February 2020
Magazine
The Monthly Essays
Caught up in the chaos of the catastrophic bushfires on the NSW South Coast, the author experienced the terror of those whose homes and loved ones are threatened, as the failures of leadership became all too real
Heather Morris’s bestselling novels ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ and ‘Cilka’s Journey’, and the problem of truth in historical fiction
The Nation Reviewed
On John Cain, Scott Morrison and our curious inability to elect good people
Independent MP Zali Steggall hopes her private member’s bill will take the partisanship out of climate-change policy
Having survived Afghanistan as a counterintelligence officer, a traumatised vet and his family lost their farm in the Adelaide Hills bushfires
Bernard Collaery eagerly awaits his national security trial, energised by the prospect of highlighting the government’s misdeeds
A community gardening program is bringing hope to asylum seekers
Vox
Trading the joys of a childhood spent in the sun for an adulthood under scrutiny on a skin clinic table
Arts & Letters
Stopped in the street: ‘Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines’
Early death meant the work of these renowned artists never fully emerged from ’80s New York subcultures
Days of future passed: William Gibson’s ‘Agency’
The cyberpunk pioneer’s latest novel continues his examination of the present from the perspective of a post-apocalyptic future
Kills, frills and Kelly aches: Justin Kurzel’s ‘True History of the Kelly Gang’
The Australian director brings a welcome sense of style to the unusually malleable story
The king in exile: Gordon Koang
The music of the South Sudanese star and former refugee offers solace and a plea for unity
Noted
‘Matisse & Picasso’: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Hanging works by the two masters together highlights their artistic rivalry and mutual influence
‘A Couple of Things Before the End’ by Sean O’Beirne The Australian author’s debut story collection confidently converts the linguistic detritus of our era into something of lasting value
