For both Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Barnes the rock'n'roll escape is a death-defying miracle, which is emblematic of their generation.

Steven Marcuson's The Bunting Quest has similarities to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, except that it's better.

Laura Bloom's The Cleanskin lays bare the personal cost of sectarian conflict.

Tony Tulathimutte's Private Citizens is a whip-smart satire on a generation born into a perfect storm of privilege and disappointment.

Even grown-ups want to believe in fairytales, as a journalist found when public outrage greeted his "unmasking" of the best-selling Italian novelist Elena Ferrante this week.

It's 1923, and Hitler suddenly decides he needs to boost his national profile.

Was it worth the Liberal party taking Malcolm Turnbull back as leader for a second crack?

The case captured world headlines: both Peter Greste's plight and the efforts of his family to get the Al Jazeera journalist released from prison.

Tim Carmody's was a controversial appointment from start to finish.

Our genomes are to be thought of as a kind of history book, an epic poem that contains the story of us as individuals and our species.

Why this fascination with crime? "We need forgiveness and someone to blame," says crime writer Walter Mosley.

Aravind Adiga has a large international English readership for his novels, which get better and better.

After surviving incarceration in Changi, John Cade went on to make the unthought-of connection between lithium carbonate and the management of bipolar disorder.

Bruce or Barnesy - who hit the top of the charts?

The readers of Elena Ferrante are devoted – and fiercely protective – of that anonymous Italian author. That much was clear from the swift and unforgiving backlash after an investigative journalist used financial documents to suggest in an article published on Sunday that Anita Raja, an Italian translator, was behind Ferrante's books.

A quiet conviction of latent greatness would be the most vital piece in one of this country's strangest rock'n'roll success stories, the Go-Betweens.

Literary news and events in Canberra

When television entered our homes, a sweet inattention dawned, where it was enough to witness the world, it didn't have to be understood or questioned.

Eight great artists are vividly revealed as the flawed and brilliant human beings they were.

Politics professor John Murphy sheds new light on the life of Herbert Vere Evatt.

Anthony Bourdain has lent his name to a new Asian food-hall venture in midtown Manhattan.

Pam the name is 10 times funnier than Lisa. Glenn with two Ns is hilarious compared to his one-N version, while Barbara, or Barb, is comedy gold in contrast to Mrs O'Brien.

A new poem about landscape, cemeteries and humanity by John Kinsella

Who is Elena Ferrante? The best-selling author who doesn't want you to know her name.