Books Editor. An admirer of songs and reader of books. Simon has a PhD in English and Comparative Literature. All errant apostrophes are his own.
This week the shortlist for the 2018 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize was unveiled to the public, with Claire Aman (NSW), Sharmini Aphrodite (Singapore) & Madelaine Lucas (NSW/USA) each getting the nod. This year the prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from writers from across the globe. The winning author will receive $7,000, whilst the shortlisted…
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With Gurrumul, director Paul Damien Williams has created a striking and emotive portrait of one of Australia’s greatest musical talents – Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. But more than that, Gurrumul also affords us all a glimpse into the cultural life and traditions of the Yolngu people in North Eastern Arnhem Land, in what are some of…
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Marlon Bundo, that lonely bunny who’s been making headlines this week, will be making his Australian debut next month, with the local release of this bestselling new children’s book. The book, A Day in the life of Marlon Bundo, was launched by comedian John Oliver earlier this week on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, and is in…
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Neighbourly disputes are really not all that uncommon in the real world, but in Under the Tree, the third feature film from Icelandic director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigur∂sson, a relatively minor disagreement between two suburban neighbouring families over a tree and the shadow it casts morphs into an ever escalating case of mutually assured destruction culminating…
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The Lebs is the confronting and compelling new novel from award-winning novelist, editor, and community arts worker Michael Mohammed Ahmad. Following the release of the novel last week we caught up with Michael to discover more about the novel, the inspirations behind it, and his take on the state of diversity in Australian literature. Mohammed’s essays…
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With Gurrumul, director Paul Damien Williams has created a striking and emotive portrait of one of Australia’s greatest musical talents – Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. But more than that, Gurrumul also affords us all a glimpse into the cultural life and traditions of the Yolngu people in North Eastern Arnhem Land, in what are some of…
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Happy New Year everyone. Now we’ve packed away the Christmas decorations and finished the last of the festive treats, we in the book review team at the AU thought it’d be a good time to look back at some of our favourite books of the last year. A veritable smorgasbord of great books were released…
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Between February 9th and March 4th 2018 the Perth International Arts Festival invites audiences to see art in a different light, and revel in a smorgasbord of captivating cultural experiences, with something for everyone. 2018 marks Artistic Director Wendy Martin’s third year at the helm, as well as the Festival’s 65th Anniversary. To celebrate the…
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Montreal-based band The Barr Brothers released their third record, Queens of the Breakers, earlier this month. The record, which takes its name from The Breakers, a Vanderbilt mansion precariously placed on Newport, Rhode Island’s coastline, was recorded in Montreal and St. Zenon, Quebec; engineered by Ryan Freeland (Bonnie Raitt, Ray LaMontagne) and Marcus Paquin (Arcade…
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Friday night saw the 2017 Fremantle Festival kick off, with events taking place in venues across the port city. Helping kick off proceedings, and taking over the Fremantle Town Hall, were American ‘country’ musicians Justin Townes Earle and Joshua Hedley, as well as local talent Ruby Boots. It also happened to be the last night…
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October has been good to book lovers, with a bumper collection of new releases. So here, as promised, are five more books we think you need to be reading. Three of the five books are highly anticipated sequels, prequels and follow-ups, though some are more long-awaited than others. Included on this list is a nice…
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On Saturday 28th October the Bankstown Arts Centre is to play host to Boundless, a new literary festival bringing together Indigenous and culturally diverse Australian authors, both emerging and established, with readers to help celebrate the changing face of Australian literature. Presented by the NSW Writers’ Centre and Bankstown Arts Centre, Boundless, is a free…
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Inua Ellams, is a Nigerian-born, award-winning poet, playwright, performer and the founder of The Midnight Run. He has published four books of poetry, including his most recent publication #Afterhours. His plays have toured internationally, and have been performed at England’s The National Theatre, the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, and at the Perth International Arts Festival earlier this…
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In town for the CinefestOz Film Festival, where a documentary about him is being screened, Steve Kilbey, of The Church fame, dropped into Fremantle for a one off ‘solo’ gig at Mojos on Thursday Night. Joining Kilbey on stage was a trio of local musicians – Shaun Coulson, on guitar and mandolin, Shaun Hoffman on…
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Welcome to this month’s round up of the books we think you need to be reading. This month’s collection is once again a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, with Billy Bragg’s new treatise on the history and influence of skiffle music taking out the top spot. Beyond that we’ve got the latest book from Mexico’s…
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On the 18th June the shortlist for the 2017 Miles Franklin Literary Award – an award now in it’s 60th year – was unveiled to the public. And what an exciting shortlist it was, with all five of this nominated authors shortlisted for the very first time! It was also great to see many of…
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Sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re going to know if you’re going to like a novel just from looking at the cover and the synopsis. Sometimes it’s handy to read a little bit of the novel, get a feel for it… realise you love it, want to read more, and go out and by…
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On the 18th June the shortlist for the 2017 Miles Franklin Literary Award – an award now in it’s 60th year – was unveiled to the public. And what an exciting shortlist it was, with all five of this nominated authors shortlisted for the very first time! It was also great to see many of…
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We’re somehow half way through the year already! Thanks to international travel and the resulting jetlag this month’s list of the five books we think you need to be reading is a little later than planned. But here it is all the same. There’s still some time left to add them to your lists. This…
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Welcome to this month’s round up of the books we think you need to be reading. It’s a bit of an eclectic mix this month, with a mixture of fiction, poetry and some non-fiction. We’ve got monsters, deplorables, teenagers and NDNs’. We move from the Hindu Kush, to Brooklyn, to Prague and to Australia. So…
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Melbourne’s QV Square and the surrounding laneways will later this month be transformed into a vibrant outdoor garden gallery of interactive neon art installations. Running from 17th May until 17th June, Melbourne-based international artist Carla O’Brien will fill the space with her new exhibition Neon Night Garden. Neon Night Garden will be O’Brien’s most extensive…
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Melbourne Theatre Company have pulled together a powerhouse cast for their new production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The production, directed by Simon Phillips, is the third and final instalment in a trilogy of Shakespearian reinterpretations directed by Phillips for Melbourne Theatre Company, following on from acclaimed productions of Hamlet and Richard III. Taking on the iconic…
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If you’ve ever dreamed of being in a smash hit musical then 2018 could be the year for you! The producers of the international hit musical Jersey Boys are on the hunt for fresh Australian talent, ready for the show’s return to Sydney in 2018. Jersey Boys tells the real life story and the rise…
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An acclaimed group of Australian authors will travel to China next week for the tenth annual Australian Writers Week. The event, supported by the Copyright Agency’s ‘Cultural Fund’ since 2014, is a significant opportunity for cultural exchange, with Australian authors getting the chance to travel across China sharing their stories, whilst also raising awareness of the…
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Garage Barbershop, a new exhibition at the Blacktown Arts Centre, is a celebration of the craft and culture of barbering, and the important role the humble barbershop can play within the community. The focus of the exhibition is youth worker and self-taught barber Charles Lomu, and his five apprentice barbers, who have set up on…
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The great wave off Kanagawa – It is perhaps the best known and most recognisable piece of Japanese art. It has adorned walls, notebooks and computer desktops the world over, and now Australian art enthusiasts get to witness it, alongside other works by its creator, in the flesh at Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria this July….
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Hannah Gadsby has taken out the 2017 Barry Award for Best Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Gadsby won with her show Nanette – a self described swan song. The award was announced during the traditional late-night ceremony at The Festival Club, and saw Gadsby edging out fellow nominees Damien Power, Anne Edmonds, Tom…
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From the 1st May until the 15th June, the Art Series Hotel Group are inviting guests to sleepover, strike a pose and find themselves the subject of a life drawn masterpiece. This is all part of the hotel group’s ‘No Robe Package’ which asks guests to reveal the “real” them for a group of artists…
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Easter has come and gone for another year. Hopefully you’ve all eaten your fill of chocolate and hot cross buns. Now it’s time to gorge yourself on some new books, and April is proving to be a fantastic month for great new reads. There’s plenty to choose from this month, but here are the five…
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The program for the 20th Sydney Writers’ Festival was announced at the end of last week – and for those literary types not in Sydney there is going to be some serious festival envy. Taking place across six days from May 22nd to May 28th, the festival boasts over 450 writers taking part in 400…
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