AustLit

'Adelaide playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer’s play, set in the not-too-distant future, poses a radical solution to climate change, writes Miriam Cosic It can’t be easy being creative in times of organic catastrophe. Human catastrophes, such as war, are different: the artist Goya and the poet Celan, among many, taught us how to ponder deeply the harm humans bring to each other.' (Introduction)

'Geoffrey Robertson is disillusioned. The world-famous barrister has, at 74, lost his belief in the effectiveness of international law. “I have not lost faith in the ICC [International Criminal Court]. I still think it’s necessary,” he tells me by phone from London, his voice more redolent of duty than of conviction. “But its catchment area is quite small...”' (Introduction)

'As I write this review, I’m struggling to type with a brace on my dominant arm supporting a smashed wrist. I’ve been unable to do much since it happened but the surgeon is encouraging me to type as well as to do a series of hideous hand ­exercises. Friends have rallied to shop and do laundry and more.' (Introduction)

'The long-neglected story of the Aboriginal cricket team that made history is finally etching its way into the national psyche.'

'Heather Morris’s debut novel was a runaway success when it came out in January 2018. The Melbourne-based New Zealand writer wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz after meeting and befriending the man, Lali Solokov, on whose story the book is based. It’s a love story: Solokov met his wife, Gita Furman, and fell for her, when, as a prisoner-functionary, he tattooed her number on her forearm.' (Introduction) 

'While father and daughter Hans and Nora Heysen both became renowned Australian artists – he for bush landscapes, she for portraits and still lifes – their work had become, until recently, somewhat overlooked. By Miriam Cosic.' (Introduction)

'Persia was the centre of some mighty dynasties over the millennia, including the far-flung Achaemenid Empire that Cyrus the Great establi­shed in the 6th century BC. It wasn’t until Muslim Arabs defeated a later Persian dynasty, the Sassan­ians, in AD 651, that Persians were forced to adopt Islam and abandon their fiery state religion, Zoroastrianism.

'As in all conquests that force cultural change, it wasn’t entirely successful. The Persian­s bitterly resented their new overlords and pockets of Zoroastrianism remain today, though followers are now estimated at fewer than 190,000 worldwide. Yet it was the Persians, long a highly literate people, who codified Arab­ic grammar and made the language the cornerstone of classical Islamic culture.' (Introduction)

'A rich vein of political writing runs through Australian fiction. From the early days of socialist realism, through the anti-colonialism of both black and white writers, to tough explorations of identity politics today, we have struggled with concepts of justice and equality since Federation.' (Introduction)