Literature

Education
Research
White, male, British authors still dominate school reading lists
Is Australia's literature curriculum still beholden to its colonial past? New research says it is, with a focus on class and privilege

Arts & Culture
The viral publishing sensation that may be BookTok’s last
As the US faces a potential ban on TikTok, the viral success of Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean series shows just how influential the BookTok community has become

Arts & Culture
Australian books you might have missed in 2024
Three prize winners, two predictions and one tribute – this book list has your summer reading sorted

Arts & Culture
Book extract
Bushrangers in their own words
Most bushrangers are best known from semi-fictional accounts written decades after their deaths, but a new book uncovers a few that told their own stories

Arts & Culture
The Decameron: Medieval lockdown project or ‘wine-soaked sex romp’?
Boccaccio’s fourteenth-century masterpiece, now a Netflix series, shows the universality of human responses to a pandemic (along with some sex)

Arts & Culture
After 50 years, why Stephen King is still relevant
Carrie, Pennywise and other Stephen King horrors endure because his stories are grounded in an authentic depiction of suburbia

Sciences & Technology
The spambots are coming for your job, Aldous Huxley
Robotic ‘Spam’ tins recreating dystopian fiction ask us to consider the role of AI, art and animals in society – and how they intersect

Arts & Culture
Book extract
Why children’s stories are full of orphans, evil stepmothers and boarding schools
While ideas of family are changing, from Charles Dickens to Harry Potter, absent parents endure in children’s literature

Arts & Culture
Homicide on Hydra
A new book explores the more-or-less forgotten crime novels of one of Australia’s most successful authors, George Johnston

Arts & Culture
Did Charles Dickens invent Christmas?
While the Victorian author didn’t actually invent Christmas, he did renew – and redefine – its generous spirit