Books
The Dry review: Jane Harper's hot crime debut is mythic and valiant
Sue Turnbull 12:15am The Dry is a story about heroism, the sins of the past, and the struggle to atone. And it is a quintessential Australian story beautifully told.
Dying & In Gratitude review: Two writers come to terms with their looming deaths
Drusilla Modjeska 12:15am Cory Taylor and Jenny Diski write about their terminal illnesses in different but beautiful ways.
The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones review: Rich Cohen's ravishing riff
Anson Cameron 12:15am At last there's a book about the Rolling Stones with writing that matches their extraordinary talent.
Before the Fall review: A pacey thriller by the man who wrote Fargo for TV
Cameron Woodhead 12:15am A plane crash plus sinister secrets result in Noah Hawley's suspenseful thriller.
How To Be a Writer review: The John Birmingham way to improve your skills
Steven carroll 12:15am John Birmingham offers practical advice for anyone who wants to make a go with their writing.
BookShots: James Patterson pushes reading 'revolution' for smartphone generation
Karen Heller James Patterson doesn't write his books - and his newest readers don't read.
Three generations of Sydney women finalists for the 2016 Kibble Literary Award
SUSAN WYNDHAM Australia's oldest awards for women's writing see a rise in historical novels, thrillers, memoirs and "sick lit".
Publisher to book industry: we have a price problem
LINDA MORRIS An Australian publishing insider says overpriced books are bigger threat to Australian writers than open market.
Bestsellers: Dominic Smith tops the independent bookshop charts
A novel that spans Holland, New York and Sydney and follows the mystery of a replica of a 17th-century painting and the original is delighting buyers at independent bookshops.
Hermione Granger
J.K. Rowling hits out at 'racists' after Harry Potter play casts black Hermione
J.K. Rowling has slammed as a "bunch of racists" online critics who complained about the casting of a black actor to play Hermione.
The Big Issue: Making a difference for 20 years
Thuy On Every vendor has their own story. In their yellow hi-vis vests and dotted like fluoro mushrooms around city and major regional centres of Australia, they position themselves and prepare for another day of hustling for custom.
The Big Issue: a magazine and much more
Thuy On The Big Issue is Australia's longest-standing and most successful social enterprise.
Turning Pages: The joy to be discovered in the boom in art books
Jane Sullivan If you've ever worried that young people don't go for books any more, here was evidence that many of them love books with anything to do with art and design.
Chasing Asylum review: Eva Orner's account of making her refugee documentary
Deborah Zion The ability to look closely and constantly at suffering is one that takes an immense toll, and Eva Orner manifests this steadfastness in relating story after story.
How to Vote Progressive in Australia review: principles instead of power
Fiona Capp What these essays reveal is widespread desire for a reinvigorated political system.
The Grass was Always Browner review: a new style of memoir – the aspirational
Fiona Capp A new form of writing focuses on the ordinary.
The Patch of Wasteland: A Poem by Long Quan
Long Quan Long Quan's poem imagines a couple's long relationship with their home and the land.
Bookmarks: News and views from the book world
JASON STEGER The power of the Miles Franklin and the odds on the Miles Franklin.
Election 2016: Labor pledges $60 million to ABC, but won't rule out changes to copyright
ANDREW TAYLOR Labor has promised more than $140 million in additional spending on arts funding and the ABC, but it has not ruled out changes to copyright laws.
Sue Williams: books that changed me
Sue Williams has a PhD in marine biology and has worked as a science writer and chartered accountant.
Kids show their love of language in a creative Fictionary
David Astle A chilly afternoon off Tamarama Beach. You bob on the ocean swell, waiting for the humpbacks to migrate.
Interview: Children's author Jeannie Baker follows an endangered bird's path
LINDA MORRIS Jeannie Baker is a superstar of Australian children's literature. In her new book, she champions the conservation of an endangered Australian migratory bird.
Book review: My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith involves Tuscan adventure
Kerryn Goldsworthy Alexander McCall Smith's latest novel has his usual light-hearted gentleness and keen perception.
Review: Happy People Read & Drink Coffee by Agnès Martin-Lugand
Kerryn Goldsworthy Happy People Read & Drink Coffee
Review: Svetlana Alexievich's Secondhand Time tells of Soviet life from Stalin to Putin
Andrew Riemer Svetlana Alexievich's books reveal the dark underside of contemporary Russian nationalism, the often toxic alliance between the Orthodox church and Putin's regime and the resurgence of anti-Semitism.
The Convict's Daughter review: Kiera Lindsey's account of a scandalous affair
Babette Smith He had all the characteristics of a colonial Mr Rochester - just the kind of gentlemen who would fascinate a teenage girl.
Turning Pages: The festival guests who delighted us at the Wheeler Centre
Jane Sullivan Thanks to a collaboration with the Wheeler Centre, several of the top names attending the 2016 Sydney Writers' Festival dropped in to various venues in Melbourne.
Bookshelf review: Why where we put our books is so important
Fiona Capp Despite predictions of the demise of the book, Lydia Pyne is surprisingly upbeat about the future of the structure that houses them.
The Mandibles review: Lionel Shriver's family saga of the world going bung
Peter Craven In her new novel about money and the near-future, Lionel Shriver exhibits ferocity of intelligence and boldness of imagination.
The World Repair Video Game review: The return of David Ireland, genius
MALCOLM KNOX Did David Ireland go off the unreadable deep end? Hardly. The World Repair Video Game is a magnificent novel of ideas in the purest, simplest language.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos review: Dominic Smith's brilliant art novel
Louise Swinn Dominic Smith is a great writer, particularly adept at atmospheric detail, and this book is reminiscent of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch in its familiarity with the art world.
Better Living Through Criticism review: A.O. Scott on why criticism is an art
Tom Ryan A.O. Scott submits that criticism ought to be understood as an art because the works it contemplates are always themselves a form of criticism.
What Happened to the Car Industry? review: How a manufacturing sector collapsed
Fiona Capp The car industry was thriving 20 years ago, but then it stalled.
Richard Flanagan, Tom Keneally tussling with paper tigers
PETER MARTIN Leading authors concerned about cuts to copyright don't seem to have done their homework.
Book industry unites against Productivity Commission changes to copyright rules
LINDA MORRIS Writers, printers, literary agents, publishers and booksellers unite for war on proposed copyright provisions.
Speed-dating your own literary creation: Hazel Edwards meets her famous cake-eating hippopotamus
Hazel Edwards It's not easy being a hippo - even one who lives on the roof of most kids born after 1980, eats cake and gets to do anything it wants all day long.
Australia's new literary publishers reveal their first books
SUSAN WYNDHAM After four years with the independent literary press Giramondo, Alice Grundy is moving to Xoum Publishing.
Bestsellers: David Baldacci stays at the top
It's not the last mile yet for David Baldacci, who stays at No. 1 spot in the Australian bestseller list.
Book review: Land of Paper Gods, That Devil's Madness, Book of Memory
Anna Creer Fiction. Three for a Sunday.
Miles Franklin shortlist: Four Melbourne novelists join Charlotte Wood
JASON STEGER Four women are on the shortlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award - and four of the listed writers are new to this stage of the award..
Oliver of the Levant review: Debra Jopson's coming-of-age story a fine debut
Eleanor Limprecht Debra Jopson is very familiar with Lebanon and sets her memorable first novel, a coming-of-age story featuring 15-year-old Oliver, in Beirut.
Turning Pages: Why mothers who write face more obstacles than most
Jane Sullivan Women writers who are parents often struggle to find the time and space to concentrate on their craft. If they are also sole parents things are even worse.
Our Vietnam Nurses review: Annabelle Brayley tells the forgotten stories
Steven Carroll Australian women nurses in Vietnam confronted hard work, death, trauma and great sadness. Some, though, found love.
LaRose review: Louise Erdrich's drama of a dead child and community conflict
Cameron Woodhead A Native American father kills his friend's son while hunting and gives his own child to be raised by the grieving family. A recipe for drama and redemption.
The Wicked Boy: the 13 year old who murders his mother then turns into a hero
NICK GALVIN Can a child murder his mother then be redeemed? Kate Summerscale uncovered the answer to this question in a remarkable true story spanning decades and continents.
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