Biography and memoir

The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen by Krissy Kneen

Reviewed by Chris Gordon

Much loved and admired author Krissy Kneen is back with another heartfelt exploration of her personal history, but because this is a Krissy Kneen book, we are taken on a greater journey than just her own. This book is an…

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As Beautiful As Any Other: A Memoir of My Body by Kaya Wilson

Reviewed by Tye Cattanach

I confess to feeling completely at a loss for how to review Kaya Wilson’s breathtaking memoir As Beautiful As Any Other. How on earth will I be able to do it justice? I must begin somewhere and so I…

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The Shape of Sound by Fiona Murphy

Reviewed by Lucie Dess

‘The hearing world rarely welcomes deaf bodies,’ writes Fiona Murphy in her heartbreakingly honest memoir The Shape of Sound. Murphy kept secret that she is deaf in her left ear for 25 years. In her debut, she explores the…

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Lapsed by Monica Dux

Reviewed by Chris Gordon

Monica Dux is a funny woman. Thank God, because in Lapsed she is taking on the world by examining the Catholic way of life from all angles. Dux does what so many goodfeminist writers do: she makes the personal political…

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Car Crash: A Memoir by Lech Blaine

Reviewed by Stella Charls

Blaine is sitting in the passenger seat of a 1989 Ford Fairlane, surrounded by six of his mates (two piled in the boot). It’s 2009, and the group of teenagers are driving home from a house party in Toowoomba, Queensland…

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My Rock ‘n’ Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn

Reviewed by Deborah Crabtree

In 1983, backstage at the Lyceum in London a young and terrified Tracey Thorn was grappling with insecurity and inexperience. With her band on the verge of breaking up, Thorn was close to tears when the door to her dressing…

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Sex, Lies and Question Time by Kate Ellis

Reviewed by Julia Jackson

Well, this book could not have come at a better time, could it? Sex, Lies and Question Time came to me for review hot on the heels of International Women’s Day, allegations of horrific sexual assaults at the heart of…

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Emotional Female by Yumiko Kadota

Reviewed by Amanda Rayner

You may recall an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2018 about a junior doctor resigning from the Australian public health system due to burnout. Rostered up to 20 consecutive days in a row, clocking well over 100 hours…

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My Year of Living Vulnerably by Rick Morton

Reviewed by Chris Gordon

One of the reasons I love Rick Morton’s writing is because he is not afraid; he will tell you how it was, how it is and why. It’s the reason he’s such a terrific reporter for The Saturday Paper, and…

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Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen

Reviewed by Clare Millar

I cannot speak highly enough of contemporary Australian poetry, and Evelyn Araluen’s debut collection Dropbear is no exception. Araluen is the recipient of several awards and fellowships, including the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, the Judith Wright Poetry…

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