Review: Toxic by Richard Flanagan

Toxic is a polemic against Tasmania’s farmed salmon industry.

Review: The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott

The Rain Heron is a fable about environmental exploitation.

Review: Eating With My Mouth Open by Sam van Zweden

Eating With My Mouth open is an investigation of food, body and memory, and all the things they can mean.

Review: Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

A virtuosic collection of essays about the meanings we invest in nature and animals.

Review: Revenge by S. L. Lim

A furious and thrilling novel about the “lives you might have had.”

Review: The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan (translated by Howard Goldblatt)

A potent depiction of a time and a place, and seething critique of corruption.

Review: The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld

An accomplished novel that forensically examines misogyny in all its forms.

Five new queer films to add to your watchlist

My pick of the recent Melbourne Queer Film Festival.

Review: Collisions (edited by Leah Jing McIntosh, Cher Tan, Adalya Nash Hussein and Hassan Abul)

Collisions aims to “shift the Australian imaginary”.

Review: Nganajungu Yagu by Charmaine Papertalk Green

A beautiful, profoundly moving tribute to the relationship between mother and daughter.