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Hidden Author

News from the Editor's Desk

June 2011, no. 332 23 May 2011
A month of Miles Australia is glutted with literary prizes, all competing for attention; but the Miles Franklin Literary Award, first awarded in 1957 and now worth $42,000, retains a cachet all its own. This month’s shortlist is very exclusive: the three shortlisted books are Roger McDonald’s When Colts Ran (Vintage), Kim Scott’s That Deadman Dance (Picador), and Chris Womersley’s Bereft ... (read more)

Letters to the Editor - June 2011

June 2011, no. 332 25 May 2011
  James Curran replies to Stuart Macintyre Dear Editor, Stuart Macintyre’s response to my letter (May 2011) acknowledges that in terms of ‘composition, character and loyalty’ – that is, the basic needs of nationalism – Australia defined itself for much of last century in British race terms. But he continues to define John Curtin’s Empire Council proposal as ‘pragmatic’, thu ... (read more)

News from the Editor's Desk

February 2011, no. 328 06 May 2011
Internship opportunity Australian Book Review – supported by the Sidney Myer Fund – seeks applications for an editorial intern. This is a unique opportunity for recent graduates seeking an entrée into publishing: no such paid editorial internship is currently available in Australia. The ABR Sidney Myer Fund Editorial Internship reflects ABR’s strong commitment to fostering new editorial ta ... (read more)

News from the Editor's Desk

May 2011, no. 331 27 April 2011
  Calibre of the year Dean Biron and Moira McKinnon are the dual winners of the 2011 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, the fifth to be presented by ABR in association with Copyright Agency Limited’s Cultural Fund. The judges – Jane Goodall, winner of the 2008 Calibre Prize, and Peter Rose, Editor of ABR – considered almost 300 essays, by far our biggest field to date. The other ... (read more)

Letters to the Editor - May 2011

May 2011, no. 331 27 April 2011
Starched collars Dear Editor, Stuart Macintyre’s review of my book, Curtin’s Empire (April 2011), shows that on many of the substantive issues relating to the wartime leader’s world view we are on common ground. Macintyre notes that Curtin’s 1941 ‘Look to America’ statement was not in fact the first time that an Australian leader had appealed to the Americans to come to Australia’s ... (read more)

Open Page with Gail Jones

March 2011, no. 329 11 April 2011
Why do you write? To find cogency, peace, quiet, and joy; to practise radical attention to the world, to be an activist through words, and to forge solidarity through imagination. Are you a vivid dreamer? Copiously, hyperbolically. Where are you happiest? On the road; with a view of the Sea of Mamara; on Yallingup beach in winter; walking almost anywhere. ... (read more)

News from the Editor's Desk

March 2011, no. 329 07 April 2011
Chong’s covers Last month’s cover subject, Paul Kelly, proved immensely popular when we began advertising a new series of portrait prints based on W.H. Chong’s cover images. Each portrait is available exclusively from ABR. The unframed prints – presented in limited editions – are signed, numbered, and (in some cases) hand-coloured by Chong, who, with typical generosity, has waived any i ... (read more)

Open Page with Judith Beveridge

April 2011, no. 330 26 March 2011
Why do you write? I feel deeply alive when I am being creative, despite the frustrations. I love the challenge of trying to find the right words and turning language into song. Are you a vivid dreamer? Some of my dream landscapes have been both the most exquisitely beautiful and the most terrifying places I have ever seen. But mostly my dreams are common anxiety ones about snakes and being nake ... (read more)

Letters to the Editor - April 2011

April 2011, no. 330 23 March 2011
Behind the screen Dear Editor, Questions of objectivity and subjectivity are a burden borne equally by anthologist and reviewer, so it was with some surprise that I read Chris Flynn’s oddly unsympathetic and bathetic review of two recent collections in ABR (February 2011). Flynn seems under the common misapprehension that two books reviewed in the one piece need to be presented in opposit ... (read more)

News from the Editor's Desk

April 2011, no. 330 23 March 2011
  ABR is now online This month we launch our online edition. ABR OE, which complements but in no way replaces the print version, is probably the most important innovation at ABR since its revival in 1978. With this additional resource, ABR is well placed to maximise its potential and reach those readers and institutions that prefer electronic forms. Much work has gone into ensuring that th ... (read more)