Culture

John Kinsella Watching Dulac’s La Coquille et le clergyman and thinking over my great-grandmother playing piano to accompany silent movies   I know this one wouldn’t have reached the picture houses of Perth, Western …

Neha Kale The style, wit and intelligence of Elaine Stritch have been beacons for comedian Rhys Nicholson.

Miriam Cosic The art of Chiharu Shiota – now on show in a major survey in Brisbane – tackles ineffable questions about absence.

Brodie Wilkinson When you were little, you dreamed of a man in uniform. A man who would woo you with his charm and sweep you off your feet. You read a lot of Jane Austen. Underage and overeager, you and your friends would frequent the bars nearest the barracks. Stories …

Philipa Rothfield

Stephanie Lake’s tour-de-force dance work is a full-blooded celebration of rhythm.

Kate Holden The greatest influence on Kate Grenville was her mother, whose own passion for storytelling and record keeping is among the award-winning author’s earliest memories.

Andy Hazel The film director has never aimed small – and few figures are bigger than Elvis Presley.

Mahmood Fazal

As the National Gallery of Victoria’s new exhibition reveals, Picasso believed that art was a kind of magic.

Chantal Nguyen

Bangarra’s vast hymn to Country shows the company has a bright future under incoming artistic director Frances Rings.

Amal Awad “Being buried alive by social media hatred will force you to either construct impenetrable walls around your soul or quit completely.” So says Yassmin Abdel-Magied in her book Talking About a Revolution, a collection of essays old and new …

Jeff Sparrow Katharine Susannah Prichard published her first short story in 1899 and her final novel in 1967. At last we have a definitive biography, a book tracing her life and the formation of the Australian literary culture she helped to create. Nathan Hobby reminds …

Linda Jaivin When he wanted to send a secret message, the ancient Greek tyrant Histiaeus shaved the head of a slave, tattooed the message on his scalp and, once the hair had grown back, sent him on his way. In this story, Ellis Gunn finds a key metaphor for how patriarchal …