Nonfiction
Dispersals: On Plants, Borders and Belonging by Jessica J. Lee
Jessica J. Lee’s 2019 travel memoir Two Trees Make a Forest is a text that means a great deal to me for its beautiful exploration of Taiwan, Taiwanese-Chinese history, and living as part of the Taiwanese diaspora. Safe to say…
Patrimonies: Essays on Generational Thinking by George Kouvaros
In Patrimonies, George Kouvaros explores a question that becomes more pressing as we age: how are we to understand our parents and our obligations to them? As a second-generation Greek Australian, Kouvaros seeks answers through tender portraits of his…
Madame Brussels: The Life and Times of Melbourne’s Most Notorious Woman by Barbara Minchinton with Philip Bentley
This is the story of Marvellous Melbourne and an age-old profession. It is also a tale of one woman’s pure tenacity. Many of us know about Melbourne’s legendary brothel keeper and businesswoman Madame Brussels, but little is known about Caroline…
How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn
The Jaipur Literature Festival is certainly one of the great festivals of the world. It draws an amazing array of guests from the Indian subcontinent and beyond. I was fortunate to be able to attend this year’s festival in February…
Fragile Creatures by Khin Myint
In cinema, there is a film editing technique known as the Kuleshov effect, wherein the audience derives more meaning from the interaction between two shots than a single shot alone. Usually used when discussing the philosophy of montage, the term…
Because I’m Not Myself, You See by Ariane Beeston
I’ve just come up for air after finishing this literary memoir about the author’s experience with post-partum psychosis. This is a fine piece of writing, a brutally honest work that speaks to the experience of early motherhood in a way…
The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne
In the first few pages of The Friday Afternoon Club, the author drops the names of Jacqueline Bouvier, Admiral John Cain, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, his future aunt Joan Didion, his uncle John Gregory Dunne, Stephen Sondheim, Clifford Odets, Bono…
Safe Space by Alyssa Huynh
In this candid collection of essays, Melbourne‑based Vietnamese-Australian author Alyssa Huynh gives a lesson in empathy. Her writing on a lifetime experience of continued racism is both poignant and directed to us all. Everyone needs to read this book.
Huynh…
Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson
Always Was, Always Will Be is an in-depth look at how Australia’s First Nations have never stopped fighting for their land, their rights and their voice. Starting from the arrival of the Europeans, Aunty Fay Muir details all the ways…
Wanderings: Small Paintings and Photographs by Bruno Leti & Alex Skovron (poetry; ed.)
As well as being a painter, photographer and print-maker, Bruno Leti is a prolific maker of artists’ books. These books are themselves pieces of art painstakingly put together and beautifully produced and printed in Australia. Wanderings is a collection of…
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