Australia is ‘further along the trajectory of climate grief’ than most other countries, according to Irish author Caoilinn Hughes, who says this may be one reason her latest novel The Alternatives has received a good reception here. Hughes was in Sydney ahead of her appearance at the Byron Bay Writers Festival (August 9-11). Her clear-eyed
Here are some poems from the first half of 2024 that shone a light on a diversity of subjects for me in their examination of grief, impermanence, environmental destruction and more. ‘Given to Rust’ by Vievee Francis Still, I did once like my voice, the way it moved / through the gap in my teeth
These short stories interrogate the mysteriousness of human life and relationships and they’re some of the best stories I read in the first half of 2024. ‘Sky Bar’ by Katherine Heiny In ‘Sky Bar’ from Katherine Heiny’s collection Games and Rituals we meet Fawn and discover there is nothing left for her in her home
Moody, broody and wild … precisely how I love short stories to be. And these are some of the best I read in 2023. ‘Anyone Can Do It’ by Manuel Muñoz Muñoz creates a mood in his latest collection of stories which I love and ‘Anyone Can Do It’ is especially evocative. The stories in
In 1980 when Australian author Michelle de Kretser read Shirley Hazzard’s new novel The Transit of Venus she wondered what all the fuss was about. Twenty years later she reread it, and ‘the sensation came, like a blow to the breastbone,’ from the first page, ‘the shock of the great’. This anecdote from Brigitta Olubas’s
‘In the city, nature can feel far away – but is it?’ This question lies at the heart of Naturopolis – a new, creative non-fiction picture book for readers in years K to 6. The book’s elegant, double page spreads both describe and explore the natural phenomena found in ‘the great grey city’ and children
This bright berry of a book is upbeat and colourful. While there’s a lesson or two at its heart (one being to listen to your Dad because he might be able to teach you something you’d like to know) it’s also a fun story. When Ruby gets a gift of roller skates from her Dad,
On the surface, Peta seems like your typical pirate with his wooden leg, parrot on his shoulder, eye patch, Jolly Roger and propensity for exclaiming AAARRrgggh. But things are amiss in Peta’s life. He’s tired of plundering ships (just the thought of it ‘makes his peg-leg creak’ and shivers his timbers), the sea seems endless
There’s a world of delicious detail and wordplay in Harriet’s Hungry Worms – a new picture book from Samantha Smith (author) and Melissa Johns (illustrator) for readers aged 4 to 8. Harriet’s slimy, hungry, relaxed, shiny and healthy compost worms crunch, scoff, feast and snack. They munch on muesli on Monday, wild weeds on Wednesday and
Meet Mim keeps readers guessing right from the start through an intriguing game of underwater obfuscation. As we turn each page, we continue to wonder who, or rather, what is Mim? It feels like we’re getting nowhere – but we’re actually observing an interesting array of sea creatures including, the spotted flatfish, the spiked lionfish,
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