Patrik Svensson’s eloquent debut is a hymn to the elusiveness of eels and an ode to family

Michael Farrell’s new collection exhibits his idiosyncratic technical strengths, while Ellen van Neerven’s asserts a more direct, and undeniable, voice

Polly Samson’s depiction of Hydra’s famed cohort of artists in the ’60s suffers from being overly impressed by celebrity

The coldly brilliant, bestselling South Korean novel describing the ambient harassment and discrimination experienced by women globally

The Australian writer’s lyrical consideration of our relationship with whales is a new and ambitious kind of nature writing

Laura Jean McKay’s prickly novel burns with uncomfortable, difficult questions about animals and human nature

In the midst of a pandemic, people are reverting to the music they loved – and found solace in – as teenagers

A big year turned on its head for the Melbourne band

The rapper and MC’s second album ‘Heavy Is the Head’ is another triumphant step bringing black British culture forward

Energetic cross-genre experiments power a scant retrospective from members of Melbourne’s ‘little band’ scene

The music of the South Sudanese star and former refugee offers solace and a plea for unity

This Netflix series pays lip service to female empowerment in the music industry, but ultimately reinforces its limits

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon continue to charm in their final food odyssey

What is the future of cinema without cinemas?

Remembering Max von Sydow, the greatest actor of his generation

A multicultural vision underscores the acclaimed British satirist’s endearing Dickensian romp

This year’s showcase of French cinema features combustible social realism, unmissable zombie-teen drama, an unofficial tribute to the iconic Catherine Deneuve, and more

Mark Ruffalo is at his understated best in Todd Haynes’ take on this real-life environmental legal drama

The masterful Netflix series addresses the struggle to articulate female desire

The screen adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel is a piercing portrayal of young lovers

HBO’s adaptation of the Philip Roth novel is a contemporary allegory with a terrifying slow burn

A probing drama about Australia’s mandatory detention regime focuses on the dehumanisation experienced on both sides of the razor wire

Australian comedian Josh Thomas brings his unique brand of comedy to the classic American sitcom format

‘The Crown’, ‘For All Mankind’ and ‘Dickinson’ offer new perspectives on history, and pragmatism meets pyramid schemes in ‘On Becoming a God in Central Florida’

Leigh Robb’s absorbing curation, ‘Monster Theatres’, is both artistically and politically coherent

The NGV’s virtual show is a playful celebration of Japan’s moga (modern girls) and mobo (modern boys), full of optimism for the future

The brazen art movement born out of the troubled legacies of substance abuse and dispossession

Lucienne Rickard’s durational art performance at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery reckons with extinct species

Early death meant the work of these renowned artists never fully emerged from ’80s New York subcultures

Hanging works by the two masters together highlights their artistic rivalry and mutual influence

The creators of this opera on how it adds new depths and agency to von Trier’s 1996 film

Director Robert Icke on rewriting the classic Austrian play to explore contemporary moral conundrums

Italian director Romeo Castellucci on his radical reimagining of Mozart’s classic

Theatremaker Phelim McDermott on his highly personal collaboration with Philip Glass

Australia’s first major Shakespearean production in Noongar language will retell ‘Macbeth’ at Perth Festival

The seminal essay’s ongoing resonance is explored in this interactive production coming to Sydney Festival

These performances by the Lyon Opera Ballet and Shamel Pitts at the Adelaide Festival explore the body’s formidable potential

Choreography meets politics at this contemporary dance festival

A conversation with members of the Italian company ahead of their tour to Brisbane

Bangarra’s latest production explores Aboriginal Australians’ sophisticated farming practices

The Sydney Festival-bound show’s choreographer loves mixing the body with technology

Sydney Opera House (touring Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne)

The ‘Longhouse’ and the ‘Multihouse’ confirm the director of Partners Hill as the country’s most important and influential architect of the past 30 years

The consumption of space, land and habitat is Australia’s focus at the world’s pre-eminent architecture event

A new four-day tour in Tasmania is owned and guided by Aboriginal people

Beautiful on the outside … the tragedy of Bennelong Point

Brutalist masterpiece or harbour eyesore? Sydney’s Sirius building faces an uncertain future

The Australian Islamic Centre is notable for what it isn’t as much as for what it is

Victoria Lee takes on the Victoria’s Secret runway

‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier’ at the National Gallery of Victoria

At the Bendigo Art Gallery

The iconic Australian brand has a new co-owner

Romance was born - ‘The Oracle’, 2011

Can a young wartime couple pick up where they left off?

Hamish Hamilton; $32.99

The perverse attraction of autobiographical fiction

HarperCollins; $29.99

The third volume of the epic autobiographical novel ‘My Struggle’

How a minor poet made a major historical error

Clive James’ ‘Sentenced to Life’ and Les Murray’s ‘Waiting for the Past’

A century of Dylan Thomas

Meeting Ko Un

Peter Steele (1939–2012)