Obviously. Also the second-greatest debut album ever (after The Velvet Underground and Nico). Absolutely fucking incredible. "Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, or Alice In Chains."

Oh yes indeed...

Shameless self-promoting bloob.

In my last newsletter of the year, I let off steam about Trent Dalton, The Mushroom Tapes, Australian publishing and the books I hope - likely in vain - will not be commissioned in the aftermath of the Bondi tragedy. infra-dig.ghost.io/books-in-cri...

Proposal to allow use of Australian copyrighted material to train AI abandoned after backlash

If you haven't read @jeffsparrow1.bsky.social's article for @overlandjournal.bsky.social yesterday on the politics of what's happened in the aftermath of the Bondi massacre, let me recommend you do so now. overland.org.au/2025/12/on-t...

Nice tribute to the late Chris Wallace-Crabbe by David McCooey theconversation.com/chris-wallac...

Tried to watch the ABC news without alcohol but it didn't pass the pub test

Excellent essay by Adam Ouston on David Szalay's Booker Prize winner Flesh islandmag.com/read/a-new-l...

Can't wait to hear who wins the FIFA prize for literature

Hilarious: Guy Rundle with outtakes from the Mushroom Tapes... open.substack.com/pub/guyrundl...

"Now they’re hacking away at the actual librarians? Shame on them. They bring disgrace on the name of our city.”

For what it's worth, people in Australia can get free membership of the National Library, and with that you can read the ABR free. It's how I came to enjoy this lovely little bit of savagery. www.library.gov.au/research/gui...

If you're a friend or fan of writer Robert Skinner, you may have heard about his terrible accident a couple months ago. This Sat night at Coburg RSL is a benefit to help him back on his feet, out of debt, and to get his razzle-dazzle back. Music, fun and party guaranteed. Details below. Come along!

I reviewed the latest Trent Dalton for ABR. Hoo boy! www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/c...

Privileged to write about what mattered to Stoppard, for @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/its-wanting-...

Great piece updating the critique of culture industries for the age of the platform mega-rentier www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Luke Johnson on T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men theconversation.com/100-years-on...

The abrupt and indefensible closure of Meanjin makes me ask, what can be done to shore up the future of literary journals in this country? How about funding the arts to the OECD average. That would mean an extra $5b per year. With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this

I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global. sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...

Catriona Menzies-Pike on Charlotte Wood sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...

Looking forward to Bezos finally benefitting humanity by being chained to a rock while an eagle feasts on his liver forever

Recently acquired. (The Stein bio is excellent. Haven't got to the others yet.)

I wrote a piece for @deepcutnews about how the media sees some genocides as more important than others www.deepcutnews.com/p/the-age-ca...

I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

Reviewed Sam Tanenhaus's William F. Buckley bio. insidestory.org.au/the-entertai...

Tom Ford on Evelyn Araluen's new book The Rot theconversation.com/grim-funny-a...

@marquelawyers.com.au with a take you need to read on copyright and AI on @thepointau.bsky.social

I suppose not taking a massive step backwards counts as a win. I wrote for Crikey about copyright, AI, Anthropic and the TDM exemption that the Albanese government has finally ruled out.

Excellent essay by Chris Fleming on Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism theconversation.com/why-do-we-th...

The twelfth issue of Socrates on the Beach is live. Thank you to the authors and the translator and those who helped with the issue. socratesonthebeach.com

Congratulations to our member, David Brooks, for being awarded the 2025 Patrick White Literary Award – a richly deserved recognition of his profound contributions to Australian literature, contemporary poetry and environmental thought. Read more here:

I’m going to re-up my own piece on BSU. Back in 2022 I wrote that Dalton was the novelist-laureate of Scott Morrison’s Australia. Why is it that readers can’t move on from this guy and his retrograde fantasies? sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...

"D’s sales have been so great...the aesthetic value of his work has been taken as self-evident. His consistent ideological commitments have been ignored. This, broadly, is symptomatic of a historical moment in which cultural value is conflated w market value" sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...

Oh no! Very sorry to hear this. I never met Moya, but greatly respected her writing.

Second-hand bookshop find

Creative Australia awards Khaled Sabsabi $100,000 grant months after dumping from Venice Biennale

With start of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and release of hostages and prisoners, here are some key figures related to the Gaza war and the Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked it. n.pr/3WzUIOp

Recordings of our two recent @calc-anu.bsky.social seminars are now available Ken Gelder on unhomely Australia www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kv0... and @jackquirk.bsky.social on Gerald Murnane youtu.be/eKFwHbxy2m4?... Terrific sessions— enjoy

Julian Murphet on Krasznahorkai theconversation.com/a-great-pess...

Excellent historical essay by Ben Etherington on the self-fashioning of a now largely forgotten Black sportsman theconversation.com/friday-essay...

Vollmann reviews Pynchon unherd.com/2025/10/thom...

"It took more than an hour after the story broke, and was covered by several mastheads, to receive official notice from MUP; a group email confirming Meanjin’s immediate closure." ~Emma Sutherland, Archives Editor at Meanjin in @artshub.bsky.social this weekend. www.artshub.com.au/news/opinion...

With thanks to @aunz.theconversation.com for encouraging me to write about two extraordinary memoirs theconversation.com/friday-essay...

My essay on stupidology (originally published in N+1) is in today's Guardian www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...

My obscure little book is in the Anthropic AI database, so I just filed a claim. Cough up, scumbags! secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

Lynda Ng on Alexis Wright theconversation.com/alexis-wrigh...

Australia's universities are blighted by a "culture of consequence-free, rotten failure", according to the former chair of a senate inquiry examining governance at public universities. ... "There's no other sector in the country where failure is rewarded so handsomely and with so little scrutiny."

It felt like Australian publishing was shrinking with mergers and the shock closure of Meanjin - waiting to see the full story behind that! But there's a few new players bring fresh energy and new books in recent months. With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for excellent editing.