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

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

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.

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

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

Eliza Robertson won the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Pheidippides’. Author David Malouf announced Eliza Robertson as the overall winner at a ceremony at Potts Point Bookshop, Sydney. Dominic Amerena placed second for his story ‘The Leaching Layer’ and Lauren Aimee Curtis came third for her story ‘Butter’.

Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2017 Fiction issue: http://bit.ly/1hUO625

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from forty-two different countries. The 2017 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Ellen van Neerven and Chris Flynn.

Peter Rose: 0:00 – 7:55

David Malouf: 7:56 – 12:45

Amy Bailleu: 14:15 – 18:22

Dominic Amerena: reads ‘The Leaching Layer’: 20:00 – 24:24

Lauren Aimee Curtis: reads ‘Butter’: 24:55 – 31:00

Eliza Robertson reads ‘Pheidippides’: 31:47 – 36:25

David Malouf announces the winner of the 2017 Jolley Prize: 36:56

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

On Thursday, March 23, 2017, Australian Book Review held a ceremony at the Collected Works Bookshop to announce the winner of the 2017 Peter Porter Poetry Prize.

What a great night it was – full of poetry, laughter and swapped spectacles. The joint winners were - Louis Klee (Vic) for his poem ‘Sentence to Lilacs’ and Damen O’Brien (Qld) for ‘pH’

The winners were chosen from a field of nearly 1000 entries from twenty-two countries. Other shortlisted poets were Ronald Dzerigian (USA), Anthony Lawrence (NSW), Michael Lee Phillips (USA), Jen Saunders (NSW), and Jessie Tu (NSW). The seven shortlisted poems appear in ABR’s March 2017 issue http://bit.ly/2mxvbqy

Thanks again to our judges – Ali Alizadeh, Jill Jones and Felicity Plunkett – and to all the poets who entered the 2017 Porter Prize.

Peter Rose interviews ABR contributor Lee Christofis, who recently attended a number of exhibitions in Paris showcasing works by Léon Bakst, Cy Twombly, and Arnold Schoenberg among others. His visit coincided with the fortieth birthday of the Pompidou Centre. Lee's 'Letter from Paris' appears in ABR Arts:

https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-arts/arts/3848-letter-from-paris

Lee Christofis is a Melbourne-based writer on dance and associated arts. From 2006-13 he was the Curator of Dance at the National Library of Australia.

For more ABR Podcasts visit:

www.australianbookreview.com.au/podcasts/…r-podcast

The ABR Podcast is available via SoundCloud and iTunes.

ABR Podcast intro music by David McCooey

Other music by Danosongs: (www.danosongs.com)and Bensound.com

Gabriel García Ochoa reports back from Mexico following the US election in his article 'The City of Palaces' which appears in the January-February issue of Australian Book Review.

For more ABR Podcasts visit:

www.australianbookreview.com.au/podcasts/…r-podcast

The ABR Podcast is available via SoundCloud and iTunes.

ABR Podcast intro music by David McCooey

Other music by Danosongs: (www.danosongs.com)and Bensound.com

Comments by Donald Trump on Mexicans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo-7ISmwAi0