May, 2022
Ghost notes: Simon Tedeschi’s ‘Fugitive’
A virtuoso memoir of music and trauma, and his experiences as a child prodigy, from the acclaimed Australian pianist
May, 2022
The quip and the dead: Steve Toltz’s ‘Here Goes Nothing’
A bleakly satirical look at death and the afterlife from the wisecracking author of ‘A Fraction of the Whole’
February, 2022
Eastern blocked: Lea Ypi’s ‘Free’
Growing up in Eastern Europe in the ’90s, as the free market’s arrival failed to ‘end history’
December, 2021
Final sentence: Gerald Murnane’s ‘Last Letter to a Reader’
The essay anthology that will be the final book from one of Australia’s most idiosyncratic authors
November, 2021
A tightening knot: ‘On Freedom’
Maggie Nelson’s essay collection argues against the false binary of freedom and obligation
November, 2021
Speaking in tongues: ‘The Books of Jacob’
Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s latest novel in translation turns on the nature of language itself
September, 2021
The meanings of production: ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’
Novelist Sally Rooney returns to the dystopia of contemporary life while reflecting on her own fame
September, 2021
Desire’s conspiracies: ‘The Right to Sex’
Philosopher Amia Srinivasan’s essays consider incels, consent and sexual discrimination
August, 2021
Breathless spaces: ‘The House of Fragile Things’
James McAuley’s examination of four great art-collecting families and the French anti-Semitism that brought their downfall
July, 2021
Transforming the national imagination: The ‘Dark Emu’ debate
Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe’s ‘Farmers or Hunter-gatherers?’ challenges ideas of progress championed by Bruce Pascoe