I never liked teaching and unlike the people mentioned in a previous column I was no good at it. As a young man I was shy and self-conscious. These are not good...
Read MoreHere are the answers to our Boxing Day quiz (no pun intended). How did you do? 1 Nicole Hayes’s YA novel about AFL: The Whole of My World 2 Malcolm Knox’s...
Read MoreHere’s a quiz, just for fun. Sport in Australian literature – not much, but some. How well do you know it? (Answers will be posted separately.) Questions 1 What...
Read MoreA refreshing anthology of the macabre, the uncanny and the downright scary. Melbourne-based writer and reviewer Angela Meyer has brought together some of Australia’s...
Read MoreI frequent four pubs in Newtown. There are different reasons for my visiting them and each has a different atmosphere. Known colloquially as the ‘Marly Bar’, the public...
Read MoreThe second volume of this epic fantasy is a clever and engrossing tale exploring cruelty, enslavement, magic and power. In Winter Be My Shield, Book One of the Children...
Read MoreInspired by both his father’s experiences as a prisoner-of-war and the life of Weary Dunlop, Richard Flanagan’s new novel explores trauma and heroism on the Thai-Burma...
Read MoreI’m not big on painting. I was notably quite without talent at it when at school. We had to submit several watercolours on paper to pass Art at some point. I could...
Read MoreThis quietly powerful novella proves there’s still a lot to add to the asylum-seeker debate. It’s been more than a decade since the infamous Tampa affair,...
Read MoreEuropean high culture in unlikely Australian settings lies at the heart of these two novels by Australian poet Tom Shapcott. Imagine this: a cultivated European...
Read MoreAgain the NRB editors have invited me to nominate the best books I’ve read this year. As I explained in an early column I keep a list of books I’ve read, with a...
Read MoreA natural disaster provokes emotional and ethical dilemmas for the characters in Kathryn Heyman’s new novel. We each have our own floodline: that high watermark that...
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{ I'm with you Julia. And I extend that to the aggressively English accents (whatever they are) you hear on BBC radio. I feel I am... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on accents, 25 Feb 18, 6:01 pm 
{ I thought it pretty common knowledge that anyone who pronounced 'aitch' as 'haitch' was of blue collar, Catholic background - as I'm now in my... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on accents, 23 Feb 18, 1:41 pm 
{ I would add that any politician who feels the need to be accompanied at a television interview by a 'noddy', or even worse, two 'noddies'... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on disqualifications, 16 Feb 18, 1:53 pm 
{ Agree wholeheartedly - especially point #3 } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on disqualifications, 16 Feb 18, 11:01 am { What did you think of the TV series of "Bosch", Peter? I found the first episodes difficult - as the splendidly named actor playing Harry... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on retrospectives, 09 Feb 18, 8:44 pm