AustLit

'On page 20 of my advance copy of 7½, I insert a line in the margin: ‘Starting to sound like Sōseki’s Kusamakura here’. I had met the author of the passage – a man named Christos Tsiolkas – at the Sydney Writers’ Festival in May, sidling up to the Clare Hotel breakfast bar at an enviably early hour each morning to enjoy fruit and festival conversation. As my pen hovers, I wonder how that gregarious and personable figure squares with the bittersweet register of this novel.' (Introduction)

'I remember the nightmare. Of course I do. It did not want to be forgotten. It demanded space, and I gave it space. The absence of control, the fact I had no say in my narrative – that I was both bystander and helpless protagonist – was an implacable loss. I awoke; only my loss continued. It goes on still.' (Introduction)

'Occasionally a book arrives that is so strange, so obscure, so crouched and brooding and – in the final analysis – mystifying, that you cannot begin to know what to make of it. Exhibit A: Jennifer Mills’ The Airways.'  (Introduction)

'Just in time for the latest lockdown, ABC Arts is trialling a monthly book column. Each month, we'll present a shortlist of new releases read and recommended by The Bookshelf's Kate Evans and The Book Show's Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange — alongside freelance writers and book reviewers. This month, we're thrilled to present recommendations from Declan Fry and Khalid Warsame.' (Introduction)

'Araluen’s first collection repurposes Biblical themes, Australiana kitsch and settler-colonial tropes to astonishing effect'

'There are certain books, the publication of which it would be an understatement to call anything less than an event. He. is one.'

'Rather than being a vehicle for selling books, the critic in Australian literature is first and foremost a loving, engaged reader. In a fundamentally privileged industry, false praise harms writing more than it helps.' (Introduction)