Our Team

Stephen Romei writes on books and films. He was formerly literary editor at The Australian and The Weekend Australian.

I had one of my more satisfying reading experiences of recent times last weekend when I picked up a crime novel.

A PAIR OF RAGGED CLAWS: STEPHEN ROMEI

The final book in Roy Williams’s evangelical mission to make Christianity more appealing is the best in his trilogy.

Gerard Windsor

Erik Larson paints a vivid picture of the ship on its last voyage and some of its passengers.

Eileen Chanin

Something Special, Something Rare is an fine anthology of short fiction from female writers.

Emily Laidlaw

Jeanette Winterson describes it as demanding, but Djuna Barnes’s 1936 novel Nightwood is a classic of queer literature.

Ronnie Scott

Murray Middleton’s short story collection, which won The Australian-Vogel’s Literary Award, is harrowing and beautiful.

James McNamara

Robert Adamson’s poetry represents a vivid form of social history.

Gregory Day

Here is a novel that manages to expand the possibilities of a literary form while narrowing its potential range.

Essays on the stories and subplots of paintings give readers the sense of chatting with Julian Barnes in front of a canvas.

Stephanie Bishop

In this heart-racing earthquake adventure, a tsunami powers over the Golden Gate Bridge, tossing ocean liners like bath toys.