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A review of micromacro by rob walker

micromacro is an easy to read collection which presents a light, gently spaced series of poems that appear simple as they cover the Australian terrain and glide over current affairs. Look closely however and the poetry is sharper, more intense and…

A review of b-mother by Maureen O’Brien

  Like most first novels by a gifted writer, the abundance of invention and everything that goes with it is overwhelming. It’s impossible to fault a writer for this. Her next book may be more spare and controlled but it…

A review of Indian Love Poetry by A.L. Dallapiccola

This is a well-proportioned book with illustrations to accompany every excerpt of poetry. The illustrations come from a different time (seventeenth to nineteenth century) than the poems, some of which date from as early as the fifth century of our…

An interview with Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark)

Donald Westlake (a.k.a. Richard Stark) has been writing fiction for close to half a century now, and his achievements have garnered many accolades. Significantly, his admirers include many writers among their ranks. John Banville has called him “one of the great writers of the twentieth century” while for James Sallis he is simply “a great American writer”. The Mystery Writers of America honoured Donald Westlake with a Grand Master Award in 1993.

A review of Until I Find You by John Irving

Clearly John Irving is a talented writer, whose extensive research is matched by his extensive knowledge. It’s just a shame he doesn’t have a trusted editor willing to insist that Irving cut the ridiculous quantity of fluff out of his…

In the Shadow of the Past: John Legend, Once Again

The themes of John Stephens’s songs are variations on romance, and the songs resist cliché to the extent that they are imaginative or realistic, as the need (or case) may be. The collection’s first song—in which the singer asks someone…

A review of Fresh News from the Arctic by Libby Hart

Libby Hart’s Fresh News From The Arctic is a small but significant collection of poetry that is engaging, thought-provoking, sometimes wryly humorous, and that demands reading and rereading to uncover the delicate nuances hidden so artfully within its language. Reviewed by Liz…

Troubadour: Eric Bibb’s A Ship Called Love

Beauty is not always simple, and brilliance and excellence are not simple. The relationship of one kind of ethic to another—for instance, an ethic founded in reason, science and civil liberties versus a religious ethic—is not simple. By Daniel Garrett…