The Premier's Literary Awards shortlist flags a coming-of-age of shorter forms of storytelling.

Robert Pirsig, whose 1974 travelogue-cum-philosophical tract, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, sold millions of copies and made him a reluctant hero to generations of intellectual wanderers, died at his home in South Berwick, Maine, on Monday. He was 88.

It has been more than 20 years since a study of Helen Garner's work so Bernadette Brennan's A Writing Life is welcome.

Pronouncing words the right way is important but it's far from an easy matter when it comes to the English language.

It is appropriate for Georgina Arnott to expose the lacunae and misprisions in Judith Wright's own representation of her past to suit her later beliefs.

Ariel Levy's memoir, The Rules Do Not Apply, asks what happens when you can no longer control how the story unfolds.

The best of these pieces are stories of deep pain and the role of animals in healing.

As in the best historical crime series, archival evidence provides the structure for a story that riffs on a history that is also poignantly personal.

It is 50 years since Gabriel Garcia Marquez's hugely influential One Hundred Years of Solitude was published. We should give thanks for it.

Brit Bennett's first novel, The Mothers, grew from its first skeletal draft of star-crossed lovers into a much more complicated, nuanced tale of two motherless friends.

In this harrowingly revealing memoir, Nikki Gemmell is no bride stripped bare but a daughter naked in her grief after her mother took her own life.

It's a bit of a predictable rom-com but Anna Daniels' comic style makes the most of it.

In a saga about polar bears, Yoko Tawada has created a book about love and horror, nature and nurture and the role of writing.

English readers can delight in this prizewinning translation by Tess Lewis of Lutz Seiler's novel about the end of East Germany.

Ashley Hay's characters deal with the weight of family opinion – so often divided – and pressures and expectations.

The 12th novel in Philip Kerr's bestselling historical crime series sees Bernie Gunther hunted by the Stasi in 1956 for refusing to assassinate one of his former lovers.

From the beginning of her pregnancy, Chitra Ramaswamy's detailing of the process is immediate and vivid.

Madonna King's examination of the 14-year-old female monster is deeply informed and should be helpful for parents.

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band was called a concept album when it was released – but it was the first time Paul McCartney had heard the phrase.

Simon Chapman stands up for the nanny-state in the face of libertarian objections.

Millions intended for authors has been set aside to fight fair use.

Writing a book was a very different proposition for the Irish comedian Jason Byrne. But he knuckled down to produce his memoir – and he didn't need any props.

Literary news and events.

• WORLDPLAY

Friend and mate – both words are precious, yet one is more at home in Owen Stanley's mud.