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.

Now reading ...

We were very pleased to get the news today that the Australian National Dictionary Centre will be saved, thanks to an anonymous donation and the halt on involuntary redundancies under the Renew ANU plan. We thank everyone for their generous support through these difficult times.

The deputy editor speaks overland.org.au/2025/09/no-g...

New: A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?

Reposting this for no particular reason www.themonthly.com.au/may-2025/ess...

In memory of Grant Vernon Hart, drummer and co-songwriter of the alternative rock and hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü, who died on this day in 2017 from complications of liver cancer and hepatitis #punk #punks #punkrock #granthart #hüskerdü #huskerdu #history #punkrockhistory #otd

Giving this one last plug, then I will shut up about it. sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/bast...

a letter from me and m'learned colleagues in support of @meanjin.bsky.social (@savemeanjin.bsky.social )

New newsletter out in the world: just one more thing about the Meanjin debacle; a 1963 open letter on funding Ozlit mags; a tough review of a book that will sell; a bad date movie. infra-dig.ghost.io/so-long-mean...

So apparently MUP would rather kill Meanjin that allow anyone else to keep it going.

Gareth Evans scolds ‘bone-headed’ Meanjin publisher as imminent closure sparks protest

Melbourne poet Pi-O performs a poem at the Save Meanjin rally this morning

Big turnout at this morning’s rally against @mupublishing.bsky.social vandalism of Meanjin. @beneltham.bsky.social called for Meanjin’s name and archive to be surrendered so the magazine can be published by someone who deserves to and appreciates the honour

"I don't believe for one second that Meanjin's financial solvency was the reason for the shutdown". Meanjin's ex-deputy editor speaks about the demise of the journal on The Battler podcast (interview starts around the 55-minute mark). thebattler.substack.com/p/ep-25-mean...

Apparently, this bloob is "sexually suggestive". I blame God.

People in Melbourne, get along to the rally at 9am tomorrow (Thursday 11 September) on the footpath outside Melbourne University Press (715 Swanston Street, Carlton) to demand that Meanjin be saved. (I'll be there in spirit)

what will be killed off next, for bullshit reasons?

Excellent piece on the philosophy of shame by Dan Dixon theconversation.com/shame-can-si...

Rally to save Meanjin magazine Thursday 11 Sept 9am 715 Swanston St Carlton A number of Australian writers, editors and academics will speak in support of this vital cultural institution

In other book-related trivia, I am rereading this and it is brilliant.

Recent second-hand pickup (not a reflection of my current state of mind, which is more a mixture of despair and outrage).

My latest for SRB. sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/bast...