Culture
Books
Opinion
Salman Rushdie
The knife of outrage finds its mark now, 33 years after The Satanic Verses
The reaction to Salman Rushdie’s novel in 1989 was a presentiment of our age in which words are ritually denounced as violence.
- by Christopher Richardson
Latest
How shutting shop opened a new chapter for Corrie Perkin and Sorrento
When lockdown cruelled her bookshop dream, she turned her mind to a different life involving books and authors.
- by Jason Steger
Stranger Things fans will get a kick from the time-travelling Bootstrap
Georgina Young’s remarkably entertaining and propulsive second novel captures the magic and dread of being 19.
- by Jessie Tu
We’re failing kids on sex education. Here’s what we can do about it
Katrina Marson’s Legitimate Sexpectations highlights the positive results of students armed with substantial information.
- by Louise Swinn
This ‘achingly beautiful’ crime novel may be Michael Robotham’s best yet
Lying Beside You is a cleverly constructed novel about trust, redemption and love that had me intermittently catching my breath.
- by Sue Turnbull
How the West got it all wrong about the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul
Australian photojournalist Andrew Quilty has spent years documenting the horrors in Afghanistan. His new book makes for uncomfortable reading.
- by Antony Loewenstein
Let the revolution begin - and let it be fun
In Claire G. Coleman’s novel, Christine is a timid and controlled young woman, living in the whitebread Safetown. But that will soon change ...
- by Lucy Sussex
Cult author does it again with wild tales of corpses and cannibalism
Sayaka Murata’s story collection Life Ceremony leads our wrap of new fiction and non-fiction reviews.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
Lost treasures: The quest to save classic Australian books from extinction
Our literary legacy has been in danger of disappearing, but Untapped is bringing out-of-print titles out of obscurity.
- by Jane Sullivan
Why a gender-fluid god can save religion from itself
Queering religion is the key to survival as patriarchal religions lose relevance.
- by Louise Omer
I was young and so ambitious it made me sick. I’m not alone
The pandemic has fundamentally altered the way I work and, more importantly, my belief that I can find meaning and fulfilment through work at all.
- by Eda Gunaydin