‘Giving up mirrors: Brian Castro’s soaring stridulation’ by Michael Winkler

This week on The ABR Podcast, Michael Winkler reviews Chinese Postman by Brian Castro. ‘Reading Castro for plot is like listening to Bob Dylan for melody,’ says Winkler of the prize-winning author of eleven novels. Michael Winkler was the winner of the 2016 Calibre Essay Prize and is the author of …

Bridget Griffen-Foley reviews ‘The Men Who Killed the News’ by Eric Beecher

This week on The ABR Podcast, Bridget Griffen-Foley reviews The Men Who Killed the News: The inside story of how media moguls abused their power, manipulated the truth and distorted democracy by Eric Beecher. Bridget Griffen-Foley is the founder of the Centre for Media History at Macquarie Universi…

'Drinking from coconuts: When Australians weren’t scared of Papua New Guinea' by Seumas Spark

This week on The ABR Podcast, Seumas Spark takes us to Papua New Guinea, the country of his childhood. Spark describes returning to an independent PNG as an historian and tour guide, and the noticeable cooling of Australian attitudes to the place and its ‘intoxicating possibilities’. Listen to Seum…

'History without vexed issues: Liquidating our memories of East Timor', by Clinton Fernandes

This week on The ABR Podcast we reflect on the occupation and liberation of East Timor twenty-five years on from that extraordinary rupture. Clinton Fernandes draws on secret records released last month showing attempts by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to change the Australian …

'A chorus of souls: Fiona McFarlane’s discursive theodicy' by Geordie Williamson

This week on The ABR Podcast Geordie Williamson reviews Highway 13, a collection of short stories by Fiona McFarlane. Each story is concerned with murder, that ‘ultimate de-creative act’, and might be thought of as true crime, given the real-world familiarity of characters, places, plots. Geordie W…

‘Raid and truce: Private violence and imperial conquest’ by Jeremy Martens

This week on The ABR Podcast, Jeremy Martens reviews They Called It Peace: Worlds of imperial violence by Lauren Benton. The book examines what Benton terms imperial ‘small wars’, those conflicts which have historically not figured in war museums or national histories, but were nonetheless lethal a…

‘On our moral watch: The disgrace of homelessness in Australia’ by Kevin Bell

This week on The ABR Podcast, Kevin Bell addresses the crisis in housing in Australia – a crisis which he says is at risk of ‘turning into a social and economic catastrophe’. Kevin Bell is a self-described baby boomer who, in his role as a Supreme Court judge, wrote a number of influential judgment…

‘The Manichaean Candidate: Peter Dutton’s black and white politics’ by Joel Deane

This week on the ABR Podcast, Joel Deane considers the black and white politics of opposition leader Peter Dutton. Deane explains that Dutton considers these politics a ‘police trait’ that he developed while in the force, and one that now serves him well in politics, especially when making necessar…

'James Baldwin this time: The centenary of an indispensable prophet’ by Paul Kane

This week on the ABR Podcast, Paul Kane marks the centenary of James Baldwin with an essay on this indispensable prophet. Kane tells us: ‘Baldwin insisted that the only way forward, the only way out [for America], was through a renovation of the self, and this could only be accomplished through dee…

‘Pornwald’ by Jill Van Epps | The Jolley Prize

This week on the ABR Podcast we conclude our three-episode special on the 2024 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize with the winning story, ‘Pornwald’ by Jill Van Epps. The judges described ‘Pornwald’ as ‘a puzzle that tests the limits of realism with an often riotously deadpan sense of humour’. …