Australian authors recommend
Australian creators tell us the most recent book they have read and loved, and why.
Michelle de Kretser won the Miles Franklin twice, for The Life to Come and Questions of Travel. Her forthcoming novel, Theory & Practice (Text, November 2024), is a combination of fiction, memoir and essay set in St Kilda, Melbourne, in 1986. De Kretser recommends:
‘Fiona McFarlane’s Highway 13 is a stupendous collection of stories that imagines the fallout from the crimes committed by a serial killer. It’s a dazzling refraction of the backpacker murders of the 1990s, reimagined by a writer in brilliant control of character, setting and form. She writes like an angel, too.’
David Dyer’s debut novel, The Midnight Watch, focused on the ship that witnessed the Titanic’s distress rockets but failed to respond. His sophomore novel, This Kingdom of Dust (Penguin, October 2024), asks: What if the Apollo mission had failed to return from the Moon? Dyer recommends:
‘The last Australian book I read and loved was Larry Writer’s wonderful The Shipwreck (2022). It tells the dramatic story of the sailing ship Dunbar, which, in 1857, after a three-month voyage from England, wrecked itself on rocks near the entrance of Sydney Harbour. Of the 123 people aboard, only one survived.
‘The Dunbar was a magnificent wind-powered machine, Larry tells us, “one of the finest British clippers at the zenith of the age of sail”. But, in the end, it was the wind that destroyed her. I’m fascinated by powerful machines that fail. The Dunbar, the Titanic, and the lunar module languishing in my kingdom of dust remind me that, marvellous as humankind’s endeavours might be, at any moment, nature can sweep them all away.’
In the new picture book My Dad’s Gone Away (Magabala, October 2024), authors Andrew Krakouer, a Minang (Nyoongar) and Inggarda (Yamatji) man and former AFL player, and Jacqueline Dinan, a funeral celebrant and former accredited foster carer, sensitively explore a family’s experience navigating a parent’s incarceration. They shared recommendations:
Krakouer: ‘I am fascinated by Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson, also published by Magabala Books. I have always appreciated the fight for respect on the footy field. This book provides an accessible and objective summary of the protests and plight of First Nations People in all aspects of life.’
Dinan: ‘I have just finished reading Nova Weetman’s Love, Death & Other Scenes, in which she so rawly yet beautifully explores her journey through her husband’s illness and ultimate death, plus navigating life afterwards. As a funeral celebrant, I always want to understand the diversity of grief better and build my technical ability to capture a life story.’ (more…)
Originally published by Books and Publishing (Read More)