“Manipulation by Machine” essay – Kill Your Darlings

From the moment the first trailer for Tom Hooper’s Cats appeared online, discussions began around the sinister psychological divide between illusion and reality…

“Sanity Sleuth” essay – Overland

I don’t think there’s ever really been a time when my mother wasn’t terrified of her own existence…

“The Shearer’s Daughter” essay – Verandah #34

The day my Year 11 Australian Studies teacher discovered my dad was a shearer, he practically did backflips of joy like a mechanical dog…

“Angels and Demons” review – The Big Issue No 521

A Winton-esque debut by Paul Mitchell comes to grips with the lightness and darkness of masculinity…

“Poor writing: on bogan hunting in the bookshop” essay – Overland

Writing about growing up poor, especially on the internet, is like getting into a water balloon fight with an octopus – you launch your projectile out into the world and are immediately slapped in the face with a crap-tonne of slimy missiles in return…

“YA writer Meg Rosoff releases first adult novel Jonathan Unleashed” review – The Australian

Boston-born author Meg Rosoff moved to London after attending Harvard University and proceeded to be fired from an impressive raft of advertising jobs…

“Second Half First” review – The Big Issue No 499

Memoir is a tricky, sneaky business. How do you write one without revealing the secrets of your friends and relatives?…

“What is Gamergate and why does it matter?” essay – Women’s Agenda

In recent months an online war has erupted. Its name? Gamergate. The trouble started back in 2013…

“Ministers and the public service: right in The Thick Of It” essay – The Mandarin

Many a public servant would have caught a rerun or two of the early ’80s BBC sitcom Yes, Minister and had a chuckle…

“Beer and ciggies? More like ‘Let them eat cake’ from Joe Hockey atop his tower” essay – The Sydney Morning Herald

The mental image of Joe Hockey in Marie Antoinette’s blonde ringlets proclaiming “Let them eat cake” might prompt consternation or an upset stomach…

“Did public school kids ever have a chance?” essay – The ABC

Pity the public school graduates who overcome a cocktail of disadvantage and reduced opportunities, only to have their resumes thrown into the discard pile…