Grab a copy of The Poet’s Wife here The Poet’s Wife by Mandy Sayer In the follow-up to her bestselling memoir, Dreamtime Alice, Mandy Sayer tells the story of the ten years she and Yusef Komunyakaa spent together, first as lovers, then as husband and wife. Even though we’d grown up in vastly different cultures and countries, we’d both known poverty, domestic violence and... Read more

There’s a very short story by Franz Kafka, called On the Tram, where the narrator, ‘unsure of his footing in this world’, watches a woman move towards the steps, ready to alight. He is taken in completely by this vision: She is as distinct to me as if I had run my hands over her. He describes her appearance and dress, ending with this: Her small ear is close-set, but since I am near her I can s... Read more

Grab a copy of I’m Talking here I’m Talking by Kate Ceberano For the first time, Kate Ceberano, one of Australia’s best-loved entertainers, shares her story. In her own unmistakeable voice, Kate Ceberano takes us on a very personal journey from her suburban childhood, her immersion in the Melbourne club scene of the eighties and her rise to stardom at the age of fourteen when ... Read more

    The Wrong Girl by Zoe Foster What happens when you discover the man of your dreams is going out with your best friend? Sometimes you don’t know what you want until someone else has it. Lily needs a break. A man break. She hadn’t exactly meant to sleep with her friend, Pete, and she certainly hadn’t expected him to confess his love – for another girl –... Read more

28 June 2014 marks the centenary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife, Sophie, at Sarejevo. The conflict it spawned destroyed four empires, brought two of my great-grandfathers to the trenches strung out along the Western front and one of my great-granduncles to Gallipoli. A library of books already exists documenting every facet of the conflict. The ... Read more

When we are teenagers we dream of being many things. I dreamt of writing today’s classic women’s novel just like Jo March in Little Women by Louise May Alcott. Life was an adventure for my two sisters and I growing up in a country town with a Lebanese heritage. And like the March sisters, despite growing up in the same household we experienced very different childhoods and have gone on to lead ... Read more

To start with, this was not what I expected. The name Seth MacFarlane brings to mind surreal, boundary-breaking, explicit, black humour. It’s the stuff you know you really shouldn’t laugh at, but you can’t help when you do. I was expecting something really funny, and extremely inappropriate. Instead, I got a comic love story set in the wild west, kinda Cohen brothersesque. And... Read more

If I say I’m “researching a new book”, you might imagine an image like this: If so, you’d usually be spot on. In this case, I’m reading the Bhagavad Gita, the ancient Hindu scripture. It’s for the chapter on yoga, meditation and oneness in How to Think About Exercise. But for that chapter, I also did research like this (often badly): The book included high-minded study like this: And so m... Read more

The Austen Project Sense & Sensibility A Q&A with Joanna Trollope 1. Sense & Sensibility is launching the Austen Project –  what was it about the idea of a modern re-telling of Jane Austen’s novel that caught your imagination? My first – and I have to say, last – reaction when the idea of updating those novels was put to me, was: how brilliant! Jane Austen’s preoccupations – r... Read more

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Paullina Simons author of Bellagrand, The Bronze Horseman, Tully and more, answers Six Sharp Questions —————————— 1. Congratulations, you have a new book. What is it about and what does it mean to you? Bellagrand is a story of a passionate, troubled love affair between Harry and Gina, who are the parents of... Read more