AustLit

'Kokomo, the first novel from Adelaide-born, Melbourne-based author Victoria Hannan, is one of the year’s most anticipated Australian debuts.' 

'After a year of COVID-reshuffled publication dates, two Adelaide authors – Katerina Bryant and Adelaide Review writer Kylie Maslen – find themselves in the unusual position of both having debut books, which share their lived experiences with chronic illness, hitting shelves in September.' (Introduction)

'My body dictates who I am. I work the way I do because of my body, I vote the way I do because of my body and I live the way I do because of my body. It is not my body that is at fault, but society’s failure to deal with bodies like mine. I might be in pain, but I am whole. I refuse to have the difficult parts cropped out.

'Kylie Maslen has been living with invisible illness for twenty years—more than half her life. Its impact is felt in every aspect of her day-to-day existence: from work to dating; from her fears for what the future holds to her difficulty getting out of bed some mornings. 

'Through pop music, art, literature, TV, film and online culture, Maslen explores the lived experience of invisible illness with sensitivity and wit, drawing back the veil on a reality many struggle—or refuse—to recognise. Show Me Where it Hurts is a powerful collection of essays that speak to those who have encountered the brush-off from doctors, faced endless tests and treatments, and endured chronic pain and suffering. But it is also a bridge reaching out to partners, families, friends, colleagues, doctors: all those who want to better understand what life looks like when you cannot simply show others where it hurts.' (Publication summary)

'Releasing the book you’ve spent years working on amidst a once-in-a-century global pandemic is not the dream of most authors. But local authors Pip Williams and Patrick Allington are trying to make the most of this unexpectedly bumpy chapter.' 

'In her 2019 essay collection City of Trees, author Sophie Cunningham offers a very personal reflection on urban ecosystems, grief and culture that feels all the more timely and universal ahead of Adelaide Writers’ Week 2020.' (Introduction)

'In the wake of the mid-2010s ‘personal essay boom’, writers are shaping and stretching the personal essay form to share stories that refuse a traditional telling.'

'The Club - the renowned David Williamson play that has for many come to act as shorthand for masculiinity in 1970s Australia - may seem an unlikely choice for an all-woman theatre company, but that is in many ways what drew isthisyours? director Tessa Leong to the script.'

'At once a cultural, academic and personal unpacking of bipolar disorder and the messy ethics of mania, Sam Twyford-Moore’s The Rapids is a valuable addition to the growing list of books exploring what it is to live with an unruly mind.' (Introduction)

'As Australian women’s sport grows from strength to strength, more and more publishers are getting on board, with new journalism, essay collections and children’s fiction hitting the shelves. But who are these books for, and is the industry’s interest in women’s sport just another publishing fad?'

'Recent scandals in Australian non-fiction have highlighted publishers’ responsibilities not only to their readers but to their authors’ subjects. But is a failure of fact-checking solely to blame? Or are there further hidden risks in the way these revelations are reported?' (Introduction)