Culture
Books
The stunning photos that captured British theatre royalty’s trip Down Under
The stand-out element of Shiroma Perera-Nathan’s account of the tour of Australia and New Zealand by acting couple Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh’s in 1948 is the photographs.
- by Tom Ryan
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In crime fiction, where there’s Smoke there’s always fire
Former journo Michael Brissenden has written a cracking novel set in the aftermath of a Californian wildfire.
- by Sue Turnbull
A gentle love song to a cultural historian’s home territory
Alexandra Harris has written a remarkable book that melds personal memory with investigations of the historical record.
- by Gregory Day
Yes, it’s true. Reading really can affect the way you behave – in a good way
Studies show that reading can have a significant impact on your brain.
- by Jane Sullivan
The satire is as high as this novel’s anti-hero, but the dystopia is bleak
Jordan Prosser’s action-packed first novel will make you laugh but will unsettle you as well.
- by Justine Hyde
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Industrial relations
State Library cracks down on staff wearing ‘political’ items
Staff have been warned against wearing apparel with pro-Palestine symbols as part of a new dress code.
- by Meg Watson
The best celebrity memoirs have exactly what literature today lacks
As more and more crossed my desk, I found that the best of them were written with a robust, fearless honesty that I’ve almost given up looking for in current fiction.
- by David Free
Eight new books to read this weekend
Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
The Afghans is an empathic look at life for women under the Taliban
Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad returns to Afghanistan for the first since she wrote the controversial book, The Bookseller of Kabul.
- by Christopher Kremmer
Ed Zwick’s laugh-out-loud memoir of working in Hollywood
The creator of thirtysomething has written a perceptive and entertaining account of his life behind the camera and the people he has worked with and fallen out with.
- by Tom Ryan
Daughter of acclaimed author Alice Munro alleges sexual abuse by stepfather
The Nobel Prize winner’s daughter says her mother stood by her husband when she was told of the abuse. The Canadian author died eight weeks ago.
- by Elizabeth A. Harris