There is a surprising degree of compassion in the narrative voices of this year’s five shortlisted novels. They are a heart-warming selection.
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Arts + Culture – Articles, Analysis, Comment
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The founder of Islam, Muhammad, saw himself as the last in a line of prophets that reached back through Jesus to Moses, Abraham and Noah. But while the three religions worship the same God, he divides as much as he unites.
Climate scientists often bombard their audiences with facts and figures - a method of communication that often doesn’t work. Perhaps this is where cli-fi can step in, with its compelling characters and just slightly embellished science.
Swimming pools are much more than holes in the ground - they are often beautifully designed, as a new exhibition at the NGV shows. They also document Australia’s history of racism and sexism, and gradual relaxation of social mores.
The story of the Odyssey is a quintessential quest that relates to the passage through life and the importance of love, family and home. Odysseus’s adventures have influenced everyone from Batman to Bob Dylan.
Modern chefs are serving up ice cream, cakes, even sushi covered in gold. But gold in food came into its own in late medieval Europe, when eating gold wad thought to be virtuous, and one could find gilded whole roast peacocks.
The women’s magazine formula runs deep in many online publications branded as ‘feminist’. While the personal was once deemed political, the emphasis now is on adapting to the status quo - not changing it.
Podcasts like The Messenger, about refugees, and Listen To Love, about same-sex marriage, are bringing new voices to major issues. But as podcasts get political, it’s unclear whether they’ll be able to cut through complex debates.
The French La Pérouse expedition left Botany Bay in 1788, and then vanished, rumoured to be wrecked in the Solomon Islands. But an Indian newspaper article might reveal the fate of its survivors.
The medieval Byzantine Empire might hold some lessons about tolerance and same-sex marriage.
From Kill Bill to The Hunger Games, women have been kicking butt in films (and in real life) forever. But we still act surprised when they do, because deep down we still see women as the passive sex.
Australian TV has been slow to enter the sci-fi genre, but the success of series like Cleverman shows we could have our own distinct brand of local sci-fi.
A year before his death at 31 Franz Schubert published ‘Winterreise’ or ‘winter’s journey’, a series of 24 poems set to music exploring unrequited love. Schubert described them as ‘truly terrible’.
A Fremantle monument to three white explorers was revised in 1994 to acknowledge the violence committed against Indigenous owners. As Australia struggles to reconcile its racist past, perhaps this monument shows a way forward.
Héritier Lumumba played for Collingwood Football Club until 2014, where his teammates called him “Chimp”. His experience mirrors that of many other black men in Australia, particularly in the workplace.
A spate of recent TV shows feature protagonists whose mental health condition gives them special skills. But these are often accessed by rejecting medication.
From spontaneous mass singing after a terror attack to Irish laments, music reflects the painful, complex and laborious task of mourning.
Dame Roma Mitchell is remembered as Australia’s first female judge. But Queenslander May Lahey beat her to the punch when she became a judge in Los Angeles in 1928. Her lack of recognition is symptomatic of how Australia remembers expats, particularly women.
An austere, crystalline allegorical opera has been reinterpreted for our contemporary age.
Indigenous people recorded stories that provide much detail about eruptions in Australia. They can help us date natural events in the past and are legitimate sources of scientific information.
MIFF 2017 made good on its promise to explore new worlds, with timely films on American civil rights, Indigenous music, and queer activism. Here’s our pick of the ones to see.
Paula Modersohn-Becker painted female nudes unlike anything seen before. A new book brings to life this groundbreaking artist, who died at just 31.
Online video is flourishing in Australia with very little government attention. Content creators like Youtube channel RackaRacka are getting millions of viewers, numbers the traditional screen industry can only dream of.
Forget Wonder Woman and Batman. The Maid of Orléans - an uneducated, teenage girl who led armies to victory - is a hero for our times.
The violence sparked by the removal of Confederate statues in the US shows the ideas that collect around historical monuments. Sometimes it’s better to remove them; yet they can be an important way of remembering trauma.