by NRB | 19 Jun 2018 | Non-fiction |
The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, the new biography of Australia’s second, fifth and seventh Prime Minister, is a magnificent sweep of a book that demanded to be written. Deakin has been the subject of previous biographies and author Judith Brett quickly establishes her points...
by NRB | 19 Jan 2018 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
For the first time in my life I have been threatened with a fine for not voting in an election. This has caused me a little shame. I had to wait until I was 21 to vote (the voting age was not lowered to 18 until 1974), but ever since I’ve voted enthusiastically in...
by NRB | 22 Sep 2017 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Quirks, I suppose we all have them. A friend insists that the toilet paper roll be positioned so that the paper comes down from behind the roll rather than the front. To continue in that vein, I knew someone who, physically and psychologically, could not defecate in...
by NRB | 28 Jul 2017 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
How many newspaper headlines can you remember? For obvious reasons I remember ‘FRED DIES’ emblazoned on a Sydney tabloid when Professor Fred Hollows died, and no one can forget the nefarious London Sun’s headline ‘GOTCHA’, celebrating the sinking of an Argentinian...
by NRB | 2 May 2017 | Non-fiction |
Trailblazing literary agent Rosemary Creswell died on 19 April 2017 after a long illness. Jean and Linda each pay tribute. Linda Funnell: Eulogy given at Rose’s funeral on 28 April 2017 Dear Rose, how lucky I was to know you. How lucky we all were to...
by NRB | 25 Nov 2016 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
I’ve met three prime ministers: one serving and two ex. I nearly met another one and I’ve also met a couldabeen – probably a shouldabeen. The first was Gough Whitlam when he launched a 1978 edition of Frank Hardy’s The Unlucky Australians to which he had contributed...
by NRB | 6 Sep 2016 | Fiction |
Ben Pobjie’s Error Australis gives new insights into the reality show of Australian history. Professional recapper Ben Pobjie has summarised the entirety of the long-running series Australia, which remains on-air and popular around the world. This...
by NRB | 31 May 2016 | Non-fiction |
On Being a Minister is an ideal primer for the political class. We’re in election mode and it’s a long campaign. Plenty of politicians (aspiring and actual) are waiting to be either elected or re-elected. I think of one of my all-time favourite political quotes from...
by NRB | 8 May 2015 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
‘It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.’ Lyndon B Johnson on J Edgar Hoover Most authorities agree that the greatest of all political insults in the English language came from the 18th-century radical John...
by NRB | 1 Jan 2015 | Giveaways |
2014 saw an interesting year for Australian literature – an Australian again winning the Man Booker Prize, plenty of controversy over the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and many great new books published. Test your own memory of the past year...
by NRB | 20 Dec 2013 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
I 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 bar at the Hotel Marlborough on the corner of Missenden Road and King Street is in an area I visit...
by NRB | 22 Nov 2013 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
An unusual book launch was held recently at Gleebooks, unusual in that three books were celebrated – novels by Michael Wilding and James Murray and a book of mine comprising three novellas. It was also unusual in that we had no launcher as a result of organisational...
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