Letters of Note: Mothers by Shaun Usher

$14.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

A glorious collection of letters on the theme of Mothers, curated by the founder of the Letters of Note website.

The Trials of Portnoy by Patrick Mullins

$35.00 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

Fifty years after the event, here is the first full account of an audacious publishing decision that — with the help of booksellers and readers around the country — forced the end of literary censorship in Australia. For more than seventy years, a succession of politicians, judges, and government offic ials in Australia worked in the shadows to enforce one of the most pervasive and conservative regimes of censorship in the world. The goal was simple: to keep Australia free of the moral contamination of impure literature. Under the censorship regime, books that might damage the morals of the Australian public were banned, seized, and burned; bookstores were raided; publishers were fined; and writers were charged and even jailed. But in the 1970s, that all changed. In 1970, in great secrecy and at considerable risk, Penguin Books Australia resolved to publish Portnoy’s Complaint — Philip Roth’s frank, funny, and profane bestseller about a boy hung up about his mother and his penis. In doing so, Penguin spurred a direct confrontation with the censorship authorities, which culminated in criminal charges, police raids, and an unprecedented series of court trials across the country. Sweeping from the cabinet room to the courtroom, The Trials of Portnoy draws on archival records and new interviews to show how Penguin and a band of writers, booksellers, academics, and lawyers determinedly sought for Australians the freedom to read what they wished — and how, in defeating the forces arrayed before them, they reshaped Australian literature and culture forever. Praise for Tiberius with a Telephone: ‘This is, as others have remarked, biography at its best: diligently researched, with detail nowhere else examined, and a demonstration of fine judgement concerning the crucial interplay between personal disposition, role demands, and historical context.’ —James Walter, Australian Book Review ‘A welcome addition to prime ministerial biography … An engaging and informative read.’ —Troy Bramston, The Australian ‘This is the most detailed investigation and explanation of what happened … Completing a biography of this scope is an enormous undertaking, and Patrick Mullins does it with considerable skill … Mullins conveys the turmoil, the atmosphere of crisis, the bickering and the bloodletting that marked this extraordinary period of Australian political history.’ —David Solomon, Inside Story ...Show more

Who Will Believe My Verse?The Code in Shakespeare's Sonnets by James Leyland

$44.00 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

The small volume of 154 short poems entitled 'Shake-speares Sonnets' published in 1609 has mystified readers for centuries. Why are they so cryptic? Some scholars have felt that they are in some way autobiographical, while others have viewed them as abstract poetical exercises. Part of the problem is th at we know so little about the life of the writer. ...Show more

Bookends: Collected Intros and Outros by Michael Chabon

$27.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

A brilliant, idiosyncratic collection of introductions and afterwords (plus some liner notes) by New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon-"one of contemporary literature's most gifted prose stylists" (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times). In Bookends, Pulitzer Prize winni ng author Michael Chabon offers a compilation of pieces about literature-age-old classics as well as his own-that presents a unique look into his literary origins and influences, the books that shaped his taste and formed his ideas about writing and reading. Chabon asks why anyone would write an introduction, or for that matter, read one. His own daughter Rose prefers to skip them. Chabon's answer is simple and simultaneously profound: "a hope of bringing pleasure for the reader." Likewise, afterwords-they are all about shared pleasure, about the "pure love" of a work of art that has inspired, awakened, transformed the reader. Ultimately, this thought-provoking compendium is a series of love letters and thank-you notes, unified by the simple theme of the shared pleasure of discovery, whether it's the boyhood revelation of the most important story in Chabon's life (Ray Bradbury's "The Rocket Man"); a celebration of "the greatest literary cartographer of the planet Mars" (Edgar Rice Burroughs, with his character John Carter); a reintroduction to a forgotten master of ghost stories (M. R. James, ironically "the happiest of men"); the recognition that the worlds of Wes Anderson's films are reassembled scale models of our own broken reality (as is all art); Chabon's own rude awakening from the muse as he writes his debut novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; or a playful parody of lyrical interpretation in the liner notes for Mark Ronson's Uptown Special, the true purpose of which, Chabon insists, is to "spread the gospel of sensible automotive safety and maintenance practices." Galaxies away from academic or didactic, Bookends celebrates wonder-and like the copy of The Phantom Tollbooth handed to young Michael by a friend of his father he never saw again-it is a treasured gift. ...Show more

Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen by Mary Norris

$22.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

The Comma Queen returns with a buoyant book about language, love, and the wine-dark sea. In her New York Times bestseller Between You & Me, Mary Norris delighted readers with her irreverent tales of pencils and punctuation in the New Yorker's celebrated copy department. In Greek to Me, she delivers another wise and funny paean to the art of self-expression, this time filtered through her greatest passion- all things Greek. Greek to Me is a charming account of Norris's lifelong love affair with words and her solo adventures in the land of olive trees and ouzo. Along the way, Norris explains how the alphabet originated in Greece, makes the case for Athena as a feminist icon, goes searching for the fabled Baths of Aphrodite, and reveals the surprising ways Greek helped form English. Filled with Norris's memorable encounters with Greek words, Greek gods, Greek wine-and more than a few Greek men-Greek to Me is the Comma Queen's fresh take on Greece and the exotic yet strangely familiar language that so deeply influences our own. ...Show more

Improv for Writers - 10 Secrets to Help Novelists and Screenwriters Bypass Writer's Block and Generate Infinite Ideas by Jorjeana Marie

$24.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

Improv instructor and writer Jorjeana Marie presents the first book to harness the creative power of improvisation exercises to help both aspiring and seasoned authors defeat writer's block and generate new ideas.  Suffering from writer's block and inner critics? Having trouble generating ideas for plo ts, settings, and characters? Introducing the rules and techniques of improvisation as they apply to fiction writing, improv instructor and writer Jorjeana Marie addresses each major element of storytelling by applying writer's-block-busting games and inner-critic-quieting exercises to get the creative ideas flowing. Armed with the power of improv--and freeing exercises like Ad Agency, Your Local Library, and Family Portraits--you'll soon be an idea machine. With Improv for Writers, your creative storytelling well will never run dry again. Features a PDF of Lists to Assist with Games and Exercises ...Show more

Letters of Note: Cats by Shaun Usher

$14.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

An irresistible feline-themed selection of letters from the curator of the globally renowned Letters of Note website.

Notes from a Public Typewriter by Michael Gustafson

$26.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

When Michael Gustafson and his wife Hilary opened Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they put out a typewriter for anyone to use. They had no idea what to expect. Would people ask metaphysical questions? Write mean things? Pour their souls onto the page? Yes, no, and did they ever. Every day, pe ople of all ages sit down at the public typewriter. Children perch atop grandparents' knees, both sets of hands hovering above the metal keys- I LOVE YOU. Others walk in alone on Friday nights and confess their hopes- I will find someone someday. And some leave funny asides for the next person who sits down- I dislike people, misanthropes, irony, and ellipses . . . and lists too. In Notes from a Public Typewriter, Michael and designer Oliver Uberti have combined their favorite notes with essays and photos to create an ode to community and the written word that will surprise, delight, and inspire ...Show more

On Robyn Davidson : Writers on Writers by Richard Cooke

$17.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

Robyn Davidson, author of the classic memoir Tracks, has led a remarkable life of writing and nomadic travel. In this crisp, erudite essay, acclaimed critic and journalist Richard Cooke explores Davidson's relationship with place and freedom, and her singular presence in Australian letters. In the Write rs on Writers series, leading authors reflect on an Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. Provocative and well-written, these books start a fresh conversation between past and present, shed new light on the craft of writing, and introduce some intriguing and talented authors and their work. The Writers on Writers series is published by Black Inc. in association with the University of Melbourne and State Library Victoria. FORTHCOMING IN THE WRITERS ON WRITERS SERIES On Beverley Farmer by Josephine Rowe (Oct 2020) On Thomas Keneally by Stan Grant (May 2021) ...Show more

Sir Henry Neville, Alias William Shakespeare : Authorship Evidence in the History Plays by William D. (FRW) John; Rubinstein Mark; Casson Bradbeer

$37.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

The Moth: All These Wonders by Catherine Burns (ed.)

$29.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

From storytelling phenomenon The Moth: a collection about risk, courage, and facing the unknown, drawn from the best stories ever told on their stages. All These Wonders features voices both familiar and new. Storytellers include the writers Marlon James and Christina Lamb, as well as a hip hop 'one hit wonder', an astronomer gazing at the surface of Pluto for the first time, and a young female spy risking everything as part of Churchill's secret army during World War II. They share their ventures into uncharted territory - and how their lives were changed forever by what they found there. These true stories have been carefully selected and adapted to the page by the creative minds at The Moth, and will encompass the very best of the 17,000+ stories performed in live Moth shows around the world. Filled with a variety of humourous, moving, and gripping tales from all walks of life, it is timed to celebrate the Moth's 20th anniversary year. ...Show more

The Moth Presents: Occasional Magic - 50 True Stories of Defying the Impossible by Catherine Burns (Introduction by, Editor); The Moth

$22.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

Before television and radio, people would gather on porches, on the steps outside their homes, and tell stories. Their bewitched listeners would sit and listen long into the night as moths flitted around overhead. Storytelling phenomenon The Moth recaptures this lost each week in cities across America, Britain, Australia and beyond, playing to packed crowds at sold-out live events.Occasional Magic is a selection of 50 of the finest Moth stories from recent shows, from storytellers who found the courage to face their deepest fears. The stories feature voices familiar and new. Alongside Neil Gaiman, Adam Gopnik, Andrew Solomon, Rosanne Cash, and Cristina Lamb, there are stories from around the world describing moments of strength, passion, courage and humour - and when a little magic happened. In finest Moth tradition, Occasional Magic encourages us all to be more open, vulnerable and alive. ...Show more