I reckon we all have one foot in the bogan camp, assuming sociologists will ever define such a space.

One of Australia's absolutely essential poets, Fay Zwicky, has died on the weekend her Collected Poems was published.

Comedian and childrens' author says Spike Milligan's Badjelly the Witch is one of the best books to read out loud.

• Books

A long talk with Robert Ludlum had big consequences for Eric Van Lustbader, who took on Jason Bourne after creator's death.

Death of a She Devil is a kind of coda to a brilliant literary career that will charm anyone who can cotton on to the lilt of a sentence or the wit of a wise old woman

• Review

Strong young-adult fiction like Anna Spargo-Ryan's The Gulf should not preclude it from being enjoyed by adults.

Joel Dicker wrote a brilliant debut about a blocked writer on his second novel; his second novel feels somehow blocked.

Dragon Teeth takes a real-life rivalry between 19th-century palaeontologists, and transforms it into a clunky and unsatisfying historical novel.

The Forensic Records Society is the latest quirky, original parable from the sureal humorist Magnus Mills.

• Turning Pages

As one of many recipients of his wisdom, I'm grateful the conversation continues in book form.

Victor Klemeper's eyewitness account of revolt in Munich soon after World War I was written for a newspaper and has a distinctly man-on-the-spot feel to it.

The Sagrada Familia is the only building on earth begun in the 19th century (1882) and still being built today: work slowed drastically by the Spanish civil war.

Iain Ryan's hero Nate is in way over his head in an underworld where the only choices are between bad and worse.

Clive Small (a detective for 38 years) and Tom Gilling create a scary picture of the scale of the local drug trade and its overseas connections.

Briohny Doyle's sharp, entertaining, often amusing book explores the phenomenon of turning 30 through millennial eyes.

• Review

Roxanne Gay's authentic, courageous memoir Hunger illuminates the search for identity.

In the era of data-driven politics, pressing the flesh and listening to voters still matter.

• Review

Analysis and insights on the forces at work in Hillary Clinton's 2016 election campaign.

• Crime fiction

The masterful Don Winslow stakes out new territory in contemporary USA.

When she was at Radcliffe, Gertrude Stein always wore black and refused to wear a corset. Samuel Beckett liked Wallabee boots and Aran sweaters and settled on his hairstyle when he was 17. Edith Sitwell bought furnishing fabrics and had them made into dresses. William Burroughs "branded himself" in a suit and tie. Zadie Smith is rarely photographed without her head wrap.

A new theory suggests that George Orwell made a crucial change to the text of Nineteen Eighty-Four not long before he died.

• Interview

Steven Lang keeps the focus on interactions and big issues in Hinterland.

Literary events in Canberra.

Book which details offences allegedly committed by Cardinal Pell will be removed from sale in Victoria.