In the Radium Girls, Kate Moore documents a terrible work-practice that had a catastrophic effect on factory workers.

There hasn't been a recreation of 18th-century dialogue and literary style this rich and detailed since Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon.

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.

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.

An Australian young adult fantasy classic gets a new lease of life, writes Colin Steele

One way of approaching a subject like death is to say that it is the absence of life, but then you have to define life.

A book about a motel owner who spied on guests for decades, which Spielberg plans to adapt, has come under question.

Asylum compares itself to Kafka and does make reference to the idea of metamorphosis. But its kindred spirit is just as much Dostoyevsky.

John Kinsella's poem Graphology Mutations 24 looks at where the dead of the world lie.

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.

With the publication of Rosetta: A Scandalous True Story, Rosetta Raphael joins the chorus of young colonial women who thrived as a consequence of identity alteration.

The Turnbull government is unlikely to attract many votes from the arts sector, but are the alternatives any better?

In time for the school holidays, Steven Rea offers his shortlist of excellent big-screen interpretations of kid-lit classics abounding with magic, adventure, danger and delight.

In Rajith Savanadasa's first novel, Ruins, effects of the Sri Lankan civil war intrude on a middle-class family in Colombo.

J.K. Rowling's political views on the EU Brexit has caused a divide among her followers on Twitter.

Learn to live, die and converse better; the battle to #SaveOzStories; focus on Australian literature

ORNITHOLOGY

Considering making the leap from the safety of a government job? Here's some advice.

Supernatural fiction with 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.

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.

Parallel importing, a literary prize and who's coming to the MWF.

The new film of JoJo Moyes' novel Me Before You has helped the book stay in top spot on Australia's bestseller list.

Memoir

Anthology of creative writing students' work