Cirrus@Austlit

''Nimblefoot is the eighth novel by Robert Drewe. His first, The Savage Crows, was published in 1976. He is the author of four collections of short stories, two memoirs, and numerous works in a variety of other forms.'

'The sophomore effort of a writer whose debut novel was widely acclaimed is always going to be an object of fascination. Was it a one-off? Did the writer have only one story worth sharing? Or can the writer do it again – catch literary lightning in a bottle a second time?' 

'Drawing on theories and methodologies associated with the field of textual criticism and scholarly editing, as well as those associated with the field of book history, this article examines the publishing of Christos Tsiolkas’s novel The Slap in the United States. All aspects of the publication process are surveyed—including design, marketing, and screen adaptation—but this article devotes its greatest critical attention to the editorial process. Ultimately, it contends that reading a US edition of The Slap is a substantially different experience from reading an Australian edition. This groundbreaking argument is the result of several unique or rare critical decisions. This article is unique, firstly, in the scope of its examination of the publishing of an Australian book in the United States—considering editorial, design, marketing, and screen adaptation. Second, it is rare for its close analysis of a previously overlooked category of editorial variation between editions. Finally, this article is uncommon because its analysis of editorial variation is focused on a book that received editorial attention that is reflective of a contemporary industry standard, rather than an outlier case. What remains unknown, however, is how typical Tsiolkas’s The Slap is of US editions of contemporary books originally published in Australia.' (Publication abstract)

'There is no doubt that Thomas Keneally’s Career and the Literary Machine will, for many years to come, be an indispensable resource for scholars writing about the works of Thomas Keneally. Of course, Keneally continues to produce new works – in 2020, for example, he published a new novel, The Dickens Boy – so, over time, Paul Sharrad’s scholarly monograph will be seen as increasingly incomplete. Indeed, the most recent of Keneally’s works that receives meaningful coverage in the book is the 2014 publication of the third volume in Keneally’s unique history of Australia; the series is titled Australians, and this volume is subtitled ‘Flappers to Vietnam’. Nonetheless, it is difficult to imagine a future scholar writing about any of the works produced in the first fifty years of Keneally’s career (Keneally’s first book was The Place at Whitton, which was published in 1964) without referencing Thomas Keneally’s Career and the Literary Machine; the depth and quality of the research is just that good.' (Publication abstract)

'Members of the general public are likely to recognise the names of some of the pioneering female aviators. There is of course Amelia Earhart, the American who became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Here in Australia, many would recognise the name Nancy Bird Walton, who is known for gaining her pilot’s licence at the age of nineteen, as well as for helping to establish a flying medical service in regional New South Wales. But what of the Australian female aviator who is the subject of James Vicars’s début, Beyond the Sky: The passions of Millicent Bryant, aviator? Millicent Bryant (1878–1927) has largely passed into obscurity, but in her day she was a sensation. Vicars would like his great-grandmother to become once again a household name, celebrated for her achievement as the first woman in Australia – indeed, the first in the Commonwealth outside Britain – to gain a pilot’s licence.' (Introduction)

'Many books have been written about Australia's Stolen Generations. There have been books of history and scholarship, of course, but among the most powerful and affecting books are the numerous works of life writing. Certainly, the best-known book about the Stolen Generations would have to [End Page 390] be Doris Pilkington's Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, published in 1996 and adapted as a film in 2002. Pilkington was a member of the Stolen Generations, but Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence tells the story of her mother's and aunts' escape from the Moore River Native Settlement, where they had been taken after being removed from their families. It is, therefore, an unusual book for being a secondhand account but told by a member of the Stolen Generations. It is also unusual for being Pilkington's second book; her first was a novel titled Caprice: A Stockman's Daughter (1991), which won the 1990 David Unaipon Award for an emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer. Among the many other works of life writing on the subject of the Stolen Generations, it is more typical for these books to be an author's first—or even their only—book.' (Introduction)

'In order to better understand and appreciate Alexis Wright's publishing history, it is important to first place it in the context of the publishing history of Australian Aboriginal literature. Only then can one properly situate it in the larger context of Australian literature. Finally, for full effect, Wright's publishing history should be placed in the context of the international literary marketplace.' (Introduction)

'In the introduction to Gularabulu: Stories from the West Kimberley, Stephen Muecke writes,

Presenting the stories as narrative art is a way of justifying a writing which tries to imitate the spoken word. When language is read as poetic, it is the form of the language itself, as well as its underlying content, which is important. Just as it would be unjustifiable to rewrite a poet’s work into ‘correct’ English (in other words to take away the poet’s ‘license’), so it would be unjustifiable to rewrite the words of Paddy Roe’s stories.

Muecke’s assertion that the ‘form’ of Paddy Roe’s words matter, and furthermore that it would be ‘unjustifiable’ to rewrite Roe’s stories, takes on a special significance in this particular edition of Gularabulu. After all, the UWA Publishing edition of Gularabulu, published in 2016, follows in the wake of the original 1983 edition as well as a 1993 edition, both published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press. The existence of three editions of this particular book is a testament to its enduring value, but it also presents an opportunity for interrogation.' (Introduction)