The new artistic director of the Sydney Writers' Festival, Michaela McGuire, represents a younger generation of event curators in Australia with an impressive range of experience.

Robert Forster has been accused of avoiding the darker elements of life in the Go-Betweens in his memoir. Over mounds of oysters, he tells Karl Quinn why he did so.

The judges of this year's Prime Minister's Literary Awards have announced joint winners in three categories.

Paul Hetherington didn't expect to have a life-changing experience in Italy, but he did.

What's on in Canberra's literary scene from November 11

"Dear David, would you like to be one of our Men of Letters? The premise for the show is simple - we ask ten esteemed gentlemen to write a letter to the "woman who changed my life," and read it live. The letter can be funny, heartfelt, musical if you're so inclined - whatever works…."

The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly tops this week's bestselling fiction chart.

Drug abuse went all the way to the top in Nazi Germany.

The most important pages in Paul Ham's book are the ones in which he makes a thoughtful contribution to the all-too-rare discussion of why it is necessary or desirable to "remember" the dead of the Great War.

Hannah Kent's second novel is the best-selling book in the country.

Pinchas Goldhar's stories deal with the struggle to find a cultural and ethical foothold in the darkest of times.

Katherine Johnson does create a brooding atmosphere in her story of a war-damaged father and his vulnerable boys.

Garth Nix returns to the fantasy world of Lirael and resurrects her nemesis, Chlorr of the Mask.

The twist is classic P.D. James, as is the steady crumb-trail of clues in the Adam Dalgliesh story The Twelve Clues of Christmas.

Clive Hamilton, professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, shares a list of books that have influenced him from The Women's Room to the Old Testament Book of Job.

The reclusive Italian writer Elena Ferrante may never publish another book following a journalist's apparent exposure of her real identity, warns her American translator.

Cate Blanchett and Quentin Bryce reflect on the profound impact of being judges on the Brotherhood of St Laurence's first literary prize.

Melissa Ashley's task, as she says in an author's note, is to bring to life, through fiction, what the factual accounts have overlooked.

This book is a sham, a trick, a gorgeous lie.

William McInnes' style of telling stories is digressive and his writing can be beautiful.

Jim Maxwell's book is as much a dedication to the art of radio commentary as the game of cricket.

The era of the computer keyboard means that we may well witness the end of handwriting.

Andrew P. Street's take on Australian politics stresses its circus-like nature.

Graeme Simsion's third novel is alert to many kinds of emotional pain within its story of lost and found love.