Biography and memoir
Only Happiness Here by Gabrielle Carey
‘I think I’ve so got into the habit of being happy inside and quite secretly …’ So wrote Elizabeth von Armin in her diary, in the year before her death, according to Gabrielle Carey in her new memoir and biography…
Unseen by Jacinta Parsons
About 9.5 million Australians live with a chronic illness. Many of these conditions are not outwardly visible, so symptoms and side effects are often experienced by sufferers in solitude.
Unseen is a powerful memoir about chronic illness by ABC broadcaster…
Show Me Where It Hurts by Kylie Maslen
In Kylie Maslen’s generous debut collection of essays, Show Me Where It Hurts, she invites the reader into her experience of chronic pain. Hers, not anyone – or everyone – else’s: ‘I only hope that others find some kinship…
Hysteria by Katerina Bryant
I’m an avid reader of Australian debut writing, especially from younger authors. If you haven’t heard of it, Voiceworks is a literary journal produced by and for writers and artists under twenty-five. That in itself is amazing, but what is…
Into the Suburbs: A Migrant’s Story by Christopher Raja
Personal stories of migration to Australia always break my heart a little. It is within these affecting portraits of someone’s life that we see an Australia that is racist, classist and so arrogant. Christopher Raja’s story of arriving from Calcutta…
Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
This book by a young Irish teenager is an extraordinarily beautiful seasonal diary of observing and appreciating nature, teeming with stunning descriptions of the natural world. As he observes the changing of the seasons, the author shows a passion for…
The Details by Tegan Bennett Daylight
Reading a book written about reading books involves a certain doubled type of readerly attention and produces an equally doubled readerly experience. That is, you have to keep track of at least two registers and how they interact – the…
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
I have a confession: I’ve been pining for this book since I saw it on the horizon over a year ago. Carmen Maria Machado is a magical writer with a penchant for the darker side of fairytale, TV, film and…
Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
At twenty five, Anna Wiener quit her job as an assistant in New York publishing for the gold rush of Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurial start-ups were filled with optimism and a sense of possibility. A new style of workplace culture offered…
Your Own Kind of Girl by Clare Bowditch
Melbourne is a town of connections. I’m sure many of us have heard of Clare Bowditch, perhaps we have heard her on the radio, seen her on television, or follow her on Instagram. Perhaps you have sung with her, seen…
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