A student in Japan once told me that old age is the best cure for youth. It took me a long time, and a lot more life experience, before I finally figured out what she meant: there is no way to avoid the…
Gunter Grass caused a stir with his anti-Israel poem, but political poetry often misses the mark.
AAP/Marcus Brandt
The world of political poetry has suffered some significant losses in recent months. Václav Havel, a poet long before he was the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic…
Tasmanian Rohan Wilson won last year’s Vogel Literary Award for unpublished manuscripts with his book, The Roving Party. Since then the novel has been published to great critical acclaim and he has taken…
The following is a poem commissioned by The Conversation from Sydney City Poet, Kate Middleton on the year that was.
Did you read about the MARS-500 simulation?
Six men in isolation sharing a broken English…
Steve Jobs' desire for an enduring memory of his work led him to engage a biographer. The book has become his obituary.
EPA/Britta Pedersen
Steve Jobs' “official” biography was always going to be a bestseller, with its promise of a candid examination of the inner workings of the world’s most successful salesman and the company he twice built…
aapone file switzerland britain literature julian barnes original
Julian Barnes’ 11th novel represents an interesting choice for the judges of this year’s Booker Prize, and it goes without saying that a prize like this is always going to arouse criticism and even controversy…
It's fourth time lucky for Julian Barnes in the Booker Prize.
EPA/Alessandro Della Bella
Julian Barnes today won the Man Booker Prize for his novel about a childhood friendship and the fragility of memory, The Sense of an Ending. This is the fourth time he’s been nominated, and Barnes declared…
Thousands of Brits moved to Australia for the thrill of a more glamorous life. But many struggled.
Flickr/MarkFaviellPhotos
Published biographies, and indeed many histories, are often about the famous, rich or powerful. And most often, they’re about men.
I’ve preferred to research and write about so-called “ordinary” men and…
Kim Scott's tale of early settler relations has been applauded by the literary community.
The Trust Company
Western Australian author Kim Scott won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for the second time last night with his fifth novel, That Deadman Dance.
Described by one judge as “post-reconciliation” fiction…
