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Author Patrick Mullins… "McMahon was a terrible person; he undermined colleagues, he gossiped and he manipulated people.” Photo by Danielle Nohra

Unlovely Billy McMahon finally gets a biography

MANIPULATIVE, terrible and fierce, yet William (Billy) McMahon was, until now, the only Australian prime minister who didn’t have a biography written about him. The 250,000-word, 766-page biography, “Tiberius with a Telephone”, by Patrick Mullins […]

‘Enthralling’ novel named UC ‘book of the year’

“THE Natural Way of Things”, by Charlotte Wood, has been chosen as the 2019 University of Canberra Book of the Year. The UC Book Project, now in its seventh year, provides a selected book to […]

Arts / Lavers wins UC poetry prize for a second time

FOR the second time in its short history, the $15,000 vice-chancellor’s International Poetry Prize has gone to American poet poet Michael Lavers. At an event last night (September 13) vice-chancellor Prof Deep Saini told those […]

Arts / Poetry festival moves into town

THE fourth year of the festival “Poetry on the Move”, kicked off today—with a change. Although hosted by the International Poetry Studies Institute within the University of Canberra the event is moving into town, with […]

Arts / ANU celebrates 200 years of monsters

IT’s a happy 200th birthday to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein” and the Australian National University is holding a conference to celebrate. The conference, “Frankenstein 2018: Two hundred years of monsters”, runs from today (September […]

Author Irvine Welsh, competing with the politicians?

Arts / Writing festival faced with political drama

AS organisers of the 2018 Canberra Writers Festival tie up loose ends, they must be thanking the gods of Parliament House for having played into the relentless theme, “Power, Passion and Politics” with a week […]

Arts / ‘Humble’ Viggers writes about place

ONE of Canberra’s hottest properties on the literary front is Karen Viggers, but international success has neither gone to her head nor made her wealthy. A serious novelist with works like “The Stranding”, “The Lightkeeper’s […]

Arts / Book week kicks off with rollicking pirates

THE Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week kicks off tomorrow (August 18), but to introduce it the ACT branch held an event this morning at the National Library of Australia to announce its 2018 […]

Opinion / When affluent women get a belting

“Working-class domestic violence is a common theme in modern literature, but there is very little that covers middle-class domestic violence.,” writes Canberra author and academic ALISON BOOTH

Author Devon Silett… “I wanted to be a writer when I was younger. English was my baby, I love reading and writing.” Photo by Danielle Nohra

Author Devon brings metafiction to life for kids

SLEEP deprivation from a newborn and a postgraduate degree on metafiction was the perfect mix for the publication of Devon Sillett’s first children’s book, “The Leaky Story”. But it was a long time before Devon, […]

Latter-day author John G O’Neill… "I research and research so no one can point to my book and say: ‘That couldn’t happen'.”

How a woman on the moon got John writing

Journalist CAM WILSON talks to a Canberra submarine engineer whose stargazing and curiosity led him to a whole new career – fiction writing. With three books under his belt, there’s a fourth on the horizon.

Arts / ‘Trouble’ brings Maura a prize

CANBERRA author Maura Pierlot’s “The Trouble in Tune Town” has been was just awarded Best Illustrated Children’s E-Book at the Independent Publisher Book Awards in the US. As part of the official book launch and […]

Wade reveals Canberra’s newest ‘secrets’

CANBERRA writer and broadcast and tour guide Marg Wade has written two sellout editions of “Canberra’s Secrets” in 1999 and 2003 and the third edition will be launched this week by “CityNews” music writer Ian […]

Author Trish Ollman... “Someone said to me, sex sells, and there was none in the book at all. I’m 65, I don’t write about stuff like that!” Photo by Kathryn Vukovljak

Trish puts a little steam into her writing life

WRITING and self-publishing a steamy novel set in Queensland’s tropical north has been “a dream come true”, says local author Trish Ollman. Trish will be signing copies of “Escape to Paradise Island” at Paperchain Bookshop […]

Kaaron wins ACT’s top fiction award

AUTHOR Kaaron Warren has been awarded the top fiction award for “The Grief Hole” at the 2017 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards tonight (December 7). “These awards play an important role in the fostering of […]

Shortlist for ‘ACT Book of the Year’ announced

ACT Minister for Arts and Community Events, Gordon Ramsay, has announced that six authors are in the running to win the $10,000 2017 “Book of the Year Award”. The authors selected by the judging panel […]

'FIRST' author Susie Ellis on her screenplay, 'Read Receipt Requested'. Photo by Samantha Coppin

Arts / Student writers get seen in print

THE University of Canberra has been punching above its weight in writing for some time now and has just launched the 2017 edition of “First”, its annual collection of creative by students, with readings from […]

See ya later – ‘Noted’ takes a sabbatical

SAD news is to hand that the Noted Writers Festival has decided not to run a festival in 2018 – but they’ll be back in 2019. After an action-packed event in May this year, and […]

Arts / Van Gogh’s irises inspire winning poem

THE words, “Iris blossoms fluttering like a moth in different states of flight”, sound as though it could be about springtime in Canberra, but in fact these words from the poem, “Irises”, which has today […]

Arts / Writers feel the power, politics and the passion

“POWER, Politics, Passion” is the triple-headed slogan of the Canberra Writers Festival, but it’s a lot more subtle than it sounds. According to the festival director, Vickii Cotter, it’s in no way intended as a […]