Culture
Books
The 13 must-see events at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival
With the Melbourne Writers Festival kicking off today, here are some of the events that should not be missed.
- by Jason Steger
Latest
Exclusive
Literature
The Weirdo books once had a ‘prettiest girls list’. Now, they are re-recording the audiobooks
The best-selling children’s book author is revising his Weirdo audiobooks to remove a “prettiest girls” list. “I was ranked low on a list and it affected me for years,” he says.
- by Kerrie O'Brien and Marika Dobbin-Thomas
How pop music met its Waterloo in ABBA
What is it about ABBA’s songs that generate angst and ardour? English music writer Giles Smith tries to find out.
- by Michael Dwyer
Our safe, white scene has rules if you want to be a ‘multicultural’ writer
Spare a thought for the authors who don’t look like their publishers in the middle-class literary world.
- by Amra Pajalic
Death threats are an occupational hazard: Geoffrey Robertson
The leading human rights lawyer will grapple with state of the world in a new live show.
- by Kylie Northover
Opinion
WordPlay
My recent crossword sparked beef. Was my food clue a trifle fishy?
With words always gaining new meanings, setting crosswords is no piece of cake.
- by David Astle
A glorious debut novel with shades of Zadie Smith and George Saunders
After winning the 2016 Vogel’s Literary Award with a collection of short stories, Murray Middleton spent eight years on his first novel.
- by Helen Elliott
The letters between two great writers revealing their hidden stories
Years of correspondence between Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower reveal much about their unusual friendship.
- by Gail Jones
This book takes you on the run across colonial NSW. Danger lurks at every corner
In the sequel to her novel Benevolence, Julie Janson has produced a gothic historical novel that does justice both to the sorrow and the story of what Aboriginal Australia suffered in the 19th century.
- by Eddie Hampson
Alexis Wright wins Stella Prize with ‘perhaps the great Australian novel’
The Indigenous writer has won the $60,000 award for her acclaimed novel, Praiseworthy, making her the first to win the prize twice.
- by Jason Steger
The Beach Boys tell their own story of triumph and tragedy
It’s not all good vibrations, as our reviewers reveal in this week’s pick of fiction and non-fiction releases.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll