Literature
Did Charles Dickens invent Christmas?
While Charles Dickens didn’t actually invent Christmas, he did renew and redefine its generous spirit in A Christmas Carol, says University of Melbourne expert.
Using music and words to bridge dementia
An international trial led by University of Melbourne is showing how home-based music and reading activities can help families care for dementia sufferers.
Poetry as a surveillance survival guide
Amid pervasive surveillance and social media, it is poetry that can help us navigate our technologically-led society, says a University of Melbourne expert
How literature helps us interpret the human face
New University of Melbourne research looks at how the human face and our emotions are represented in literary texts from the medieval to the contemporary eras.
If our animals could speak
Dr Laura Jean McKay, winner of the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for literature and University of Melbourne graduate discusses writing her first novel
Rescuing Australia’s lost literary treasures
A new University of Melbourne project is digitising some of Australia’s most important lost books and getting them into libraries for authors and readers alike.
Australian literature’s great silence
A new University of Melbourne study says we must question the very white stories told in our classrooms and the lack of Indigenous authors in the curriculum.
How have plagues and pandemics influenced the arts?
University of Melbourne experts describe how throughout history, writers and artists have explored the impact of plagues and pandemics on humanity.
Kangaroo hunting in colonial Australia
A new book by University of Melbourne experts explores the kangaroo as a quarry, a resource and a conflict between settlers and Australia’s Aboriginal people.
Has Hollywood run out of original ideas?
With a slew of movie remakes due out of Hollywood this year, a new book by a University of Melbourne expert answers the big question: what justifies a remake?