Emily Paull is a former bookseller, and now works as a librarian. She is the author of Well-Behaved Women (2019) and The Distance Between Dreams (2025).
Fans of Robert Drewe are in for a treat, with his newest collection, The True Colour of the Sea, published late last month by Hamish Hamilton. The eleven stories, all themed around coastal living, the ocean and the Australian fascination with it are all written in Drewe’s signature style. Each one showcases that Robert Drewe…
After his novel Black Rock, White City won the 2016 Miles Franklin Literary Award, all eyes were on A.S. Patric. His win was something of a coup for small presses in Australia, and a first Miles Franklin win for publishing house Transit Lounge. Patric had been up against four extremely powerful novels, all written by…
Truthfully, I had no idea who John McPhee was when I picked up this book. I knew only a few things about the book at all- that it was about writing, that it was published by Text (a fabulous Australian publisher whom I trust with my reading material), and that it had a glowing quote…
The Miniaturist became a worldwide bestseller upon its release in 2014. It tells the story of 18 year old Nella Oortman, who comes to Amsterdam as the wife of Johannes Brandt, a wealthy merchant in the employ of the Dutch East India Company. But as Johannes seems increasingly disinterested in being a husband, and his…
Jeffrey Eugenides, best known for his novels The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, has earned a reputation as somewhat of a heavyweight in American literature. His last book was The Marriage Plot, published in 2011, a novel which followed three college students during the year 1982. Many parts of that novel were loosely based on the…
Each year, Black Inc bring out three volumes which wrap up a selection of the year’s best Australian stories, poems and essays. These collections have been edited by various authors over the years, among them Robert Drewe, Geordie Williamson, Cate Kennedy, Amanda Lohrey, and, most recently, Charlotte Wood. The 2017 collection of short stories was…
Black Inc’s Writers on Writers series was launched in October 2017 with the publication of its first two books, Alice Pung on John Marsden and Erik Jensen on Kate Jennings. The tag line for the series reads ‘Twelve Acclaimed Writers. Six Memorable Encounters.’ This sums up the idea behind the series incredibly well, which will…
It is rare these days that a complete collection of short stories can sustain a sense of breathless wonder throughout each and every piece included in its pages. In a modern age of mobile phones and social media, short stories present us with an interesting challenge. While they are short enough to cater to our…
There’s something very appealing about translated fiction these days. Whether it’s because more amazing novels from other languages are being translated than ever before, or whether the quality of those translations is better than it is ever has been is something an expert would need to weigh in on. I can only comment on my…
Jennifer Down‘s book of short stories, Pulse Points, opens with a story about two men who are driving home from visiting one of their fathers at a retirement home, when they discover an injured person lying in the middle of the road. It is a shocking moment, which leaves both men reeling, and yet, the story…
A new novel from Australian author Robert Drewe is something to celebrate. After all, this is the man who brought us The Shark Net, The Drowner, and The Bodysurfers. This July saw the release of Whipbird, Drewe’s first novel since 2005’s Grace, though he certainly hasn’t been silent since then. A regular columnist in the…
Australia is undoubtedly going through a renaissance of short fiction—from collections by household names (at least to lovers of the form) such as Tony Birch, to stunning debuts like Australia Day by Melanie Cheng, there is a little bit of something for everyone. It goads me to hear anyone say that they hate the short…
