Books
David Astle: Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger of violence
![English has been packing heat for centuries, from silver bullets to smoking guns. Illustration: Simon Letch](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532971/Thumbnail1010789457gpxvjhimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpsq4x.png1467964417688.jpg-90x60.jpg)
David Astle 8:00pm It's time we grapple with violent language.
Nick Richardson: books that changed me
![Author Nick Richardson:](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532650/Thumbnail1010972420gpwnfsimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwnb8.png1467590531349.jpg-90x60.jpg)
8:00pm The rarified world of 1950s Cambridge university made a lasting impression, as did an eye-opening history of the colonisation of Australia and an all too vivid Dickensian hangover.
In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi: a feminist meets her transgender father
![Author Susan Faludi cycling in Switzerland with her father Steven (later Stefanie) Faludi.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532620/Thumbnail1010977801gpwrj8image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwrgp.png1467589536640.jpg-90x60.jpg)
SUSAN WYNDHAM 8:00pm When Susan Faludi wrote the bestselling books that made her name as an American feminist author she had no idea they would lead her to a memoir about her father's sex change.
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman: how pigeons tell a Renoir from a Monet
![Without training, a crow has cracked a puzzle in two-and-a-half minutes.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/29/7523561/Thumbnail1010644455ghwcewimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gppm93.png1467182034946.jpg-90x60.jpg)
James Bradley 6:00pm ORNITHOLOGY
Solved! The case of Mary Fortune, the pioneering crime writer who vanished
![Lucy Sussex at the unmarked grave of writer Mary Fortune at the Springvale Cemetery.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/07/7540751/Thumbnail1011167857gq0teoimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gq0u41.png1467876736115.jpg-90x60.jpg)
JASON STEGER 6:00pm For many years the final resting place of pioneering crime writer Mary Fortune was unknown. Until now, that is.
Headwaters review: Anthony Lawrence's romantic poetry with a touch of nature
![Author Anthony Lawrence.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/07/7540709/Thumbnail1010952784gpwcxuimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpw85s.png1467957066242.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Geoff Page 12:15am Anthony Lawrence's 16th poetry collection, Headwaters, adds a welcome diversity to his work.
Asylum review: John Hughes tough-minded fantasy based in reality of displacement
![<i>Asylum</i>, by John Hughes.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/01/7528223/Thumbnail1010954209gpw91wimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpw99d.png1467964584312.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Michael McGirr 5:57pm Asylum compares itself to Kafka and does make reference to the idea of metamorphosis. But its kindred spirit is just as much Dostoyevsky.
Turning Pages: The hidden delights of Rare Book Week
![If you have found a treasure in the attic, bring it along to an Antiques Roadshow-style Rare Books Discovery Day.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/01/7528193/Thumbnail1010956712gpwb3bimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwb6w.png1467955782227.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Jane Sullivan 3:34pm Rare Book Week has free entry. It's a wonderful treasure trove for book lovers of all kinds and it goes out of its way to be quirky and entertaining rather than solemn and scholarly.
Graphology Mutations 24: A poem by John Kinsella
![Poet and author John Kinsella.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/01/7528206/Thumbnail1010957637gpwbrpimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwbwl.png1467346972047.jpg-90x60.jpg)
John Kinsella 12:15am John Kinsella's poem Graphology Mutations 24 looks at where the dead of the world lie.
Comrade Corbyn review: Rosa Prince's look at British Labour's surprise leader
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532899/Thumbnail1010964746gpwh33image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwhe2.png1467596732986.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Steven Carroll 12:15am Jeremy Corbyn is the unlikely leader of the British Labour Party. How did he get there (and will he stay there)?
The Great Acceleration: Robert Colvile delves into the quickening pace of life
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532902/Thumbnail1010965538gpwhjjimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwi02.png1467596939186.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Steven Carroll 12:15am Robert Colvile examines how the god of speed has transformed technology and us.
The Radium Girls review: Kate Moore on a tragedy that could have been avoided
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532700/Thumbnail1010967173gpwi9mimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwj9h.png1467592010624.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Steven Carroll 12:15am In the Radium Girls, Kate Moore documents a terrible work-practice that had a catastrophic effect on factory workers.
The Worst Woman in Sydney review: Leigh Straw's life of the empress of low life
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532830/Thumbnail1010967801gpwjcpimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwjqx.png1467595437649.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Steven Carroll 12:15am Kate Leigh thought she was performing community service, but the police had other ideas about the brothel keeper and criminal.
Error Australis review: Ben Pobjie's irreverent take on Australia's history
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/05/7535579/Thumbnail1011070332gpyqkgimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpyqv0.png1467692437338.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Owen Richardson 12:15am Ben Pobjie's take on Australian history is not so much black armband as red nose and spinning light-up bow tie.
Brenda Niall's life of Archbishop Mannix wins Australia's oldest literary prize
![Mannix, by Brenda Niall.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/06/7537594/Thumbnail1011106183gpzimtimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpziiv.png1467795685179.jpg-90x60.jpg)
JASON STEGER Brenda Niall has won Australia's oldest literary award for her acclaimed biography of Archbishop Mannix.
Why does it take the dying to remind us how to live well?
![Doctor and author Leah Kaminsky: Books like Cory Taylor's memoir help us face the subject of dying.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/06/7537978/Thumbnail1011121000gpzuazimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpztyg.png1467791331035.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Leah Kaminsky Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor, who died this week, speaks out against the muzzle Western society had placed on discussing death. By Leah Kaminsky.
Cory Taylor, author of Dying: A Memoir, has died
![Australian author Cory Taylor has died aged 61.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/06/7537873/Thumbnail1011116663gpaqgkimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpzqlz.png1467800281758.jpg-90x60.jpg)
SUSAN WYNDHAM Cory Taylor, a fine Australian writer, has died within weeks of the rush-publication of her last book, Dying: A Memoir.
Lionel Shriver and Alexei Sayle heading to the Melbourne Writers Festival
![English Comedian Alexei Sayle.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/05/7535394/Thumbnail1011065816gpyn49image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpyndk.png1467694616629.jpg-90x60.jpg)
JASON STEGER Lionel Shriver and Alexei Sayle are two of the early names released for this year's Melbourne Writers Ffestival.
Bestsellers: Jane Harper holds off Annie Proulx in the independent charts
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7532961/Thumbnail1011031065gpansoimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpxwk9.png1467597489334.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Jane Harper's debut crime novel The Dry is number one in the independent charts but faces a strong challenge from Annie Proulx's epic Barkskins.
National Biography Prize shortlist shows a healthy and sceptical society
![Magda Szubanski talks to George Megalogenis at 2016 Sydney Writers' Festival.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7533274/Thumbnail1011035070gp2u76image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpxzni.png1467616728306.jpg-90x60.jpg)
SUSAN WYNDHAM Biography is a growing genre in Australian writing, says historian Peter Cochrane.
Donald Trump is Marvel comic supervillain MODAAK
![Donald Trump as MODAAK.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/04/7533307/Thumbnail1011031742gpy29bimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpxx32.png1467604823809.jpg-90x60.jpg)
NICK GALVIN Donald Trump is a monstrous comic book supervillain threatening to destroy the world.
From public servant to entrepreneur: is self-employment right for you?
![Businessman and former public servant Matthew Fenwick, author of <i>Life Without Lanyards</i>.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/29/7523430/Thumbnail10108781901mtxfeimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpumlq.png1467179920742.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Matt Fenwick Considering making the leap from the safety of a government job? Here's some advice.
Book reviews: Dead Men Don't Order Flake, Front Page News, Devour
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/23/7509701/Thumbnail1010360274gpp555image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpjiz6.png1467247513798.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Jeff Popple Australian crime fiction has traditionally been centred around the mean streets of Sydney and Melbourne.
The Girls author Emma Cline's fascination with Charles Manson
![Emma Cline has tried to understand the impulses that drove Charles Manson's acolytes.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/23/7509565/Thumbnail1010360546gpp5u9image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpjj6q.png1467447338386.jpg-90x60.jpg)
ALEXANDRA ALTER Emma Cline remembers driving past San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California, with her family when she was seven years old. That's Charles Manson's house, her parents would say.
Geoff Dyer interview: The crucial question of trust in his writing
![<i>White Sands</i> by Geoff Dyer. One of the charms of this collection of travel writing is Dyer's engrossing approach to boredom and disappointment.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/24/7512346/Thumbnail1010431837gpo05himage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpl271.png1467343350360.jpg-90x60.jpg)
MICHELLE GRIFFIN Travel writer, essayist and novelist Geoff Dyer's rule is that no one can come out of his books looking worse than the author himself, writes Michelle Griffin.
Timely collection
![Louise Nicholas' <i>The List of Last Remaining</i> is a kind of disguised memoir.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/27/7517822/Thumbnail1009144665gpr511image.related.thumbnail.320x214.goth09.png1467170431953.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Geoff Page The List of Last Remaining is a timely collection from Adelaide poet Louise Nicholas.
An author in demand
![English author Neil Gaiman has retained a sceptical view of media celebrity.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/29/7522407/Thumbnail1009860473gptlz2image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gp8tbt.png1467170807150.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Colin Steele The View from the Cheap Seats is a book to dip into, not only for the insights into Gaiman's life, but also for his accounts of books, films, art and music.
Terry Smyth: Books that changed me
![Author Terry Smyth.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/27/7517450/Thumbnail1010684436gpqh0yimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpqh3o.png1466979411357.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Terry Smyth is an award-winning journalist, playwright, scriptwriter and songwriter, based in Sydney. He is the author of Australian Confederates and a new book, Denny Day: The Life and Times of Australia's Greatest Lawman (Ebury), about the police magistrate who brought 11 men to justice after the Myall Creek massacre.
The Violet Hour review: close-up on the death of the author
![Susan Sontag in 2000.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/24/7514403/Thumbnail1010643715gpplf3image.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpploj.png1467343527950.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Jennifer Levasseur Many of us have hunted for some kind of understanding of how to fight or embrace death, how to prepare for it and how it shapes our living.
Review: The Crime Writer by Jill Dawson
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/27/7518089/Thumbnail1010670384gpq6fcimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpq69c.png1467346447374.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Kerryn Goldsworthy Fictional portrait of crime writer Patricia Highsmith
Review: Burn Patterns by Ron Elliott
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/27/7518165/Thumbnail1010671000gpq6uvimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpq6qg.png1467346578488.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Kerryn Goldsworthy Crime novel about an arsonist who targets a school
Review: The Watercolourist by Beatrice Masini
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/27/7518000/Thumbnail1010672145gpq7whimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpq7m9.png1467347282776.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Kerryn Goldsworthy An artist paints the plants in a 19th-century Italian garden
Wood Green review: Incisive portrait of Hobart with no escaped convicts or Tasmanian tigers
![Sean Rabin swiftly moves the narrative through Hobart and to the](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/24/7512013/Thumbnail1010642318gppkfgimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gppklq.png1467343854740.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Peter Pierce Sean Rabin's first novel, Wood Green, is at once a brilliantly sustained comic performance, an anatomy of a small community halfway up a brooding mountainside, an imagining of the processes of making fiction and their human costs.
The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan: A big novel about horse racing and race
![The Sport of Kings' six parts follow the conventions of the multigenerational saga.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/24/7513344/Thumbnail1010643211gppkuoimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpplaj.png1467182052138.jpg-90x60.jpg)
MALCOLM KNOX The Sport of Kings is a throwback to eras when everything was permitted and included.
Alain de Botton and his School of Life come to Sydney
![Susan Wyndham Dinkus](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2014/04/25/5378091/Susan-Wyndhamdinkus-90x60.jpg)
SUSAN WYNDHAM Learn to live, die and converse better; the battle to #SaveOzStories; focus on Australian literature
In the Darkroom review: My father and her search for identity
![Author Susan Faludi interviews her father, Stefanie Faludi, at his home in Hungary in 2008.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/24/7512104/Thumbnail1010637680gppi1qimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpph0w.png1467345332896.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Andrew Riemer Feminist writer Susan Faludi's father was a suburban American dad - until he embarked on a dramatic voyage to uncover his true self.
The truth or untruths behind Steven Spielberg's forthcoming tale of a motel voyeur
![eye](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/07/02/7529536/Thumbnail1010970082gpwvvzimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpwlia.png1467427331579.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Paul Farhi A book about a motel owner who spied on guests for decades, which Spielberg plans to adapt, has come under question.
Bookmarks: News and views from the book world
![Illustration: Andrew Dyson](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/28/7520931/Thumbnail1010828305gptkavimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gptk41.png1467343449681.jpg-90x60.jpg)
JASON STEGER Parallel importing, a literary prize and who's coming to the MWF.
Federal Election 2016: Turnbull government unlikely to win over arts sector at the ballot box
![MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 09: Television and film writer, director and producer Tony Ayres is seen during lunch with Age journalist Paul Kalina at Mess Hall restaurant in the cbd on June 9, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Ayres has produced the tv show Glitch which will premiere on ABC TV in early July. (Photo by Wayne Taylor/Fairfax Media)](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/30/7526569/ed-30-tony_20160630213529138503-90x60.jpg)
ANDREW TAYLOR The Turnbull government is unlikely to attract many votes from the arts sector, but are the alternatives any better?
J.K. Rowling loses Twitter followers after stance against EU Brexit
![J.K. Rowling says people outraged over the casting of a black Hermione are](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/29/7523928/Thumbnail1010872338godexximage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpui36.png1467242906009.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Elie Choueifaty J.K. Rowling's political views on the EU Brexit has caused a divide among her followers on Twitter.
J.K. Rowling introduces new witch Isolt Sayre, founder of the American version of Hogwarts
![J.K. Rowling's short story and animation introduces us to an Irish witch by the name of Isolt Sayre. She becomes the founder of the American version of Hogwarts.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/29/7522464/Thumbnail1010855706gpu8ndimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpu596.png1467170730296.png-90x60.png)
LINDA MORRIS The universe of Harry Potter just got bigger. Ahead of the release of the Potter world spin off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.K. Rowling has released a short story and animated video giving the film's back story - and it describes a secret school of witchcraft and wizardry founded by an Irish witch by the name of Isolt Sayre.
Top 10 Bestsellers: New film helps JoJo Moyes stays on top
![Me Before You, by
JoJo Moyes](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/28/7520102/Thumbnail1010780938gpovndimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpsjka.png1467072172949.jpg-90x60.jpg)
The new film of JoJo Moyes' novel Me Before You has helped the book stay in top spot on Australia's bestseller list.
Michael Herr, Dispatches author, Full Metal Jacket screenwriter dead at 76
![Full Metal Jacket director Stanley Kubrick.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/26/7516193/Thumbnail1010756655gps10bimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gps0tr.png1466935928318.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Michael Herr, the author and Oscar-nominated screenplay writer who viscerally documented the ravages of the Vietnam War through his classic non-fiction novel Dispatches and through such films as Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, has died after a long illness.
Book reviews: Man of Genius, Let Me Tell You About a Man I Knew, Crime Writer
![<p>](http://web.archive.org./web/20160708134455im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2016/06/16/7491293/Thumbnail1010061582gpjdthimage.related.thumbnail.320x214.gpd4i6.png1466030415787.jpg-90x60.jpg)
Anna Creer Fiction. Three for a Sunday
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