesick’
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Jean Flynn’s debut novel Lovesick is the first title from Xoum Publishing’s new romance imprint XO Romance. Reviewer Kat Mayo describes it as a ‘fun romantic comedy’ with a ‘modern...
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Questionable Histories of Great Australians (Ben Pobjie, Affirm Press)
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Ben Pobjie’s latest book Aussie, Aussie, Aussie continues in the same satirical vein as Error Australis: Australian history made palatable with a dose of snark and good humour. The subtitle...
Gravity Well (Melanie Joosten, Scribe)
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Thirty years ago, American astronomer Carl Sagan described a photo of our planet as a blue dot: ‘That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone...
Many voices: Jennifer Down on ‘Pulse Points’
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Jennifer Down’s first book of short stories, Pulse Points (Text), captures the lives of its characters with ‘an emotional clarity and intensity that is truly impressive,’ writes reviewer Kate McDonnell. She spoke...
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree (Shokoofeh Azar, Wild Dingo Press)
Thursday, 25 May 2017
A reimagining of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and its aftermath, Shokoofeh Azar’s The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree expertly traces the travails of a family of five during one of...
Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness (Brigid Delaney, Nero)
Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Wellmania takes on the industrial wellness complex, a billion-dollar industry that mainstreams and monetises ancient traditions for affluent consumers. Feeling depleted from decades in the fast lane, journalist Brigid Delaney...
Her (Garry Disher, Hachette)
Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Well-known crime writer Garry Disher has delivered a slower, more intimate read with Her, a novel that spans 10 years, from 1909 to 1919, set in outback Australia. Her is...
Lady of the Realm (Hoa Pham, Spinifex Press)
Monday, 22 May 2017
Lady of the Realm is the eighth book by writer and founder of Peril Magazine Hoa Pham. The novella follows the story of a young Vietnamese girl, Lien, who seeks...
The Town (Shaun Prescott, Brow Books)
Monday, 22 May 2017
Shaun Prescott’s debut novel is a story of absences, holes and disappearings. An unnamed narrator arrives in an unnamed town in the central west of New South Wales. As he...
Sunlight and Seaweed: An Argument for How to Feed, Power and Clean Up the World (Tim Flannery, Text)
Monday, 22 May 2017
It is difficult to overstate the importance of this concise, convincingly argued view of our world’s prospects for its survival and improvement over the next 33 years (ie to 2050)....
It’s Alive!: Artificial Intelligence from the Logic Piano to Killer Robots (Toby Walsh, LTUP)
Monday, 22 May 2017
The human brain performs all its wondrous tasks on a mere 20 watts of power. By contrast, the world’s most sophisticated computer, IBM’s Watson, uses 80,000 watts. Will computers ever...
Cold War Games (Harry Blutstein, Echo)
Monday, 22 May 2017
The first Olympic Games held in the Southern Hemisphere occurred in Melbourne in 1956, just as the Cold War was gaining momentum, and the same year that Soviet Russia invaded...
Pulse Points (Jennifer Down, Text)
Monday, 22 May 2017
A woman makes a pilgrimage to a forest in Japan to honour her dead brother; a group of young men are out on the prowl in suburban Australia; two siblings...
Lovesick (Jean Flynn, XO Romance)
Monday, 22 May 2017
Beth Hampson is cruising along with an okay job, sharing a flat with her sister in Melbourne and crushing on one of the doctors at work. She’s not desperate for...
The Art of Navigation (Rose Michael, UWAP)
Monday, 22 May 2017
Beginning with a wild teenage night in 1987, Rose Michael’s The Art of Navigation quickly confounds the expectations created by its Australian gothic beginning. Despite being wise beyond her years,...
