Cirrus@Austlit

'It's funny the things that move you when you're in a foreign country. Paul Hetherington didn't expect to find clarity in the sight of an ancient aqueduct while on a moving train in Rome, but there you have it. ...'

'"Dear David, would you like to be one of our Men of Letters? The premise for the show is simple – we ask 10 esteemed gentlemen to write a letter to the 'woman who changed my life', and read it live. The letter can be funny, heartfelt, musical if you're so inclined – whatever works..." ...'

'This book is a sham, a trick, a gorgeous lie. Resting somewhere between a linked short story collection and a Bolanoesque encyclopaedia, Ryan O'Neill has created a book of imaginary literary biography where the invented rub shoulders with the actual, and where the true story is told in the connections and correspondences – some overt, some hidden – between writers of counterfeit note. ...'

'Picture a kind of backyard Proust in stubbies and thongs, talking to you fork in hand at the barbecue, and you'll get something of William McInnes' digressive, yarn-spinning style. ...'

'It's impossible to read the cricketing memoir of veteran ABC commentator Jim Maxwell without hearing his voice. You don't so much read as listen to it. Fitting, for this is as much a dedication to the art of radio commentary as the game. ...'

'There are a growing number of novels prepared to tell the story of paedophilia within various church communities, not least the Catholic Church. Few of them have needed to stray far from the grim facts. ...'

'The recent news that writers come a poor third in federal government arts funding, well behind orchestras and opera, is no surprise. Writing has always been the poor cousin in the business of allocating taxpayers' money for the arts. ...'