Should we boycott comedians' books for children? Are they just lazy scribblers exploiting their fame and maybe stealing other people's ideas?

To read Down the Hume, Peter Polites' fierce first novel, is to step into the literary wilds.

Writers appointed to work side-by-side with researchers tackling some of the biggest public health scourges of modern times.

Award-winning novelist Eliza Henry-Jones has been inspired by the work of Tim Winton.

Just as hair follicles spell our DNA, so do semicolons and adjectives unmask authors.

Young Irish writer Lisa McInerney's storytelling is clever, rich and dark.

This historical romance explores some intriguing possibilities about the Romani people in 19th century Australia.

Social researcher Hugh Mackay's seventh novel recalls the fiction of David Lodge.

This polished first novel treads a delicate and frightening line between the present and the future

Henry Marsh has prised tumours from brains for more than 40 years as a leading neurosurgeon and still has no idea how that mass gives rise to consciousness, thought and feeling.

A fictional 11-year-old spy inspired Mariko Tamaki to write novels and graphic novels

• REVIEW

An entertaining chronicle of Europe as seen through the famously kitsch contest.

Elegantly written essays explore the melancholy of post-natal depression.

A moving memoir about the arbitrariness of binary gender divisions and how they box us all in.

The remarkable true story of a penniless young man who transforms himself into the "uncrowned king of Simla".

The story of Jewish-Australians in almost every Australian military conflict up to the present day.

• Turning Pages

Women writers dominated the annual Clunes festival, in its 11th year and growing.

J.K. Rowling has pleaded for the return of a Harry Potter manuscript that has been stolen.

JK Rowling called for help from all the muggles out there after a Harry Potter script was stolen.

Neglected as a child, Rosie Waterland finds solace in her mother's chicken soup as an adult.

Rebe Taylor's book is the latest entry in the history wars; her aim is to unearth proof of the antiquity of Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

The veteran ABC broadcaster Mark Colvin has signed off for good. His was a massive intellect and a rare talent.

Australian author takes out the world's richest literary prize for young writers for her short story collection.

An original May Gibbs painting will find a new home at the National Centre for Australian Children's Literature in Canberra

• REVIEW

Australian-Chinese novelist Ouyang Yu explores the life of a World War I digger who is little known or celebrated outside Queensland.