Imagine you are sitting around a campfire. The fire crackles, the sweet smell of smoke touches the air, the sounds of the night bush orchestra provide accompaniment to the rhythm of the storyteller's tales. His style is personal and intimate, as a friend, seated beside you. His stories are in plain speech, "no frills" as his younger years were never spent in school. His memory sharpened by the lack of any written diary and forged by the gauntlet of challenging experiences f

The New Israel Fund (NIF) is a United States-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) and philanthropic fund established in 1979. It is widely recognised as the largest foreign donor to progressive, left-of-centre civil society and social change causes in Israel. The organisation operates internationally, raising funds in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia to distribute as grants to Israeli non-profit organisations. Core Mission & Ideology The NIF explicitly anchors its

The Tuscan village of San Ginese is the setting for Moreno Giovannoi's resurrection of the grit, superstition and flawed characters, trapped in their deep-rooted grudges. The book is narrated by Ugo, an elderly migrant in Australia, who recounts the tales of his birthplace to "The Translator" (the author himself). Here we meet Bucchione, a man haunted by the "Angel of Sadness", "Tommaso the Killer", whose reputation precedes him. The "Two Imbecile Sisters" whose tragic, quiet

Andrew Darby reveals himself as an explorer, adventurer, artist, activist and detective. 'The Ancients' is more than a botany textbook; a narrative about "deep time" written by a man who found himself acutely aware of his own mortality. Darby suffered a stage-four cancer diagnosis in 2017 and pursued his "second life" with a passion to seek out the oldest living things on the planet—Tasmania's paleo-endemic trees. Darby treats these trees not as resources, but as survivors wi

Khaled Hosseini’s 'The Kite Runner' is an intimate story that spans decades of history; a harrowing yet lyrical exploration of betrayal and the long road to redemption, set against the turbulent backdrop of Afghanistan's shifting political landscape. The narrative exposes the internal struggles of the protagonist Amir, whose childhood cowardice creates never-ending guilt. The kite emerges as a symbol of cultural heritage and the ruthless competition, the means of fracturing t

The ABC's special investigation into the massive release of over three million documents from the US Department of Justice opened my eyes further to the ongoing struggle of the victims of Epstein's sex-trafficking empire to obtain justice. The documentary highlighted the legal and political ripple effects and the systemic failure of institutions and systems that allowed Epstein to operate with impunity for decades. Key figures in the story presented their experiences, cha

The glass cross lowered on to the top of the Sagrada Familia yesterday, Antoni Gaudí’s famous church, brought the maximum final height of the structure to 172.5m, 144 years after work began. It is the tallest church in the world. The tower stands majestically above Barcelona and is far more than just a construction project, often described as "the Bible in stone." Gaudí, a devout Catholic viewed his architectural craft as a form of religious devotion. He designed a visu

Ghost Cities, by Siang Lu doesn't seem like a novel but rather a constructed labyrinth of the absurd where the map to provide the path is written in invisible ink. The story follows a disgraced film director and a low-level bureaucrat, navigating a landscape of "ghost cities"—vast, sprawling metropolitan areas in China built for millions but inhabited by almost no one. Lu wants us to look at empty buildings where the artificial becomes the only reality and characters navigate

The devastating attack on the Jewish community at Bondi beach last Sunday will leave more than an indelible stain on their memory. Our Jewish friends again will experience the festering hatred that for centuries, erupts, creating persistent fear and trauma. For many of us, we cannot conceive the depths of hatred that motivate such premeditated carnage as we witnessed at Bondi. Our response is critical. It is not a time for violent retribution. The need is for calm. Justic

I can't recommend Tahlia Newland's Novel Writing Mastery enough—especially for those who, like me, have already benefited from her generous wisdom and guidance in their own writing process. Having experienced Tahlia's supportive, yet rigorously professional, approach firsthand, this book felt less like a general writing guide and more like having her beside me in my study. What truly sets Novel Writing Mastery apart is that it’s written by someone who doesn’t just teach writi