Biography and memoir
Island Home by Tim Winton
This book reveals two Tim Wintons. There is the wordsmith we feel we already know well through his renowned and evocative fiction, but this book also reveals a person who thinks very deeply about his, and our, relationship with the…
The Anti-Cool Girl by Rosie Waterland
Rosie Waterland is frank, fearless and very, very funny. Reading her memoir, The Anti-Cool Girl, feels in many ways like sitting down to chat with a complete over-sharer (a no-holds barred, here’s-my-entire-life-story-so-far kind of conversation that takes place over…
Not Just Black and White by Lesley Williams and Tammy Williams
Respected Murri Elder Lesley Williams has a compelling story to tell. Written in collaboration with her youngest child, Tammy, this memoir reads like a conversation between a mother and her daughter. Her story is a frank and moving testimony to…
Prick with a Fork by Larissa Dubecki
I’ve been a fan of Larissa Dubecki’s writing for a long time. I really like that she is not a poser. I enjoy her restaurant reviews; she is astute and droll. Prick with a Fork is a lot like her…
Small Acts of Disappearance by Fiona Wright
Small Acts of Disappearance is Fiona Wright’s memoir of her eating disorder. It’s structured as a series of ten essays, and from the very first lines of the opening chapter, I was captivated by Wright’s voice: ‘I’ll always remember the…
Guidelines for Mountain Lion Safety by Poe Ballantine
Poe Ballantine is building fine body of work, in particular his tragicomic nonfiction in which he explores and chronicles his own and America’s frailties, absurdities and shortcomings. Guidelines for Mountain Lion Safety is Ballantine’s new collection of essays, and it…
Blackout by Sarah Hepola
Sarah Hepola’s debut book is a coming-of-age memoir that explores her relationship with booze as if the liquid were a troubled and confusing, on-again off-again partner. Through her rendering of drunken afternoons, forgotten evenings and sick, ruined mornings, Hepola has…
Old Man’s Story by Bill Neidjie and Bill Lang
Old Man’s Story contains the last thoughts of the late Kakadu elder and activist, Bill Neidjie. His two previous books, Kakadu Man and Story About Feeling, are often read as poetry, but are also important articulations of an environmental…
The Seven Good Years by Etgar Keret
Israeli writer Etgar Keret is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in contemporary flash fiction. In The Seven Good Years, the author of The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God and Suddenly, A Knock on the…
After the Blast by Garth Callender
As I read this memoir of an Australian soldier’s experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, I have the slow and steady impression that this is a different, and specifically modern, kind of war story. While Callender’s account makes it clear that…
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