Literature
12 highly giftable cookbooks for every type of cook
From Seoul to Istanbul, Italy to the Philippines, these are the best kitchen tomes.
- by Georgie Gordon
Latest
Tony Birch wins Book of the Year for timely novel about one of Australia’s great challenges
Birch says that while his book wasn’t written “with that issue in mind”, it had become timely given the crucial discussions under way.
- by Jason Steger
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
Exclusive
For subscribers
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
She was told her fiction wasn’t ‘Australian enough’. Then she won the Miles Franklin
Working with a “billable hours” mindset, lawyer, mum of four and author Shankari Chandran weaves sharp social justice critiques through her loving family tales.
- by Melanie Kembrey
Magazine
Good Weekend
The May 4 Edition
How Australian publishing finally caught up with Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran | Our soaring status anxiety | What to do with love’s detritus?
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
Dicey Topics
Good Weekend
‘I’ve heard some strange theories’: Paul Murray on The Bee Sting’s climax
The Irish writer on his childhood fear of the devil, his superpower – and one of the enigmas of his latest novel.
- by Benjamin Law
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