Richard Dawkins is a giant next to today’s thinkers
Few have done more to popularise science and few will be able to replace him — much of the fault lies with our universities.
Books
Cervantes was a poet but he didn’t know it, says historian
The Spanish author of Don Quixote thought little of his verse but a new book begs to differ.
Feted writer killed in car accident
Brenda Walker came from a family of storytellers, including her brother, Don Walker, who wrote classics for Cold Chisel, and her mother, Shirley Walker, who wrote novels.
This place is so sublimely beautiful, it will make you cry. And it’s right here in Australia
On an island at the far end of the world there remains one fragile corner to remind us of how much of the beauty of the natural planet we have already lost.
The story of Impressionism is well-known. But is it true?
Art critic Sebastian Smee argues the Impressionist movement rosefrom a year of terror rather than a reaction against a rigid culture.
A Wild Heart wins The Australian Fiction Prize
Katherine Johnson’s tale of a spirited young woman in the wilderness of Tasmania has triumphed over top quality competition to take out the inaugural The Australian Fiction Prize.
A Wild Heart wins The Australian Fiction Prize
Katherine Johnson grew up dodging bindi-eyes in the backyard of her family’s old Queenslander. Like so many kids in the 1970s, she almost always had a book under her arm.
Inside the gripping pursuit of camper killer Greg Lynn
A couple murdered at their campsite; a Jetstar pilot on trial. A new book unpacks the high country crime.
Final journey for adored pillar of Pittwater
A flotilla of boats accompanied writer Susan Duncan on her final journey from her water-access-only home to the mainland north of Sydney.
’We’re all too comfortable with fantasy’
Fantasy fiction is having a cultural moment but Alan Moore – the author of V for Vendetta and Watchmen – says the genre is in danger of losing its relevance altogether.
The popular TV plots that will make no sense in the future
The dramatic courtroom reveal. The brilliant diagnosis. The undercover disguise. TV writers are going to have to rethink the old tropes.
Meet the finalists for The Australian Fiction Prize
The first ever fiction prize sponsored by The Australian and HarperCollins Australia has attracted a talented field. Each and every one of these writers deserve their place on the shortlist.
What happened when I — a 58-year-old woman — shaved my head
Men, I perceived early on, don’t like short hair on women. And, since we live and work in an overwhelming patriarchy, to have short hair has been, if often on a subtle level, to defy men. I’ve carried this understanding with me – but decided to let go.
The Day of the Jackal hits right on target
Eddie Redmayne is particularly well chosen as the Jackal in this slick, astutely engineered adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s thriller.
An author of substance: Taylor Bradford, 91, dies
British-American novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, who wrote 40 novels and notched up 91 million book sales worldwide, has died at 91.
How BTB was her own woman of substance
Yorkshire-born Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of some 40 international bestselling novels, has died, aged 91.
Ending the ‘whitewash’ of Australia’s convict history
There’s something jarring about this 20-page list of black convicts. It’s not the origin of the convicts, nor is it their sentences. It’s the names that jump out at me.
A book like nothing Helen Garner has done before
The Season is about an old woman, Nanna Garner, who is devoted to her youngest grandson, Amby, and his devotion to Australian rules football. It’s likely to madden you at first, but bear with it. You’ll end up enchanted.
One-star-review ‘hackers’ swamp Booker winner
Readers can’t rate the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize because of concerns raised about a flood of geopolitical one-star reviews.
Why Jordan Peterson’s latest book is unreadable
The conservative polemicist’s new book is a bizarre study of the Bible featuring Jiminy Cricket, Harry Potter and Tinkerbell the porn fairy. Surely even his most devoted fans are struggling to keep up at this point.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/books/page/3