“Someone hums a muted tune, a lullaby from another planet. Then the line goes dead.” Insofar as this year’s Booker longlist has a theme or themes (other than “Life! What does it all MEAN!”...
This year’s Man Booker Prize, in its first outing since the controversial rule change, was widely tipped to be The Coming of the Americans writ large. Previously open only to novels by Commonwealth...
It’s been a fair while between drinks for Donna Tartt. Her previous novel, The Little Friend, came out in 2002; The Goldfinch, her latest (and, as I will argue below, certainly her greatest to...
“Even true stories have to be invented sometimes to be remembered…” The winner of Australia’s premier literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award, was announced last week – it went to Evie...
“Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.” (Albert Camus) Karen Joy Fowler is a writer that I thought I had not encountered before reading her most recent novel, We Are All...
Allegations of sexual impropriety, abuse and violence have been an increasingly regular part of Australian football culture over the past 10 years. By pointing this out, I don’t suggest that the...
The longlist for Australian’s biggest literary award, the Miles Franklin, was announced on 3 April, and it’s quite an interesting list as lists go. It comprises the following 11 titles: Tracy...
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have announced the nominee list for the annual Nebula Awards, and, as usual, it’s got some strong points of interest. There’s an...
The longlist for the second Stella Prize for Australian women’s writing was announced a couple of weeks ago, and it’s a rather interesting selection, featuring only 5 novels alongside a short...
The winner of the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature will be announced any day now. The Etisalat, a new prize for debut novelists from Africa, offers a modest cash award (£15,000) along with a...
