The recent debate about same-sex marriage has been one of the most unseemly episodes in our recent history. A legal entitlement that has been endorsed by untold opinion polls has again been delayed because of internecine strife in the federal coalition. A postal ballot with dubious legal weight or status will further delay same-sex marriage and result in a divisive public debate – at quite a cost too. How far would $120 million go in our schools, our hospitals, our theatres, our laboratories? Yet again, gays and lesbians will be talked about and debated in ways that heterosexuals would find insufferable.

You can read Peter Rose’s Comment on the same-sex marriage debate here: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/4213-the-same-sex-marriage-debate-by-peter-rose

#15 Peter Rose on the same-sex marriage debate

The ABR Podcast is a new monthly series from Australian Book Review. Australian Book Review is an arts magazine published ten times a year in print and online. We publish essays, book reviews, interviews and creative writing as well as free arts commentary via the Arts Update section on our website. The ABR Podcast will feature extended interviews and major features from the magazine, such as essays, reviews, and short stories, recorded and discussed by their authors. Each episode will focus on a different subject or author reflecting the rich variety of content published in the magazine.

Visit our website to find out more about Australian Book Review https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/

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Madelaine Lucas was the overall winner of the 2018 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Ruins', and received $7,000 for first place. Here she reads an extract of her story, the full version available on the ABR website at: https://bit.ly/2QYABpu. 

Sharmini Aphrodite was placed second for her story 'Between the Mountain and the Sea' and Claire Aman placed third for her story 'Vasco'.

For more information on the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, as well as the Peter Porter Poetry Prize and Calibre Essay Prize, click here: https://bit.ly/2Ahooqm

Madelaine Lucas reads an extract of 'Ruins', winner of the 2018 Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize

Peter Rose spoke to Beejay Silcox, recipient of the ABR Fortieth Birthday Fellowship, about developments at ABR since the revival of the magazine's second series in 1978. Beejay also discusses her Fellowship essay, 'Defying the moment', an engaging in-depth look at Australian magazine culture featuring interviews with several leading editors: Jonathan Green (Meanjin), Nick Feik (The Monthly), Amy Middleton (Archer), Mindy Gill (Peril), Rebecca Starford (Kill Your Darlings), and Jacinda Woodhead (Overland)

You can read Beejay Silcox's essay 'Defying the moment' in the April 2018 issue of ABR: https://bit.ly/2uN1fLs

To subscribe to Australian Book Review, visit: http://bit.ly/NCUP7o

Music by www.bensound.com and David McCooey

Forty years of ABR: Peter Rose in conversation with Beejay Silcox

Each year, ABR’s prestigious Calibre Essay Prize, one of the world’s leading prizes for a new essay, attracts some of the finest writers from Australia and overseas.

Last year, the first prize of $5,000 was awarded to Michael Adams, an associate professor of Human Geography at the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research at the University of Wollongong. Before that, Michael worked for environment NGOs, the national parks service, and Aboriginal organisations. His focus is on human–nature relationships, especially with Indigenous and local communities, and he likes full-immersion methodologies. He writes in a wide variety of forms, including narrative non-fiction, online essays and peer-reviewed academic articles. 

His Calibre Prize-winning essay ‘Salt Blood’, is a thought-provoking and original meditation on human evolution, the practice of freediving, and his father’s suicide. Few things we published in 2017 had such resonance with readers. We weren’t surprised when it was included in Black Inc.’s ‘Best Australian Essays 2017’.

To read 'Salt Blood' by Michael Adams, visit the June-July 2017 issue in the ABR Online archive: http://bit.ly/2u1IUFN

To subscribe to Australian Book Review, visit: http://bit.ly/NCUP7o

Music by www.bensound.com
Edited, produced, and introduced by Dilan Gunawardana, Deputy Editor (Digital)at Australian Book Review.

Michael Adams reads 'Salt Blood'

ABR Deputy Editor Dilan Gunawardana spoke to Greg Sestero: actor, model, author and co-star of the 'best/worst film ever made', 'The Room' (2003). 

His award-winning memoir 'The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made' chronicles the film's production and Greg's relationship with its creator, the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau. It was recently adapted into a film directed by and starring James Franco as Tommy Wiseau.

Audio from the trailer of the 'The Disaster Artist' is courtesy of Roadshow Films/A24. 

Background music is courtesy of www.bensound.com

#18 Dilan Gunawardana in conversation with 'The Room' actor Greg Sestero

From the Herbig family who lived in a hollowed out tree trunk to Dr Bosisto’s ‘Syrup of Red Gum’, from the trauma and regeneration of bushfires to the ill-fated Burnside Village tree, the Tree of Knowledge, and the ‘dig tree’ - how can we understand Australia’s complex relationship with the eucalypt? The October 2017 Environment issue of Australian Book Review includes the third ABR Eucalypt Fellowship essay, ‘Ambassadors from Another Time’ by South Australian novelist Stephen Orr, in which he examines Australia’s evolving understanding of these iconic trees.

Stephen Orr studied ecology at university before starting to write fiction. He has taught Biology, Agriculture, and English. He especially loves novels about science and our sometimes difficult relationship with the natural world. His most recent novel, 'The Hands' (2015), describes a farming family trying to scratch a living from drought affected grazing country. His most recent novel is 'Datsunland' (UQP, 2017).

This $7,500 Fellowship is funded by Eucalypt Australia and we acknowledge their generous support.

Music featured in this podcast comes from the 2017 album The Double by David McCooey, which can be listened to and downloaded via Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/35dXqBWxCS4mPCu2K0JqEJ

This essay appeared in the October 2017 issue of Australian Book Review: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/4304-ambassadors-from-another-time-by-stephen-orr

To purchase a copy of the print edition, please go to our website www.australianbookreview.com.au. It also appears in our digital edition, ABR Online, and you can subscribe via the website too. Subscriptions cost as little as $10. https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/subscribe

#15 Peter Rose on the same-sex marriage debate

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