NewsBite

Good Weekend

The October 7 Edition

Here comes the son: Is Lachlan Murdoch up to the job? | Melissa Lucashenko on playing with simple black/white binaries | The photojournalist who captured daily life in Afghanistan | Matthew Reilly on how to write good sex scenes | The issue with supermarket self-checkouts | Is it okay to tell a friend to take you off speakerphone? | The journalist and the prisoner: an unusual pen-pal relationship

16 stories
The October 7 Edition
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch in 2017.

Here comes the son: Is Lachlan Murdoch up to the job?

Lachlan Murdoch will succeed his father at the top of the global empire Rupert built over 70 years. Does he have the chops for it?

  • by Paddy Manning
Melissa Lucashenko, whose new novel is set in colonial Brisbane. “I just went, ‘Wow, this is begging to be fictionalised.’ ”

Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries

Melissa Lucashenko must be the only Australian author to have won both the country’s top literary award and a mainstream TV quiz show.

  • by Jacqueline Maley
Each letter had to get past prison authorities, who would stamp it with a single word in red ink: Vetted.

Pen pals: One’s in prison, the other is with his daughter in hospital

A young Indigenous man serving a controversial life sentence corresponded for years with a Sydney journalist – then came an unexpected twist.

  • by Dan Box
Advertisement
A pigeon circles its master who conducts his flock from the roof of his home in Qala-i Musa, Kabul. Kaftar bazi – the play of pigeons – is a national sport in Afghanistan and particularly popular in the capital in spring. Each flock is led in several orbits 
by an alluring female. She is entrusted with protecting her charges from the temptation of other flocks and piloting them safely home upon their master’s call. 29.1.2014.
7 images

Shattered lives: The beauty and horror of day-to-day existence in Afghanistan

Photojournalist Andrew Quilty was based in Afghanistan from 2013 until the return of the Taliban in 2021. He captured the stark realities of daily life in the war-torn country.

Libby Birch: “I love how passionate he is about women’s sport... Harry helps me understand I’m part of something important.
Two of Us
Two of Us

Libby’s an AFLW star, Harry’s an umpire – and her brother

Siblings Harry and Libby Birch have more in common than just footy.

  • by Konrad Marshall
Modern Guru
Modern Guru

My mate puts me on speakerphone – it drives me insane. Can I tell him?

People should warn you they’re on hands-free, writes our Modern Guru, but don’t count on it.

  • by Danny Katz

Rush hour

Paul Connolly’s Kitchen Sink Drama is a slice of domestic life, captured masterfully in only 100 words. This week: The early bird enjoys their tea.

  • by Paul Connolly

No beauty duty: Why Chinese women are shaving their heads

Plus: get ready for the weekend with these fresh diversions.

  • by Lauren Ironmonger, Nicole Abadee, frances mocnik, Paul Connolly, Melissa Singer and Jill Dupleix
“Writing is good for my mental health. It’s like making your own jigsaw puzzle.”
Dicey Topics
For subscribers

‘The one with the sex in it’: The Matthew Reilly book his buddies love

The prolific author has sold more than 7½ million books and recently directed his first film, Netflix’s Interceptor.

  • by Benjamin Law
Advertisement
Ligurian greens torta.

Ligurian greens torta

This savoury pie, packed with greens and three different types of cheese, originates from Liguria in north-west Italy.

  • by Danielle Alvarez
Karen Martini’s pollo agrodolce.

Pollo agrodolce

This whole roast chicken is smothered in a lip-smacking peri-peri sauce mixed with a sweet-and-sour Sicilian agrodolce.

  • by Karen Martini
Go-to dish: Open lasagne with yellowfin tuna, king prawns and radicchio.
Review
Noi

‘This lasagne is one of the most compelling dishes I’ve eaten this year’

My default reaction to seafood lasagne was: Eww. Gross. No, thanks. But Noi’s rich and “beefy” version is a revelation, writes Callan Boys.

  • by Callan Boys
Portuguese pork sandwich from chef Nuno Mendes of Lisboeta in London.

Take a quick trip to Lisbon (via London) for a killer sandwich without leaving Melbourne

Exciting concept cafe Square One Rialto showcases dishes from 10 top chefs, and goes back to square one every season.

  • by Dani Valent

A fruitless crime: The issue with supermarket self-checkouts

Terry Durack wonders how many petty supermarket crimes occur simply because people get cross.

  • by Terry Durack
Good Weekend Quiz online index image

Good Weekend Quiz

Trivia buffs: test your knowledge.

Advertisement

Good Weekend letters to the editor: October 7

Want to chat? We’d love to hear from you. Send your letters to goodweekend@​goodweekend.com.au

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-october-7-edition-20230831-p5e0xh.html