The gruelling honesty and intense focus of Hunger invite self-reflection in the reader. Roxane Gay has a gift for observation and the ability to articulate her thoughts into beautiful writing, no matter how ghastly the revelation. That she can find...
The Making of Christina asks how well we know the people we love and if we can pay the price of truth. The Making of Christina is not a light read. Its subject matter is trauma, guilt and deceit. The result is neither pretty nor soothing, but this...
Fish ’n’ chips (aka fish and chips in polite circles) represent, according to Wikipedia, an example of fusion cuisine. Apparently in 19th-century England fried potatoes were much eaten in the north of the county and fried fish was popular in the...
Elizabeth Strout reveals complex lives and private pain in these stories of small-town life. Elizabeth Strout, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Olive Kitteridge, is an author of piercing insight. Many a religious and philosophical tome has...
The Ned Kelly Awards are run by the Australian Crime Writers Association and have been going since 1995. I was lucky enough to be one of three judges of the Best Fiction category of the Ned Kelly Awards for this year. As it’s been impossible...
On Friday 3 August I listened to The World Today on ABC Radio National and made notes. ABC radio is my chief source of news and I had the impression that I’d heard nothing but bad news on this and many other similar broadcasts for as long as I...
