fiction

To put it simply, this book chronicles the rise and fall of messianic figure Jacob Frank. It also explores the lives of everyone in his periphery, and anyone instrumental in that rise and fall. It is set in the mid-17th – 18th century Poland (and surrounding countries) and was meticulously researched by Torkarczuk.

The prose was perfect. It read ironic at times, but always sincere, somehow. It was funny, sad, beautiful, and breathtaking! I believed every single character was real, and there were hundreds (probably literally). I got lost in this world, so deeply that I missed it after I had finished.

Jennifer Croft’s translation into English was phenomenal – I can’t even imagine how much care went into honouring Torkaczuk’s language puns, with references to Polish, Yiddish, French, Latin, German, among others! The power of language and words is a huge theme in this text, as well as religion (of course – with crossovers of the Frankists [the novel’s inspiration], Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths).

This book doesn’t feel like it’s 900 pages, aside from its weight. I sped through this with delight.

Text Publishing, 2022

poetry

Paradise (point of transmission) is a poetry collection placed within a sequence of physical and psychic transitional spaces – from seronegative to seropositive; from ‘adopted’ Singaporean to the poet finding his place again as an adult in the Perth of his childhood; and from being secretive about his HIV-status (in which the art he produced was rooted in the trauma of HIV transmission without naming it), towards living a more public life, in which living openly with HIV is characterised by the queer longing toward both resilience and transformation.

Fremantle Press, 2022

anthology

Nothing to Hide is Australia’s first mainstream anthology of trans and gender-diverse writing.

While there has been unprecedented trans visibility in Australia in the last decade, this visibility has not always been positive, shadowed at every step by transphobic misinformation and extremist rhetoric. As a counter to the harmful chorus of anti-trans voices, this collection features the work of thirty trans and gender-diverse people across the spectrum of age, race, geography and circumstance. The writers give voice to their communities and tell their own stories, on their own terms.

Showcasing the wealth of creativity within the trans and gender-diverse community and providing illuminating insights into the challenges and joys of trans experience, Nothing to Hide is a powerful contribution to Australian literature.

Allen & Unwin, 2022

memoir

Faith, Hope and Carnage is a book about Nick Cave’s inner life.

Created from more than forty hours of intimate conversations with the journalist Sean O’Hagan, this is a profoundly thoughtful exploration, in Cave’s own words, of what really drives his life and creativity.

The book examines questions of belief, art, music, freedom, grief and love. It draws candidly on Cave’s life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years.

Faith, Hope and Carnage offers ladders of hope and inspiration from a true visionary.

Read an extract from the book here.

Text Publishing, 2022

fiction

Maggie O’Farrell’s latest is a sumptuous historical fiction. Cloistered Lucrezia is betrothed in childhood to the Duke of Ferrara, and at 15 passes from the custody of her family to that of her husband Alfonso. It’s a perilous new situation she finds herself in, even though it’s luxurious. We are made keenly aware of her vulnerability and the tension winds ever tighter over the course of the book. Splendid, dark and startling.

Tinder Press, 2022