Marlon James won the Booker Prize this week with a book that focuses on the unrest and violence of 1970s Jamaica, a troubled chapter that continues to shape the island nation’s present - and its future.
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Many still regard George Orwell’s 1984 and its message about the nature of language and power “definitive”. But globalisation has revolutionised how we communicate; 1984 tells us nothing about our future.
A study into the responses of Australian authors, publishers and readers to global changes in the contemporary publishing environment suggests authors are being innovative, but financial rewards can be elusive.
Anne Tyler’s Booker short-listed novel is an exquisite meditation on family life.
Male friendship is often overlooked in the 20th-century novel, but in her Booker short-listed novel Yanagihara places it centre.
Female scholars tend to assign more readings from women authors. But then male instructors assign more of their own work.
Obioma’s novel struggles to get going, then splutters and stalls to an unimpressive conclusion.
Claudia Rankine, winner of the Forward Prize, has provoked discussions about poetry and race in the US. Why are these conversations not happening in the UK?
Sahota’s Booker shortlisted novel is acutely intelligent and very of the moment. It may well take the prize.
Magda Szubanski’s engaging debut memoir, Reckoning, is an exercise in precisely that: reconciling the past. It is also a celebration of the life and career of one of our greatest comedians.
From princes to pornographers, emblem books wowed 16th century Europe with their coded meditations on the meaning of life.
Marlon James’s book is a whirlwind of different voices ostensibly about the infamous failed assassination of Bob Marley in 1976.
Fanfiction is nebulous, confusing and often mocked. It’s also explosively popular. So what is it?
The latest version of Macbeth is stunningly cinematic and vehemently Scottish.
Michael Robotham is the second Australian writer to win the Golden Dagger, but is his book Australian? And does it matter?
While legal precedent makes banning books difficult, it still happens.
When only six people showed up for a panel designed to raise awareness of banned books, the pot needed to be stirred a bit.
In a world full of catastrophe, what good are books? Specifically, can books be written to do good?
Sex is part of young people’s lives. So how do we teach young authors to navigate tricky narrative waters when they write about it?
Tom McCarthy’s Satin Island is certainly an epoch-defining novel, at least inasmuch as it revolves around the task of defining our epoch.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor in Literary Studies, Monash University
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Associate Professor in Media, University of Notre Dame Australia
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Lecturer, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney
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Honorary Associate in Creative Writing, The Open University
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Executive Dean (interim) Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra
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Lecturer of English, University of Liverpool
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Visiting Fellow, Centre for Cultural and Creative Research, University of Canberra, University of Canberra
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Professor in Publishing Studies, University of Stirling
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Dean of Research (Creative), University of South Australia
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Associate professor, University of Notre Dame Australia
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Associate Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, Monash University
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Professor of Reading and Children’s Development, The Open University
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Adjunct assistant professor, University of New England
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Emeritus Professor of Australian Literature, University of Sydney
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Director, Monash University Publishing, Monash University
