The Billymil family have lived in the small town of Darnmoor for three generations, and expectant parents Celie and Tom are preparing to welcome the newest addition. But tensions between Darnmoor’s Indigenous and settler families are rising. And the divide between the white run town and the Campgrounds, where the Billymils call home, is growing….
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The line between short stories and poetry is thin in Mandy Beaumont’s debut collection, Wild Fearless Chests, which was published earlier in the year by Hachette, off the back of a shortlisting in both the Richell Prize and the Dorothy Hewett Award run by UWA Publishing. The collection readers were promised was a catalogue of…
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Fetch Phillips’ world is just like ours. Well except for the magic, and all that comes with that: chimera, wizards, elves, vampires and more. But, the magic has gone out, leaving the world irrevocably changed. And, our erstwhile “hero” Fetch might have more to do with it than we imagine. The Last Smile in Sunder…
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Elton John and photographer Terry O’Neill first collaborated in 1972. Since then, O’Neill has taken around five thousand photographs of the star across the decades that followed. Recently, when going through his collection, O’Neill recognised the special nature of these photographs and wanted to share them with Elton’s legion of fans. Elton John: The Definitive…
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David Cullen, author of the definitive bestseller Columbine, returns with a second book, this time detailing the story of the events surrounding the Parkland, Florida school shooting in February 2018, the extraordinary teenage survivors and the March For Our Lives (MFOL) campaign that followed. In Parkland, Cullen takes the readers inside the school in the…
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We’ve come to that point of the year where things begin to wind down for the year, and where those of us in the business of reviewing and writing about art, music, books and films stop and begin to agonise over our “Top 10” or “Best of” lists. 2018 has been another great year in…
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On a stormy night in 1809, Captain John Lacroix returns home from a disastrous campaign on the Continent. Shaken by the events he witnessed in a little Spanish village while his army retreated, he cannot bring himself to report back to his regiment when the call comes. Instead, he deserts, making his way to the…
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To some people, Eric Clapton is god. But for author and journalist, Philip Norman, the Slowhand guitarist is unquestionably human. A talented star sure, but also a fallible guy. Slowhand: The Life & Music of Eric Clapton is a detailed biography covering Clapton’s extraordinary career. Clapton’s life has been chronicled before. The legendary artist has…
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Another month. Another five books. We might be getting closer to Christmas, but there’s nothing particularly “festive” about this month’s five titles. Though they’d all make wonderful gifts for the book lover in your life. It is a particularly fiction heavy list this month, with a debut short story collection, a highly anticipated second novel,…
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Queerstories is a popular event where Australia’s best LGBTQI+ writers gather for some good, old-fashioned storytelling. The show began at the Late Night Library in Kings Cross, Sydney and has gone on to tour other states and towns. It makes sense that, because this all began in a library that people should be able to…
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After escaping Jackalfax for good, and discovering her powers as a Wundersmith, twelve-year-old Morrigan Crow is excited to finally be starting her training at the elite Wundrous Society. But, others within the Society are convinced Morrigan is dangerous, and with Wunsoc members going missing, her patron Jupiter North doesn’t have time to help her navigate…
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Best known as one sixth of legendary comedy troupe Monty Python, Eric Idle never rested on his laurels – though he was quite happy to make a bit of cash from them when the opportunity arose. Covering it all, from his working class childhood and the rise of the Pythons, to the creation of the…
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Stuart Coupe is part of the (black t-shirt) fabric of Australia’s music industry. In a career spanning four decades, he has worked as an author, journalist, promoter, artist manager, publicist and broadcaster. Coupe has written several books about Australian music. His latest one, Roadies, features stories from the hard-working men and women who toil behind-the-scenes…
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Imagine actress Parker Posey is occupying the seat beside you on a plane, her beloved pooch Gracie on her lap. Imagine she’s feeling rather conversational. Parker Posey, that is, not Gracie. That’s the basic premise of You’re On An Airplane, the first memoir from the versatile performer and star of Dazed and Confused, the recent…
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There’s no question that Australia’s roadies know their way around a microphone. A concert set-up doesn’t magically appear out of nowhere. It take tireless crew members toiling away to unpack, set-up, test and re-pack the staging and equipment; and repeating this process as they travel to different towns and venues. For too long, roadies may…
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Somehow it’s September already, and the quick descent into the holiday season has begun. September also sees the announcement of the 2018 Man Booker Prize, which is pretty exciting for us literary types. Indeed, this month two of our five titles were included on the longlist back announced back in July, so we’ll be eagerly…
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Adam Hills is the nicest guy in comedy. Thanks to his memoir, Best Foot Forward, he can also claim to be a “top bloke” in the world of publishing. In this book he reflects on both his personal life and his career, offering up lots of funny anecdotes and inspirational stories. As with his stand-up,…
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Drawing together musings on feminism, race, and religion, Canberra writer Zoya Patel’s debut No Country Woman explores her experiences as a Fijian-Indian migrant. From the stereotypes that followed her family, to her attempts to rebel against her heritage, and to the months she spent in Scotland examining things from afar. No Country Woman is a well…
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Writer, editor and Feminartsy founder Zoya Patel is just a few days away from releasing her debut essay collection, No Country Woman. Ahead of the book’s launch, Jodie chatted to Zoya about what inspired her to put pen to paper and explore her experiences as a Fijian-Indian-Australian. Could you tell us a little about No…
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In the very near future, a virus dubbed NOBI stalks the population. Those infected with it become something more than human, and designate themselves Gloamings. Attractive, powerful, and exciting, these modern day vampires have thousands clamouring to be like them. But a few see them as they really are, bloodthirsty and dangerous, and as Gloaming…
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Beyoncé may have sung about girls running the world but Jennifer Palmieri considered this a certainty until it was wrenched away in 2016. Palmieri was the communications director and advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the presidential campaign that saw the advent of President Trump. Dear Madam President is a short book that chronicles this…
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On October 17th 2013, teenage sisters Ayan and Leila Juma left their Oslo home and headed for Syria. Deeply radicalised and intending to take part in jihad, they had planned the trip in secret for months. But their decision tears the Juma family apart, as parents Sadiq and Sara struggle to come to terms with…
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The Lebs is the confronting and compelling new novel from award-winning novelist, editor, and community arts worker Michael Mohammed Ahmad. Following the release of the novel last week we caught up with Michael to discover more about the novel, the inspirations behind it, and his take on the state of diversity in Australian literature. Mohammed’s essays…
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Sarah Knight, anti-guru and author of best sellers The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving A Fuck and Get Your Shit Together, is back with another empowering message for her readers. Only this time they can actually print the book’s full title in The New York Times. Score! Are you difficult or do you just…
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Happy New Year everyone. Now we’ve packed away the Christmas decorations and finished the last of the festive treats, we in the book review team at the AU thought it’d be a good time to look back at some of our favourite books of the last year. A veritable smorgasbord of great books were released…
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A lot of us have heard of the metaphor involving the carrot and the stick. It describes the idea of reward versus punishment, such that a cart driver can use the former to motivate a reluctant mule or they can hit it with the stick. When we think about self-help books they typically use the…
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October has been good to book lovers, with a bumper collection of new releases. So here, as promised, are five more books we think you need to be reading. Three of the five books are highly anticipated sequels, prequels and follow-ups, though some are more long-awaited than others. Included on this list is a nice…
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Lindy West was one of the highlights from this year’s All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House. So it is unsurprising that this Guardian columnist and Jezebel blogger’s book, Shrill – Notes From A Loud Woman is funny, accomplished and excellent. West’s book is ultimately a hybrid between memoir, with personal anecdotes, and…
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When we think of an “Australian story” the ones that typically spring to mind are predominantly about the country, bush or the past. So what is a reader to do when they want something that reflects their own modern life in the Western suburbs of Sydney? Thankfully, Peter Polites has answered this in his debut…
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Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures is the latest release from the Sydney-based artist, illustrator and poet Mulga (Joel Moore). Formerly a financial advisor, Mulga’s artwork can be found all over Australia, from cafes to shop fronts, from t-shirts to drink bottles and now once again on your bookshelves – or in this case your children’s bookshelves…
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