Untying the knots: Mark Brandi on ‘Wimmera’
27 April 2017
Mark Brandi’s debut crime novel Wimmera (Hachette, July) is a ‘languid and unsettling’ story about two boys growing up together in a small town in the 1980s. He spoke to reviewer...
Widening the frame: Briohny Doyle on ‘Adult Fantasy’
30 March 2017
Briohny Doyle blends memoir and cultural critique in Adult Fantasy (Scribe, June) to examine what it means to be an adult in a rapidly changing new millennium. Reviewer Jo Case...
Body of work: Karen Andrews on ‘On the Many Shapes Bodies Will Take’
28 February 2017
Karen Andrews’ poetry collection, On the Many Shapes Bodies Will Take (Miscellaneous Press, April), ‘tackles the course of a life with such tenderness and grace that you could be tricked...
System override: Elizabeth Tan on ‘Rubik’
28 February 2017
Elizabeth Tan’s Rubik is a novel of interconnected short stories with plotlines that explore ‘a sprawling world of shady corporations, sentient memes and hackable bodies’. The result is ‘conceptually and structurally...
A life re-examined: Jeff Sparrow on ‘No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson’
6 October 2016
Jeff Sparrow’s book on African-American singer, actor and political activist Paul Robeson combines ‘essay, journalism, history and biography to produce something engaging, original and insightful’, writes reviewer Chris Saliba. He...
Yearning potential: Lucy Durneen on ‘Wild Gestures’
27 September 2016
UK writer Lucy Durneen’s Wild Gestures debut short story collection will be published by South-Australian publisher MidnightSun in January. It is an ‘intriguing collection’ of ‘psychologically acute portraits … shaped...
Case study: Mark Tedeschi on ‘Murder at Myall Creek’
25 August 2016
Mark Tedeschi’s Murder at Myall Creek (S&S) is an account of one of Australia’s most notorious criminal cases—11 men tried for the 1848 mass murder of up to 30 Indigenous Australians in...
Ruling women: Julia Baird on ‘Victoria the Queen’
25 August 2016
Julia Baird’s ‘thoroughly contemporary’ biography of Queen Victoria explores the social evolution of ‘British society during her long reign—particularly that of the position of women’, writes reviewer Jo Case. She spoke...
Looking for a fair fight: Clementine Ford on ‘Fight Like a Girl’
28 July 2016
Clementine Ford’s debut Fight Like a Girl (A&U, October) is an examination of ‘what it means to be a girl in the world today’, fuelled by Ford’s ‘clear-eyed defiance and...
Border disputes: Meredith Jaffé on ‘The Fence’
28 July 2016
Meredith Jaffé’s examination of neighbourhood divisions in her debut The Fence (Macmillan, September) makes for an ‘engaging and satirical novel’ that ‘explores a range of topics beyond mere border patrol...
Key change: Holly Throsby on ‘Goodwood’
8 July 2016
Set around the disappearance of two people in the fictional small town of Goodwood, musician Holly Throsby’s debut novel ‘hits all the right notes’, writes reviewer Carody Culver. She spoke...
Character building: Melina Marchetta on ‘Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil’
30 June 2016
Melina Marchetta’s Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil (Viking, September) is ‘an electrifying contemporary detective thriller’ that ‘explores Europe’s simmering anti-Muslim sentiments’ in the aftermath of a bus bomb, writes...
Obsessive impulsive: Maurilia Meehan on ‘5 Ways to be Famous Now’
30 June 2016
Set on a cruise ship headed for Antarctica, Maurilia Meehan’s satirical novel 5 Ways to be Famous Now (Transit Lounge, September) is a ‘delightfully wicked romp with a razor-sharp edge’,...
Between the bars: Elspeth Muir on ‘Wasted’
26 May 2016
Elspeth Muir’s memoir Wasted (Text) explores Australia’s drinking culture through her relationship with her younger brother Alexander, who died when he jumped off a Brisbane bridge while drunk. It is...
Hiding in plain sight: Liam Pieper on ‘The Toymaker’
26 May 2016
Liam Pieper’s The Toymaker (Hamish Hamilton) tells the story of privileged, wealthy Adam and his grandfather Arkady, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz. It is a novel about how ‘flawed human...
Remaking history: Kate Mildenhall on ‘Skylarking’
10 May 2016
Kate Mildenhall’s Skylarking (Black Inc., August) is a historical novel about an intense female friendship. Reviewer Angela Andrewes spoke to the author. Skylarking is based on historical events. What drew...
The polyphonic read: Rajith Savanadasa on ‘Ruins’
29 April 2016
Told from the perspectives of five characters, Rajith Savanadasa’s Ruins is ‘a riveting debut that examines the intricacies of class, racial and generational divides in contemporary Sri Lanka’, writes reviewer...
Fiction that slays: Julie Koh on ‘Portable Curiosities’
1 April 2016
Julie Koh’s debut short story collection Portable Curiosities (UQP, June) ‘takes a magnifying glass to Australia’s greatest fallacies’, writes reviewer Sonia Nair. She spoke to the author. How does the...
A novella approach: Nick Earls on the ‘Wisdom Tree’ series
1 April 2016
Nick Earls’ Gotham (Inkerman & Blunt) is the first of five interlinked novellas that will be released each month from May to September. Reviewer Carody Culver spoke to Earls about...
On defeated dreams: Julia Leigh on ‘Avalanche’
1 April 2016
Novelist and filmmaker Julia Leigh’s first work of nonfiction Avalanche: A Love Story (Hamish Hamilton) is a ‘brave and candid account of her desire to have a child [via IVF...
Fertile ground: Jane Harper on ‘The Dry’
21 March 2016
Jane Harper won the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript for her first novel The Dry (Picador, June). She spoke to reviewer Myles McGuire. One of the most...
Murder most foul: Emily Maguire on ‘An Isolated Incident’
25 February 2016
Emily Maguire’s latest novel An Isolated Incident explores the aftermath of a murder in a small town through the perspectives of the victim’s sister and the journalist reporting on the...
Stepping up: Catriona Menzies-Pike on ‘The Long Run’
27 January 2016
Catriona Menzies-Pike reveals some surprising facts about the history of women and running in her ‘personal and cultural’ memoir The Long Run. She spoke to reviewer Andrea Hanke. What inspired...
Going the distance: Josephine Rowe on ‘A Loving, Faithful Animal’
27 January 2016
Josephine Rowe’s debut novel A Loving, Faithful Animal (UQP) explores the Vietnam War’s impact on a country Victorian family. It ‘distils the small incidents of ordinary life into moments of resonance and...
Bright spark: Alison Whittaker on ‘Lemons in the Chicken Wire’
27 January 2016
Alison Whittaker received a black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship for her debut poetry collection Lemons in the Chicken Wire. Reviewer Hilary Simmons says it ‘introduces her as a force to be...
