Hidden Author
Tissues on the sofa
Dear Editor,I’m pleased that Peter Craven found so much to enjoy in The Boy behind the Curtain (ABR, December 2016). Winton always writes good – though somewhat deliberate, even mannered – prose. But in my view his work has become a kind of sacred cow in this country: no one seems willing to write a critical review of it. Craven’s is a case in point, fawning to a fault ... (read more)
Tracey Moffatt at the Venice Biennale
Tracey Moffat’s solo exhibition, MY HORIZON, will be launched at the fifty-seventh Venice Biennale in the Australia Pavillion. This new installation will include film and photography, and will encompass themes such as ‘the complexities of interpersonal relationships’, ‘the curiousness of popular culture’, and Moffat’s own ‘childhood memories and ... (read more)
Garry Disher is an author of crime fiction and children’s literature.
He graduated with a Masters degree in Australian History at Monash University, and was awarded a creative writing fellowship to Stanford University in California. On his return to Melbourne, he taught creative writing. He has published over fifty books including novels, crime thrillers, fiction for children and young adults, ... (read more)
Sheila Fitzpatrick, a professor at the University of Sydney specialising in the history of modern Russia, is one of the world’s most influential Soviet historians. She is the author of two memoirs, My Father’s Daughter (2010) and A Spy in the Archives (2013). Her most recent book, On Stalin’s Team: The years of living dangerously in Soviet politics (2015), shared the 2016 Prime Minister’s ... (read more)
Gabriel García Ochoa reports back from Mexico following the US election in his article 'The City of Palaces' which appears in the January-February issue of Australian Book Review.
The ABR Podcast is available via SoundCloud and iTunes.
ABR Podcast intro music by David McCooey
Other music by danosongs.com and bensound.com
Comments by Donald Trump on Mexican people: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo ... (read more)
Peter Rose interviews American Soprano Amber Wagner for the ABR Podcast following the first cycle of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, which is being presented in Melbourne by Opera Australia. Amber Wagner plays the role of Sieglinde in the second opera Die Walküre.
The ABR Podcast is available via SoundCloud and iTunes. ... (read more)
To Sir or not To Sir
American publications largely eschew British titles when reporting on the arts. Alex Ross, reviewing the new Tristan und Isolde at the Met in the New Yorker, acknowledged Simon Rattle in the pit – not ‘Sir Simon Rattle’. Even Opera, that indispensable British organ for operaphiles, founded by the queen’s cousin, calls him ‘Simon Rattle’. ABR dispenses with these a ... (read more)
Parallel importation
Dear Editor,I’d like to thank Colin Golvan QC for his intelligent, articulate, and well-argued response to the Productivity Commission report’s proposed changes to parallel importations and fair use, published as both a podcast and a brief commentary by ABR (November 2016).
These are big issues for Australian authors and illustrators, such as myself, and for the many Aus ... (read more)
CALIBRE ESSAY PRIZE
For the eleventh year in a row, we seek entries in the Calibre Essay Prize – the country’s premier prize for an unpublished non-fiction essay. Calibre is now worth a total of $7,500. The winner will receive $5,000; the runner-up, $2,500. Both essays will appear in ABR. Once again, Calibre is open to anyone writing in English around the world. We recommend the quick, inexpe ... (read more)