The six books on this year’s Stella shortlist range widely, including graphic novels, poetry, novels and memoir. But they have one thing in common: excellence.
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Siri Hustvedt is writing for her own survival in Ghost Stories, an extraordinary new grief memoir.
In Raven Mother, Jane Messer writes of the grandmother she never knew: a woman who defied expectations but was undone by war, displacement, exile and separation.
Fiona Wright’s genre-defying social satire will ring bells for people who are locked out of the housing market, and those who care about inequality.
The soul and body splitting event of childbirth – and the profound experience of becoming a mother – have been sidelined by philosophy for centuries.
Reading is arguably the most difficult task one must learn. To understand why it is difficult, one must understand the physiology of reading.
Functional literacy describes the skills needed for everyday life in our complex society. Improving it for adults may be Australia’s biggest challenge.
What happened to the groundbreaking centre that ran Australia’s only national teen-voted awards for teen literature and hosted a lively online community?
What do we tell a young person asking why their favourite book has disappeared – or why it hasn’t? A children’s writer wrestles with how to handle Craig Silvey’s books.
Rich Kid, Poor Kid highlights the urgency and devastation of the school funding problem in Australia.
Many literary masterpieces are long and wordy, But reading them can bring surprising benefits, beyond sheer pleasure. Here’s how to tackle the classics.
Romy Ash’s second novel, Mantle, asks what would happen if a pathogen made us wake up to ourselves – and change course.
A common question goes something like: how do I get my child to read something other than comics or graphic novels? But the answer might be: you don’t have to.
Beautiful and witty, Edwina Preston’s novel Sororicidal reveals an unnervingly precise understanding of the dark side of childhood.
The strange alliance between demagogues and despots ought to puzzle and worry every thinking person, and it needs to be understood.
The Ruiners is an unsettling literary eco-thriller set on a Greek island, which could be a bohemian utopia – if it wasn’t the site of illegal dumping.
In her new book, Francesca Albanese challenges the dominant perception of the Israel-Palestine conflict
When you break the first rule of Fight Club, you find warring takes. While Chuck Palahniuk wrote it as satire, some take its narrator far too seriously.
AI offers production-line quality in writing across a range of genres. But the price may be losing our connection to each other’s human experience and emotion.
Journey to the End of Time is a celebration of all forms of love – romantic love, friendship, parental and filial attachment, compassion for others.
Like Jorge Luis Borges before her, Solvej Balle employs fantasy to philosophise on the nature of reality.
More than 1,000 Aboriginal Australians served in WWI – but unlike white soldiers, they weren’t feted as heroes. They responded with collective activism.
As an accomplished novelist, poet and essayist, David Malouf possessed a rare ability to work across genres with flair and elegance.
We live in an era that increasingly seeks to cancel authors for their political views, even when these views are not reflected in their creative works.
What does the wealth of books, documentaries and dramas about the Chernobyl disaster tell us that history alone cannot?