LO CARMEN Lovers Dreamers Fighters. Reviewed by Virginia Muzik
Lo Carmen’s memoir celebrates some of the fearless creative women who have shaped Australian popular culture, and her connections to them. Musician and actor Lo Carmen has said she thinks of Lovers Dreamers Fighters ‘more as a cultural history than a memoir … It’s...
ANDREW NETTE and IAIN McINTYRE (eds) Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical science fiction 1950 to 1985. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Dangerous Visions and New Worlds explores how science fiction reflects the times in which it is written. In this lavishly illustrated collection of essays, Nette and McIntyre take a third loving look at the era of pulp fiction, following on from their Girl Gangs,...
OLIVIA LAING Funny Weather: Art in a emergency. Reviewed by Anna Verney
Olivia Laing puts the case for art in times of crisis. 2021 – what a hell of a year. 2022 – not shaping up to be much better, yet. Where do we turn in times of strife? Well, in search of solace in the middle of Sydney’s long lockdown last year, I picked up...
DUANE HAMACHER with ELDERS AND KNOWLEDGE HOLDERS The First Astronomers. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The traditions of First Nations people around the globe reveal an intimate knowledge of the sky. We are part of the environment: the Sun, stars, rain, trees … even the noise of a bird and the wind that rustles through the trees. We are part of that.— Uncle Alo Tapim,...
VAN BADHAM QAnon and On. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Van Badham explores the internet’s alternative reality. This is a book about how internet conspiracies have grown to influence world politics, with dangerous real-life consequences. Badham traces the rise of internet channels from Japanese anime imageboards on...
MANDY BEAUMONT The Furies and AMY REMEIKIS On Reckoning. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
Mandy Beaumont’s novel and Amy Remeikis’s essay share powerful themes. Two books released in this nascent year recount women’s trauma and silencing by men, and their rage. In On Reckoning, an essay in Hachette’s ‘On’ series, Guardian journalist Amy...
AMANI HAYDAR The Mother Wound. Reviewed by Sanchana Venkatesh
Last month Amani Haydar’s powerful memoir won the non-fiction prize at the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. When Amani Haydar was five months pregnant with her first child, she received the unimaginable news that her mother, Salwa Haydar, had been...
ROBYN FLEMMING Skinful. Reviewed by Mary Garden
Robyn Flemming’s memoir encompasses the adventure of being a global nomad within a story of addiction and healing. Over the past several decades, there have been countless books falling under the umbrella of ‘addiction memoir’, most of them focusing on alcohol...
DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA A Ghost in the Throat. Reviewed by Anna Verney
Contemporary Irish poet Doireann Ni Ghriofa explores the life and work of eighteen-century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill. Irish poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s prose debut A Ghost in the Throat is both intimate and scholarly, ranging across multiple literary forms. Clothed...
MATTHEW NICHOLSON, BOB STEWART, GREG de MOORE and ROB HESS Australia’s Game: The History of Australian Football. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
As a single-volume history of the growth and development of Australian football, Australia’s Game has much to recommend it. When a book consists of 784 pages and 54 chapters, it’s a big book. But when it also contains 2517 endnotes and has a bibliography that includes...
GABRIELLE CHAN Why You Should Give a F*ck About Farming. Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen
In this survey from the ground up, Gabrielle Chan argues we all have a stake in the future of farming. Do you give a f*ck about farming? You’d perhaps be forgiven for a low-energy response to this brusque question. There’s a lot going on at the moment, and you might...
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