Cirrus@Austlit

'Biography of Sasha Soldatow (1947-2006): anarchist, activist, artist, and unforgettable personality. Born in Germany to a Russian family that emigrated to Australia when he was two, Sasha grew up in Melbourne then moved to Sydney, attracted by its anarchist tradition and new underground radical publishing. He was a staunch supporter of feminism and a leading figure in the nascent gay liberation movement from the late 1960s, active in prison reform and anti-development movements. He published six critically acclaimed books, many stories, essays, and reviews, regular columns in the gay press, and pamphlets of poetry and polemics that he also illustrated, designed and published. He traveled to Moscow where his dreams of living like a Russian were shattered as the Soviet Union fell apart. He is well remembered for his flamboyance, humour and outrageousness; his passions for politics and friendships; his influence, mentoring and editing for many well-known writers; his legal action against the premier funding body of the time; his poetry readings and cabaret performances; his generous and stylish hospitality.' (Publication summary)

'They were two little girls on a very big boat.

'In the 1930s, Ada and Leyla meet as children on a boat bringing migrants from Old Europe to the New World. They talk of seeing kangaroos yet end up living miles apart from each other in suburban Sydney. Their separations are often lengthy but their friendship endures across continents and decades and is a thread in this haunting story of writing, relationships and ageing.

'Ada (A.L. Ligeti) becomes an author, searching for a Utopian world, exploring aspects of patriarchy and gender in her groundbreaking feminist science fiction novel called Turn Left at Venus. That novel and its sequels are celebrated and much discussed by generations of fans. Memory and imagination fold seamlessly into one another as Ada keeps moving on, from relationships and places, living in hotels and rental spaces in  Kings Cross, San Francisco, Ubud and elsewhere.

'Baranay’s emotionally resonant portrait of the solitary and artistic life, lived adventurously across space and time, triumphantly celebrates the singularity of being, of age, of imagination, and of the ‘getting ready’ for the ending that life demands.'  (Publication summary)

'3 eras, 3 women: linked by Berlin, performance art, and a poem

'In the 1890s young poet Erika Kieler attends the most progressive artistic salon in Berlin to perform her poem inspired by a visitor from the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

'In 1989, just before the Wall comes down, punk artist Trudi Zahn performs her own version of the same poem in an East Berlin club.

'And in 2009 Lottie Hoffmann prepares to perform Trudi’s work at a cabaret for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The story explores the drive for women’s authentic creativity and personal freedom, cross-cultural exchange, interpretations of history, artistic influence, and a universe in which ghosts appear.' (Publication summary)

'I was having a coffee with Josh in Darlinghurst Road after we’d been to a movie about Andy Warhol at the Chauvel. Josh suddenly went ‘oh my god!’, interrupting his own monologue on mechanical reproduction and the uncredited work of assistants in the world of art, and called out ‘Larry!’, and, lo and behold, that’s who it was coming in to the café, Larry. This was not long after the astonishing night when freaky bearded Larry turned up on the street, and just after he had turned up at Isabel’s in his new clothes, which he was wearing now.'  (Introduction)

'Yearning for the lands of the old gods, escaping the pressures of New York, controversial cultural commentator Marisa comes to Amsterdam in search of escape and inspiration. A fiery transsexual cult figure follows her intent on a showdown. A mysterious blonde beauty has waited centuries to be ready for this.

'The tenth book in Inez Baranay's lively and varied career, Always Hungry is an erotic entertainment about ambition, mortality and relationships, a social comedy with a chilling edge, with questions about the rationalisations we all make when our way of life is based on the suffering of others.' (From the author's website.)