Cirrus@Austlit

'The August issue offers readers a feast of fiction, along with the magazine’s usual probing commentary and criticism. The issue features all three stories shortlisted for the Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, as well as reviews of new books by Rachel Cusk, Tony Birch, Bill Birtles and ABR Rising Star Sarah Walker. In non-fiction, Stephen Bennetts highlights one of the overlooked contexts for the debate over Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, while Michael Dwyer recounts Australian journalists’ enduring fascination with China. The risks of border crossing are also weighed by Elisabeth Holdsworth and Seumas Spark in their reviews of recent books on the history of transportation. Brenda Walker and Jim Davidson pay tributes to the achievements of Hazel Rowley and Robin Boyd, respectively, and there are poems by Joan Fleming, John Kinsella, and Laurie Duggan – as well as plenty more!'(Publication summary)