‘Every four years the people of the United States of America choose the person they think most likely to keep them free and safe; and best placed to decide what their country’s interests are and how they should be pursued … ’ So begins Don Watson’s second Quarterly Essay, a barbed look at American politics in the time of Trump. 

Katy Warner, who is a Melbourne-based playwright, writer and actor, was the talk of the town at the Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards. Her blackly comic play, A Prudent Man, not only received rave reviews but also won the People’s Choice Award and the WA Touring Award. This means she gets to take the play to Perth Fringe Festival next year. And you know what else happens next year? We publish her first book.

The shortlist for this year’s Barbara Jefferis Award has been announced, and Laurinda by Alice Pung is one of the six titles on it. The award is presented biennially by the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) for 'the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society'. Laurinda, which is set in a private school in Sydney and told through the eyes of Lucy Lam, a scholarship girl with sharp eyes but a shaky sense of self, certainly fits the bill. 

Nicole Hayes and Alicia Sometimes are dyed-in-the-wool footy fans and have a unique perspective on a sport that was once dominated by men. They explored this perspective as co-editors of From the Outer, an anthology of personal stories about Aussie Rules football that wrestled the conversation away from the usual suspects and put it firmly in the hands of those who are female, indigenous, gay, disabled or otherwise typically relegated to the ‘outer’. They sparked a fascinating conversation, so we invited them to have another one with us about the past year in AFL now that Grand Final Week is over.

Are trees social beings? In this international bestseller, forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network and trees can communicate with each other in surprisingly complex ways. A smash hit in Germany that’s now available in English, The Hidden Life of Trees will change the way you see the forest forever.

In the introduction to the book, Wohlleben shares his transformation from a traditional forester working for the timber industry, into a conservationist. Read the introduction below.

Black Inc. mourns the passing of Inga Clendinnen. 

My First Lesson is a new anthology of writing by Australian high-school students, inspired by Laurinda and edited by Alice Pung. We recently celebrated the book with a special event at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Kate Mildenhall’s debut novel Skylarking is about the ferocity of young female friendship: teenagers Kate and Harriet live on remote cape in 1880s NSW and are inseparable until a mysterious, older fisherman arrives and disrupts their world. Skylarking has been compared to Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites and has received praise for its evocative illustration of the intense bond between young women. In this piece, Kate shares the literary friendships that inspired her, both as a writer and when she was growing up. 

What do 30 Rock, American Dad! and The Office have in common? Steve Hely wrote for them! He also penned the acclaimed literary satire How I Became A Famous Novelist (which won the Thurber Prize for American Humour) and travel memoir The Wonder Trail (which received this review in the New York Times – ‘if you can let Mr. Hely’s joking offset his featherweight work ethic, there aren’t many who make better company.’)

So, basically he’s a funny guy. Black Inc. is delighted to welcome Steve to Australia in August for Melbourne Writers Festival. Here, Steve offers his essential, bare-bones tips for writers, comedy and otherwise.

Tom Griffiths new, landmark work The Art of Time Travel explores the craft of discipline and imagination that is history and received glowing praise on release last month. The Australian called it ‘a manifesto for a new understanding of Australia’ and the Monthly recommended that it ‘should be in every school and library’.

In his launch speech at The Australian National University, Frank Bongiorno offered his own thoughts on why the books is such a special one: ‘The Art of Time Travel will explain to such readers better than any other book I know what it is that historians do, and why what they do should matter to everyone.’ Read his speech in full below.