This biography is strongest in the case it makes for the virtues of Elizabeth Jane Howard's fiction and in its depiction of the sensibility that drew her into the orbit of so many dreadful men.

George Saunders and Colson Whitehead have both produced acclaimed bestselling novels where historical reality gradually morphs into fantasy

Inga Simpson's Understory is a love letter to a "scrappy piece of forest" and it is somewhere in the gaps between the observational nature writing and the memoir aspect that something subterranean and magical happens.

Three Australian memoirs ask how self-respect can be coaxed forth when, as a child, your capacity for healthy self-determination is almost shattered.

This books tells the story of the people and places that turned Brunswick Street into Melbourne's bohemian boulevard

Having experienced what it's like to be Shia in Sunni-dominated Pakistan, comedian Sami Shah knew a thing or two about terrorism before coming to Australia.

Reni Eddo-Lodge discovered a disturbing lack of knowledge in Britain about black history and the nation's involvement in slavery.

Pixar wasn't always the film-industry success that it is now. This is the story of how Lawrence Levy turned the company round.

Author Mikhail Zygar says the Russian leader is not a grimly determined master strategist.

Mohsin Hamid's small, imaginatively written novel about the plight of two refugees packs a powerful punch.

The Fall of Lisa Bellow is an intelligent, engaging novel about trauma, recovery, and the vulnerabilities of teenage girls.

The End of the Day has a rich, wild energy and imagination.

Eliza Henry-Jones explores the drama, horror and aftermath of a bushfire on four generations of one family.

There's a dark current of sardonic realism underpinning the humour in Vivienne Kelly's The Starlings.

Brian Castro's Blindness and Rage can at times be perplexing but it is mostly lively, striking and even exhilarating.

Sheila Kohler captures the silences that surrounded a white South African childhood.

Blue-collar singer Jimmy Barnes officially an award-winning author for his memoir.

Literary news and events.

David Grann tells the story of a shocking 1920s conspiracy to murder people of the Osage Nation to gain the wealth they received from oil rights.

George Saunders was a passenger on a commercial United Airlines jet that flew into a flock of geese outside of Chicago and almost fell to earth.

Catherine McKinnon loved how David Mitchell told several stories in different genres to create his novel Cloud Atlas.

You can rely on the Australian vernacular to provide all sorts of curly questions about origins and timelines.

The real point of Cory Doctorow's Walkaway isn't the plot or the explosions, it's the ideas that burst from every page.

Film maker Neil Jordan reworks the classic device of the changeling in his latest, unsettling novel.