In December 1965, when Jeremy Gavron was four years old, his mother dropped him off at nursery school for a Christmas party. She then went to a friend’s flat in Primrose Hill, north London, turned on the oven, and gassed herself. Eerily, the flat was a few streets away from where Sylvia Plath had chosen the same fate just two years earlier. Twenty-nine-year-old Hannah Gavron left behind two young sons, a…
When Elspeth Muir’s younger brother, Alexander, hit the town with his mates in 2009, he was like many other university students celebrating the end of exams. But unlike his friends, Alexander didn’t make it home that night. Instead, Alexander walked on to the Story Bridge, put his phone, wallet, T-shirt and thongs on the walkway, and jumped into the Brisbane River. He was 21 years old, and when police…
“Guerrilla philosopher” Damon Young is on a mission to revive the art of reading. It’s an ever-increasing challenge in today’s world, where so many of us relax on the couch in front of the television, or on the computer or phone with a multitude of tabs open, absorbing social media updates, click-bait and listicles. In his new book, The Art of Reading, Young devotes each chapter to a virtue that, he…
People had always been a mystery to John Elder Robison. Machines, however, were not. With a gift for electrical engineering and gizmos, he built tractors as a young boy before moving on to bigger and varied projects.In some circles John is known for his photography; in others he was known for the automobile company he founded; and of course there was the brilliant electronic music creations of his…
We’re very proud to welcome Sunil Yapa, author of the stunning novel Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size of a Fist, to Brisbane for the first time in a conversation with Ellen van Neerven. This free event is open to everyone, but only while tickets last. Here’s what our Volunteer Coordinator, Meg Vann, had to say about the book:In this remarkable book, Sunil weaves together…
