Hidden Author
In 2015, ABR published Ashley Hay's Dahl Trust Fellowship essay, titled 'The Forest at the Edge of Time', that examines ‘what our mongrel trees tell us about our past, the present, and the future’. The essay was the main feature in our October 2015 Environment issue. The ABR Podcast is available from iTunes and SoundCloud. You can also listen to episodes on our website.
'The F ... (read more)
In this episode of 'Poem of the Week' Alicia Sometimes reads 'Universality'. ABR Editor, Peter Rose, introduces Alicia who then reads and discusses her poem.
Universality
i.
From this vantage, Mercury and Mars hang parentheticalclosed sentences while the rest of the galaxy is translucent.The stars, floating caravels in a mesmerizing battalion.
This hill, with its cape ... (read more)
Melbourne Recital Centre
Each new quarterly program for the Melbourne Recital Centre is full of highlights, but the July–September one is special. This is the last to be presented by outgoing CEO Mary Vallentine, who during her six years at the helm has transformed MRC into an essential venue for music lovers of all kinds. Highlights include the great Robyn Archer's 'The Other America ... (read more)
In 2015 we published James McNamara's Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship essay 'The Golden Age of Television', that considers the ascendancy of television drama and its cultural significance. The article was the main feature in our inaugural Film and Television issue in April 2015. The ABR Podcast is available from iTunes and SoundCloud. You can also listen to episodes on our website.
Lin ... (read more)
Michael Winkler (photograph by Chris Riordan)Michael Winkler is the winner of the 2016 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay. The judges – Sophie Cunningham (winner of the 2015 Calibre Prize) and Peter Rose – chose Mr Winkler's essay 'The Great Red Whale' from a field of almost 200 entries submitted from thirteen different countries. Michael Winkler receives $5,000 and his essay appears in th ... (read more)
WHAT DREW YOU TO WRITING?
The American poet Howard Nemerov described poetry writing as a spiritual exercise 'having for its chief object the discovery or invention of one's character'. I'm sure that at heart this is what my writing is about.
... (read more)
CALIBRE PRIZE
Michael Winkler is the winner of the 2016 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay. The judges – Sophie Cunningham (winner of the 2015 Calibre Prize) and Peter Rose – chose Mr Winkler's essay 'The Great Red Whale' from a field of almost 200 entries submitted from thirteen different countries. Michael Winkler receives $5,000; his essay appears in this issue, beginning on page 31.
... (read more)
Even before I'd finished talking, hands shot up from the grey heads in the audience. 'I'm very concerned,' said the jowly chap with the sailor's suntan, 'that advances being made in drugs mean that most cancer patients will soon be kept alive indefinitely.' That's a problem? People who used to suffer and die will be able to live longer, quality lives. You don't hear this said about the advances in ... (read more)
In this episode of Australian Book Review's States of Poetry podcast, Fiona Wright reads her poem 'Smith's Lake' which features in the 2016 New South Wales anthology.
Smith's Lake
The grass grows longer on the easeway.
A pelican swipes the sky towards the seascape we can't yet see,its webby legs outstretched: ... (read more)