Cirrus@Austlit

'Writing a book is often likened to having a child: the idea grows inside you until, after the agony of labour, it enters the world.' (Introduction)

'The creator of popular Australian television show Neighbours, Reg Watson, has died aged 93.' 

'When the Hungarian virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt began receiving public displays of adoration from predominantly female fans during his concerts in the 1840s, the writer Heinrich Heine described the "Lisztomania" that followed him as the "spiritualistic sickness of our time".' (Introduction)

'Now that the HBO juggernaut Game of Thrones has lifted the drawbridge on its eight record-breaking seasons, you'd presume a ready-made audience is sitting fidgety on their couches, desperate for more royal intrigue and medieval-inspired carnage.

'Enter Australian director David Michod with a film adaptation of a couple of Shakespeare's bloodier works.' (Introduction)

'In 1786, merchant and former naval officer Francis Light claimed the Malaysian island Penang for the British. Fifty years later, in 1836, his son William, appointed surveyor-general of the colony of South Australia, landed on Kangaroo Island, charged with choosing the location for the capital.'(Introduction) 

'When grandmother Maurya Bourandanis became homeless in her mid-50s, one of the places she would sleep was a park bench outside a theatre in Melbourne's inner south.'(Introduction)

'Anchuli Felicia King holds the singular distinction among Australian playwrights of having not one or two, but three plays debut on Australian stages in 2019. And the story only gets more interesting from there.' (Introduction)