Keeping keen eye on the past
Barbara Fisher is one of a group of Australian women poets who started late and had to make up for ‘‘lost’’ time.
Books
Strout’s uneasy truths
Elizabeth Strout again proves in this book of interwoven short stories that nothing is off limits in her writing.
Islands of the imagination
The Phantom Atlas shows how places that are not there can endure, sometimes for centuries, on maps.
Blues bombshell’s consequences
In and around the chaos, Hari Kunzru weaves pertinent thoughts on race, exploitation and the power of music.
Damn lies and statistics
Three new reports give us a revealing glimpse of the numbers behind Australia’s book industry and its readers.
An ode to unsung artists
Melissa Loughnan’s book fetes our lesser-known art-makers.
OzLit data leave us read-faced
Nine in 10 Australians are reading books, with genre novels far more popular than literary works.
Oedipus gets a remake
The story of Oedipus is a time-honoured tale, an ageless tragedy, a cornerstone of Western culture. Now it’s a novel.
Guys and girls take chick lit on a diversion
Between them, these two novels prove the chick lit form of genre fiction is a broad category.
Islands and archipelagos
Silly Isles proves there is nothing like living on an island to instil distrust of people who live on other islands.
Intrepid women of the world
These books explore the rich adventurous lives of four women.
Bionic Bill’s gift of hearing
Thousands of people in Australia can now hear thanks to their bionic ear, and that is largely due to Bill Gibson.
Mad north-north-west
Ezra Pound was convicted of treason and confined to a ‘monkey cage’. He also transformed poetry. Was it worth it?
All sides of a troubled story
Nir Baram spent 18 months in the Israeli-occupied territories speaking with Arabs and Jews. And all he did was listen.
Novel paths to self-help
As a self-help book, Anna Spargo-Ryan’s novel The Gulf might be titled How to Keep Your Mum Away From Toxic Men.
Crimes against the apostrophe
Readers have been quick to send in their views on amiss apostrophes and other grammatical gherkins.
Life from Lodge to a treehouse
A rock star, a political pundit and a long-time tree-house builder are among this year’s book industry award winners.
Oedipus not complex
The classics are still meaningful, author Natalie Haynes says.
‘No time to be trivial’
George Saunders is a funny writer who is seriously worried his Donald Trump-led nation is in crisis.
Refuge in a world and its words
From Trump to global warming, urgent themes drive this year’s Sydney Writers Festival.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/books/page/191