AustLit

'The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is under an existential threat, especially from the conservative federal government, even though it is the best-trusted news organisation in Australia, and plays a vital role in Australian life.

'For years, the ABC’s funding has been slashed, forcing it to let go journalists with decades of experience in asking hard questions about anyone and everyone, including government. It has been besieged by written complaints from ministers, hectoring by prime ministers, and intense pressure on its most senior executives. Its board has been stacked with a succession of political appointees. It has been relentlessly, often baselessly, attacked by the Murdoch media.

'Apart from the external attacks, the ABC has also inflicted damage on itself. It has not only shed staff but has cut important programs; contentious enterprises have been dropped and replaced by benign, inoffensive ones. It is not surprising that staff morale at the ABC has sunk in recent years.

'This book details how the travails of the ABC in this period fit into a global debate about the role of public broadcasting in the modern era. Who Needs the ABC? also takes seriously the arguments made for the ABC’s break-up and privatisation, and offers a rejoinder to those calls. It doesn't shy away from the failings that have led to the ABC’s current parlous position, but it identifies the vital role that it plays in Australian cultural and democratic life, and argues for a continuation of that role — and shows how it can be done.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'An original and visually powerful exploration of unionism.

'In our current political climate, people are looking for answers — and alternatives. The promise of unions is that their ‘members be unlimited’: that they don’t belong to the rich, the powerful, or special interests, but to all workers.

'How did the idea of unionism arise? Where has it flourished? And what are its challenges in the 21st century? From Britain to Bangladesh, from the first union of the 18th century to today, from solidarity in Walmart China to his own experiences in an Amazon warehouse in Melbourne, comics journalist Sam Wallman explores the urge to come together and cooperate that arises again and again in workers and workplaces everywhere.

'With a dynamic and distinctive art style, and writing that’s both thoughtful and down to earth, Our Members Be Unlimited serves as an entry point for young people or those new to these notions of collective action, but also as an invigorating read to those already engaged in the struggle for better working conditions — and a better world.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'The compelling story of South Australia’s disgraced former chief forensic pathologist and the legal scandals in which he became implicated.

'For nearly three decades, Dr Colin Manock was in charge of South Australia’s forensic pathology services, and played a vital role within the state’s criminal justice system: in cases of unexpected or unexplained death, it was his job to determine when a person took their final breath and whether they had died naturally or as a result of something more sinister. Throughout his long career, he performed more than 10,000 autopsies and gave expert scientific evidence in court that helped secure approximately 400 criminal convictions.

'But, remarkably, Manock, a self-described ‘witness of fact’, did not have the necessary training for such a senior, specialist role, and he made serious errors in several major cases — with tragic consequences, including the apparently wrongful imprisonment of innocent people. The full extent of his wrongdoing and the exact number of cases impacted by it remains a mystery more than twenty-five years after he retired, due to the continuing refusal of those in power to heed calls to launch a formal inquiry into his career.

'In this book, Rooke examines several of Manock’s most controversial cases, and speaks with many of his former colleagues, people directly impacted by his flawed work, and legal experts. At its heart, A Witness of Fact is about how an entire legal system has failed badly, how unsafe verdicts have been swept under the carpet — and how forensic evidence that is admitted in courts of law in Australia and across the world is dubious more often than we would like to think.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Once hailed as the ‘Bradman of Rugby’, David Campese thrilled spectators both in Australia and overseas with his footloose, crazy-brave style of free running. This book tells the story of his rise from humble beginnings to the very top of a global sport.

'As a rugby player, David Campese seemed to operate on pure instinct, one that left many a defender clutching for him in vain, stranded in the slipstream of his audacity. He followed no straight path, observed no convention, and in so doing brought a whole swag of new supporters to the game. Hailed as the ‘Bradman of Rugby’ by former Wallaby coach Alan Jones, and the ‘Pele’ of Rugby by others, Campese was a match-winner. True, he could lose the odd game as well, but this was part of his unique allure: Campese took crowds to the edge of their seats … and their patience.

'The refrain ‘I saw Campese play’ now speaks to much more than wistful reminiscences about a player widely regarded as the most entertaining ever to play the game of Rugby Union. It has come to represent a state of chronic disbelief that the Wallaby ascendancy of Campese’s era — the style, panache, and winning ways of the Australian team in the 1980s and 1990s — has now been squandered by Rugby’s continuing struggle to adapting to the coming of professionalism.

'Campese occupies a unique intersection in the sport’s history: one of its last amateurs, and one of its first professionals. The rigid, robotic game of today appears incapable of accommodating a player of his dash and daring, or of replicating his teams’ successes.' (Publication summary)

'In present-day Melbourne, a man attempts to piece together the mystery of his father's apparent suicide, as his young family slowly implodes. At the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in 1976, a man searching for salvation must confront his capacity for violence and darkness. And in a not-too-distant future, a woman with a life-altering decision to make travels through a climate-ravaged landscape to visit her estranged father.

'In Moonland is a portrait of three generations, each grappling with their own mortality. Spanning the wild idealism of the 70s through to the fragile hope of the future, it is a novel about the struggle for transcendence and the reverberating effects of family bonds. This long-awaited second outing from Miles Allinson, the multi-award-winning author of Fever of Animals, will affirm his reputation as one of Australia's most interesting contemporary fiction writers, and urge us to see our own political and environmental reality in a new light.' (Publication summary)

'A novel about revenge, obsession, and the dangerous gullibility of religious fanatics.

'In 1944, in the outer-Melbourne suburb of Nunawading, a brutal triple murder heralds the return of a long-forgotten cult. A man named Anthony Prescott has declared himself the Messiah and has promised his followers immortality. There are those who believe him and who are ready to kill in his name. Inspector Titus Lambert of the Melbourne Homicide unit, whose detectives are over-stretched, requests the discreet assistance of Helen Lord and Joe Sable, once members of his unit, now private inquiry agents. The investigation is more perilous than any of them realise, and will have tragic consequences.

'The Orchard Murders is the fourth novel in Robert Gott’s acclaimed series, set in Melbourne during the dark days of the Second World War.' (Publication summary)

'Jessie had said they should go at midnight. It's the gods' time, she said, narrowing her eyes dramatically. Anything could happen.'

'It's the 1980s, and Ali and her best friend, Jessie, are on the cusp. In the simmering heat of summer, in their small coastal town, they are starting to chafe at the restrictions put on them by their teachers, their parents, and each other. Then Jessie suffers a devastating accident, and both their lives are forever changed.

'When Ali is an adult, with a young daughter herself, the news of Jessie's death unlocks the memories of that summer, forcing her to reckon with her own role in what happened to Jessie so many years ago. As this stunning debut moves back and forth in time, and Ali's secrets are forced into the light, Kate Ryan asks profound questions about responsibility and blame, and, ultimately, about love.' (Publication summary)

'We’re a famously nature-loving nation, yet 86 per cent of Australians call the city home. Amid the concrete and the busyness, how can we also answer the call of the wild?

'Once upon a time, a burnt-out Claire Dunn spent a year living off the grid in a wilderness survival program. Yet love and the possibilities of human connection drew her back to the city, where she soon found herself as overscheduled, addicted to her phone, and lost in IKEA as the rest of us. Given all the city offers — comfort, convenience, community, and opportunity — she wants to stay. But to do so, she’ll have to learn how to rewild her own urban soul.

'Join Claire as she sits by and swims in the brown waters of the Yarra River, forages for undomesticated food in the suburbs, and explores many other practices in a quest for connection. To make our human hearts whole, she realises, we’ve all got to pay attention and learn to belong to our cities — our land. This is where change begins. For ourselves and for the world.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'In a hotel room on a sleepy Pacific island, Judy Novak waits. And worries.

'It isn’t the first time 29-year-old problem child Paulina has kept her mother waiting. But Judy can’t ignore the island’s jagged cliffs and towering pines — or the dread that Paulina has finally acted on her threats to take her own life.

'When Paulina’s body is discovered, Judy’s worst fears seem confirmed. Only, Paulina didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

'So begins a thorny investigation, wherein every man on the island is a suspect yet none are as maligned as Paulina: the captivating newcomer known for her hard drinking, disastrous relationships, and habit of walking alone.

'But, above all, Paulina is her mother’s daughter. And death won’t stop Judy Novak from fighting for Paulina’s life.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'The boys from back home stand beside the bed, watching her bleed onto the white sheet. 'He only said to scare her,' one of them says.

'Sidney is happily married to her firefighter husband and thinking about having a child, but her life has been marred by psychotic breakdowns. Haunted by memories of Dean Cola - the teenage crush who is an essential piece of the puzzle that is her past - she returns to the town where she grew up. Something unthinkable happened there, but is she strong enough to face it?

'A compelling portrait of mental illness, memory, and the ways that the years when we 'come of age' can be twisted into trauma.' (Publication summary)

'An original graphic novel based on the IVF stories of its husband-and-wife authors and the 1-in-50 couples around the world like them.

'Conrad and Joanne met in their final year of university and have been virtually inseparable since then. For a while, it felt like they had all the time in the world. Yet now, when they are finally ready to have kids, they find that getting pregnant isn’t always so easy.

'Ahead of them lies a difficult, expensive, and emotional journey into the world of assisted fertility, where each ‘successful’ implantation is followed by a two-week wait to see if the pregnancy takes. Join Joanne and Conrad, their friends, their family, their coworkers, and a stream of expert medical practitioners as they experience the highs and the lows, the tears and the laughter in this sensitive but unflinching portrayal of the hope and heartbreak offered to so many by modern medicine.' (Publication summary)

'Stories of not belonging in a classless society.

'Class intersects with almost every aspect of our lives, from where we go to school, to what we wear and eat, to how we speak, and how we make a living. Yet we almost never talk about it, and when we do, it’s often to make claims about how much Australia loves its ‘battlers’ and blue-collar underdogs. But what’s it really like to be economically disadvantaged in this country? To be denied a place in a rapidly expanding ‘middle class’ as the gulf between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ widens? And is it possible to cross class lines in a country that barely acknowledges those lines exist?

'In Cop This Lot, diverse voices of all ages — from the well-known to the recently discovered — deliver their stories and experiences with verve, courage, and humour. Collectively, these essays challenge Australia’s myths and truths about its national character and delve deeply into the nation’s complex relationship with social class.

'With contributions from: Roger Averill, Timmah Ball, Shannon Burns, Andy Butler, Luke Carman, Felicity Castagna, Zoe Douglas-Kinghorn, Chris Fleming, Nayuka Gorrie, Rick Morton, Amra Pajalic, Sheila Ngoc Pham, Peter Polites, Alice Pung, and David Sornig.' (Publication summary)

'Arno and his Horse is a beautifully written rhyming text, matched with exquisite illustrations, that explores love, memory, loss and the power objects can hold.

'Arno had a horse
It was brown and it was black.
He took it with him everywhere
But did he bring it back?

'When Arno loses the wooden toy horse his grandfather made him, he looks everywhere for it: by the river, at the playground, at the shop. As he searches through his outback hometown, he remembers the things he and his grandfather used to do together.' (Publication summary)

'The story of an Aboriginal woman who worked as a police officer and fought for justice both within and beyond the Australian police force.

'A proud Kurnai woman, Veronica Gorrie grew up dauntless, full of cheek and a fierce sense of justice. After watching her friends and family suffer under a deeply compromised law-enforcement system, Gorrie signed up for training to become one of a rare few Aboriginal police officers in Australia. In her ten years in the force, she witnessed appalling institutional racism and sexism, and fought past those things to provide courageous and compassionate service to civilians in need, many Aboriginal themselves.

'With a great gift for storytelling and a wicked sense of humour, Gorrie frankly and movingly explores the impact of racism on her family and her life, the impact of intergenerational trauma resulting from cultural dispossession, and the inevitable difficulties of making her way as an Aboriginal woman in the white-and-male-dominated workplace of the police force.

'Black and Blue is a memoir of remarkable fortitude and resilience, told with wit, wisdom, and great heart.' (Publication summary)

'A brilliant debut from a neurodiverse author that explores a young woman's magical, sensitive, and passionate inner world.

'A young woman gets ready to go to a party. She arrives, feels overwhelmed, leaves, and then returns. Minutely attuned to the people who come into her view, and alternating between alienation and profound connection, she is hilarious, self-aware, sometimes acerbic, and always honest.

'And by the end of the night, she’s shown us something radical about love, loss, and the need to belong.' (Publication summary)

''Writers, their friends, enemies, editors, and publishers began to materialise out of the library's archive boxes, and I found myself setting off in search of these elusive, eccentric, and often quarrelsome characters.'

'In this unique and entertaining blend of memoir, biography, and literary detective work, highly respected former fiction editor Craig Munro recreates the lives and careers of Australia's most renowned literary editors and authors, spanning a century from the 1890s to the 1990s.

'Famous figures featured in this book include A.G. Stephens, who helped turn foundry worker Joseph Furphy's thousand-page handwritten manuscript into the enduring classic Such Is Life; P.R. Stephensen, who tangled with the irascible Xavier Herbert, working closely with the novelist to revise his unwieldy masterpiece Capricornia; Beatrice Davis, who cut Herbert's later novel Soldiers' Women in half, and whose lively literary soirees were the talk of Sydney; and award-winning fiction editor Rosanne Fitzgibbon, who was known as a friend and champion to her authors, including the prodigiously talented young novelist Gillian Mears.

'Throughout it all, in beguiling and elegant style, Craig Munro weaves his own reminiscences of a life in publishing while tracking down some of Australian literature's most fascinating and little-known stories. Literary Lion Tamers is a delight for anyone interested in the wild outer edges of the book world.' (Publication summary)

'It's the summer of 1976, and the winds of change are blowing through the small town of Repentance on the edge of the Great Dividing Range. The old families cut timber, but the new settlers have a different perspective on the natural order and humankind's place in the scheme of things.

'Linda Curtis is the latest blow-in to the old Parmenter farm, where the hippies have gathered and a protest is being planned. She's new to the district, but she shares a past with the protestors' militant leader. Yet not all their secrets are shared.

'From behind the counter of her father's shop, thirteen-year-old Joanne Parmenter struggles to make sense of what's happening to her town. Assigned to work on a local-history project with one of the hippie kids, she has chosen to avoid anything contentious and research the dying dairy industry, while her mother succumbs to cancer in the house behind her.

'Sandy Mitchell runs the sawmill that employs half the town. His son and heir is being lured to the city, and his first grandchild is on the way. In the story he learnt as a boy and has never sought to question, he now finds himself cast as the bad man.

'The bush keeps its own rhythms, but soon everything will be disturbed. Either the old growth is coming down or the loggers have to be stopped. And although not everyone agrees on tactics, no one will escape being drawn into the coming confrontation.' (Publication summary)