Diana Smouha

There was much talk of radicalized spirituality and flamboyant extremes at the first meeting of the American Association of Australian Literary Studies in New York March 21 and 22. The tone was scholarly without being stuffy. Alexandra Cromwell from the University of Minnesota searched for (and found!) Byzantine themes in The Twyborn Affair and wryly commented that she was probably the first perso ... (read more)

Coral Lansbury is well known in Australia as a prize-winning feature and drama writer for the ABC. She once owned a radio and television company, Lansbury Productions, and conducted a talk show. In the United States, Dr Lansbury has been at the forefront of the animal rights movement and has just published a book in which she explores the roots of the anti-vivisection movement. The book, The Old ... (read more)

New York snow storms may blow outside his window, but Sumner Locke Elliott is feverishly busy indoors writing a novel set in Australia between the wars. He hopes to complete it by late spring. ... (read more)

Contemporary Australian literature was among the less obscure topics discussed at the recent Modern Language Association convention held in New York. About 15,000 delegates came to the bazaar, some looking for jobs or friends, others attending a boggling array of literary discussions on bat fantasy in Dickens, the future of East European nature poetry and the shape of language in Thea Astley’s w ... (read more)