Spectrum
What to read next: Striking Japanese stories and our submarines at war
Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction releases.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
Latest
Where have all the funny novels gone?
No one is writing stories designed to make people laugh any more. (Um, except me?)
- by Nick Bhasin
Tiger King director’s new series is as bonkers as you’d expect
Director Eric Goode explores the world of “monkey love” in his new documentary series – and it is wild.
- by Kylie Northover
A local pop star is born: Becca Hatch’s club classics are so good
The Western Sydney singer’s debut release is a mini dance-pop masterpiece.
- by Robert Moran
At Australia’s richest landscape prize, art conquered politics
This year’s $100,000 Hadley’s Art Prize offered a range of ways of seeing our wildest terrain.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
WordPlay
Hundreds of words have been added to the dictionary this year. Which ones will last?
Enshittification, this is your moment.
- by David Astle
‘I hope it sticks to them like a tick’: A writer’s gift to her stalker
Author Ella Baxter has an unusual request for the person who sent her violent and sexual letters.
- by Melanie Kembrey
Opinion
Opinion
We desperately need to improve our concentration. Here’s a novel idea
In a world of fleeting social media grabs and instant gratification, how can we learn to focus?
- by Richard Glover
‘I write about sports; it’s what my head is filled with’
Two of Joseph O’Neill’s novels have been shortlisted for the Booker. His latest has echoes of Heart of Darkness in its quest for a brilliant teenage African footballer.
- by Jason Steger
At the heart of a love story, an urge to understand Country
Anita Heiss’ second historical novel is an act of remembering, educative about sorry business and the need for empathy.
- by Lucy Sussex
It may be short, but this story of music strikes the right note
Andrew Ford speculates that music might predate speech. But in his informative “shortest history”, he insists that music is not a universal language.
- by Barney Zwartz