Cirrus@Austlit

Brett posits the view that for most Australians the chook 'symbolises the precariousness of our social order ... For the chook symbolises the forces, both inner and outer, which we fear we have not conquered, and it does so by being a uniquely Australian comic figure.'

'For three months Robert Drewe taught fiction writing at London's Brixton Prison. These notes are from his prison diary.' (Editor's note)

'This is a story about survivor guilt: the guilt of a complex and troubled man, who felt he should have become a prisoner of war, even though he was a civilian. It is also about my father.' (Author's note)

Clive James recalls the books he read during his adolescent years.

Rowanne Couch reflects on common themes between the death of Dianne Trimble on the P&O cruise ship, Pacific Sky, and the fate of Big Brother contestant Camilla Halliwell.

'... historians face a number of dilemmas, not least of which is the emerging historical authority in the public domain of writers of fiction ... While historians bicker over ultimately irreconcilable positions, fiction steps in to offer historical understanding and empathy.' Mark McKenna addresses 'the problems involved in writing history for a broader audience. In particular he [examines] such issues as the role of the personal voice in the writing of history, the need for narrative experimentation and the obligation to retain historical integrity in the face of commerical imperatives.' (Humanities Writing Project advertising blurb)

Chloe Hooper examines the background and circumstances surrounding the death of the Torres Strait Islander man, Cameron Doomadgee (Moordinyi), while in police custody.

Hazel Rowley reflects on the visit of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Satre to Brazil, a subject covered in her 2005 biography Tete-a-tete : Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. After the publication of her book, Rowley visits Brazil herself to discover more of this period in the famed authors' lives.

'Faced with a theatre-going public not yet ready for his work, Shakespeare set about remaking the Elizabethan mind. In David Malouf's remarkable perspective on the great man's legacy, he explores how we became the beneficiaries of an extroardinary gift.'

Source: Age (A2) 25 November 2006, p.14.