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Wordplay: Shakespeare's creative coinage bursts the muzzle

<i>Illustration by Simon Letch</i>

Whenever Henrietta went to the opera she shut her eyes to block out the lascivious throats, the heaving breasts, the strapping torsos. Meanwhile a night of Shakespeare enforced the same lass to clap her palms over her ears, lest she absorb an innuendo.

Ann Patchett: I am a better writer without my father

Literary giant: Ann Patchett's seventh work of fiction, <i>Commonwealth</i>, is being hailed as one of the finest novels ...

Described as a literary giant, is the recipient of many awards, has featured on the Time 100 most influential people in the world list and has just released her seventh work of fiction, Commonwealth. Early reviews are praising it as one of the best novels of the year. Here she reflects on the impact her father had on her work.

Turning Pages: unpretentious words smash taboos

English Comedian Alexei Sayle has mellowed a tiny bit.

When she was young, Magda Szubanski used to read Enid Blyton and her father's old anatomy books. "I knew by the age of eight how to dissect a person," she told the Melbourne Writers Festival. "I performed it as a party trick."

Richard Flanagan lauds Nauru files as great Australian writing

Author Richard Flanagan has questioned why Australian politicians have such hostility towards writing.

If anyone was expecting a gentle trot through the whys and wherefores of writing, the pros and cons of great writers in Richard Flanagan's first public lecture as inaugural Boisbouvier Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne they were in for a surprise.

Man Booker winner says writing should challenge us

Man Booker-winning author Richard Flanagan at the University of Melbourne.

Man Booker-winning novelist begins the public element of his role as Boisbouvier professor of Australian literature at the University of Melbourne on Thursday with a lecture at Melbourne Writers Festival.