The Afghans is powerful account of the rise of the Taliban, told through the lives of three very different people.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Book reviews
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Cultural historian Clair Wills reflects on the secret cousin born in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, which at one point had a morality rate of 75% – and her family’s complicity in a national tragedy.
In Miranda Darling’s feminist fiction, Mrs Dalloway is a Sydney wife and mother who refuses to be tamed, despite her husband’s attempts at coercive control.
In their different ways, these three poets demonstrate how to transform everyday realities into art.
The power of reading and writing in surviving and addressing huge loss is touched upon in this book about a woman’s struggle during the Sri Lankan civil war
Born into a wealthy family, John Büsst left Melbourne for north Queensland where he campaigned against planned oil and gas exploration of the reef in the 1960s. His story was little known, until now.
Cher Tan’s ambitious, subversive essays wield incisive humour and references spanning from high theory to niche DIY publications.
The story of a cutting edge science project, in which solar-powered trackers map the movements of creatures, brims with charming anecdotes, serial frustrations and ‘blue sky’ plans.
A book about artists that revels in its ambiguities.
Khin Myint’s memoir explores family trauma and chronic illness, through the lens of his sister’s illness, childhood bullying and a brutal breakup that sparked a court case.
Three years apart in age, Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower were both formed as writers by the fact of being Australian-born women.
In his latest novel, Andrew O'Hagan characterises almost every aspect of his society as broadly criminal, in one sense or another.
From stories of Irish mothers to Shakespearean actors in the West Bank, this year’s shortlist is as varied as ever.
Journalist Yuan Yang tells the stories of four women who grew up in China as the nation transformed from a socialist to a market economy. Her book is a breath of fresh air.
Fashions in architecture are, more or less, generational. So, the reappraisal of brutalism – a once-reviled style of architecture – is now virtually complete
Johann Hari’s book opens a deeper conversation about the pros and cons of injectable weight-loss drugs – including whether we really want to trade the pleasure we get from food for losing weight.
Rachel Cusk’s twelfth novel is strange, compelling and ferociously intelligent. It explores artists, mothers and daughters, and the ‘blankness of spirituality’ on the other side of gender.
War writing can be formulaic and clichéd, but Catherine McKinnon resists glorification and the usual narrative of “us against them” .
Forty years of the neoliberal experiment have created a world of vast and increasing inequality. But this can and should change.
Anne Carson’s playful new book, Wrong Norma, meaningfully makes apparently random connections – and the result is compelling.
Top contributors
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Executive Dean (interim) Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra
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Associate Professor in Media, University of Notre Dame Australia
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Professor, Chair of Australian Literature, The University of Western Australia
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Adjunct professor, University of Technology Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology
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Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
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Professor of English Literature, University of Southern Queensland
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Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing, The University of Melbourne
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Matthew Ricketson is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Communication, Deakin University
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PhD Candidate, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Psychology, The University of Melbourne
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Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University
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VC Fellow, La Trobe University
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Professor of Conservation Biology, Charles Darwin University
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Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University
