Fundamentalism is the new ethos of our age, confronting long-held beliefs and values with simple, black and white solutions. From war in the Middle East, and terrorism, to the revival of religion in politics in the United States and Australia, the challenges of this new ideology are unsettling. The compelling writers in The Lure of Fundamentalism reveal with stunning insight why and how fundamentalism has become the new f-word and how it may affect us all. Contributors include Murray Sayle, Hugh Mackay, John Carroll, Margot O'Neill, Michael McKernan, Nick Earls, Barry Hill, Muriel Porter, Lee Kofman, Chas Savage, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Tom Morton, Michael Wesley, Wayne Hudson, Bill Bowtell, Creed C. O'Hanlon, Natalie Scott, Michael Wilding, Gideon Haigh, Eliza Blue and Glyn Davis.

The paradise myth has shaped civilisations for centuries. The quest for paradise on earth knows no bounds - repeated over and over, until it is now little more than an advertising slogan. When Christopher Columbus first " discovered" America, it was considered a new Garden of Eden. Later it became a secular paradise in which rights and freedoms were enshrined. In this current time of terror, however, many of these rights are being questioned - there is trouble in paradise.

Staying Alive goes to the heart of the human condition and the challenges of life and death. Epidemics and war make it a geopolitical issue as well as a personal one. Twenty million people have died from AIDS globally. Many died because its management was hijacked by those who believed it was caused by a sin, not a virus. Bill Bowtell, one of the architects of Australia's successful HIV/AIDS policy, passionately and persuasively argues that HIV can be eradicated within three generations. With political will, the lessons of successful HIV prevention can - and must - be applied globally. As the second phase of the pandemic looms in this region, this is an urgent plea. Wars are also urgent. Donna Mulhearn kept a diary during her time doing humanitarian work in Iraq, and describes four terrifying days caught in the crossfire in Fallujah. Nor is heroism confined to the battlefield or the global stage: writers in this edition reflect on personal battles to stay alive, and explore the implications of death. But when it is time to die, Dr Frank Brennan describes how this can be done with dignity and grace. Staying Alive puts personal dilemmas of survival in the context of the big picture, and maps out new and thought-provoking ways of thinking about the human condition. Other contributors include Pater Browne, Ian Townsend, Andrew Belk, Meera Atkinson, Bille Brown, Sarah Kanowski, John Docker, Michael Andrews, Simi Linton, Joanne Caroll, Helena Pastor, Virginia Lloyd, Joanna Mendelssohn, Jane Nicholls, Diego De Leo, Susan Varga and Michael Wilding. Photo esay by David Nielsen.

Money makes the world go around, but when it stops flowing the consequences are profound. From masters of the universe who lose their magical touch, to remote communities where the unwritten laws of money, sex and power can cause misery. This edition explores how power is wielded, how it can evaporate and can be renegotiated in unexpected ways. In the lead essay the influential thinker and writer Marcia Langton dissects the abusive nature of 'big men politics' in Indigenous communities and the grave effects of lateral violence. The heady mix of MoneySexPower is unraveled with flair and insight. From Faustian baking deals to prison codes, virtual identities to the culture of coal mines, the reign of the image and the price of privacy to brothels and the raw edge of political power. This is contrasted with the intimate choices of desire and exchange and lifts the lid on the potent forces of human ambition and longing. Other contributors include Edwina Shaw, Jonathan Raban, Tony Barrell, Sydney Smith, Martin McKenzie-Murray, Peter Ellingsen, Nikola Gurovic, Craig Scutt, Joanna Mendelssohn, David Linton, Mary-Rose MacColl, Rachel Robertson, Louis Nowra, Stuart Glover, Wayne McLennan, David Leetz, Georgina Murray, Cameron Raynes, Charlie Stansfield and Barry Hill.

The arts can no longer be regarded as decorative indulgences. More than ever they define who we are and how we are seen. The skill, dedication and commitment required to produce enduring works of art needs to be celebrated and rewarded. The creativity which inspires those who produce and enjoy these works needs to be nurtured and encouraged. Essentially Creative presents a bold new agenda. It argues that the arts, creativity, innovation and cultural policy deserve a place at the center of the national agenda and suggests ways this might be realized. Distinguished arts policy adviser Helen O'Neil argues in the lead essay that it is time to develop a new approach which goes beyond cultural nationalism. She draws on history and new research about the importance of the arts in national identity, economics and education, to suggest the way Australia could be transformed by truly valuing the arts and creativity. Frank Moorhouse presents a manifesto for the imagination in an age of internet-induced anxiety, Nicholas Jose argues for renewed cultural diplomacy and Robyn Archer proposes a new way of thinking about risk. Other essays, memoirs and reports by some of the best artists and writers in the country bring this transformation to life. Other writers include: Brent Balinski, Julian Meyrick, Jenny Sinclair, Kim Mahood, Cameron Raynes, Kylie Ladd, James Bradley, Brian Castro, Rosie Scott, Ryan Heath, Nicolas Low, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, Michael Vatikiotis, Joanna Mendelssohn, Julie Ballantyne, Don Lebler, Kim Williams, Huib Schippers, Stephen Downes, Mark Mordue and Helen Barnes-Bully. Poem by Philip Neilsen.

Edition 24: Participation Society Major changes of direction that affect whole societies occur very rarely. We are on the cusp of an epochal change which promises to transform the world as we have known it. The reaction to the global financial crisis and growing understanding of the impact of climate change are two of the triggers of a profound transformation. Combined with a new American president and an energised population facing real challenges, business as usual will become a thing of the past. The building blocks of this change have been put in place over the past decade - with increasing awareness of the limits of profit and unregulated markets combined with the transformative power of access to information and the rise and rise of the internet. Participation, engagement, interactivity, social capital, innovation and initiative are the new buzz words. Australians had their first official taste of this experiment in the 2020 Summit, Americans explored its possibilities during their election campaign and Europeans have come to look for social entrepreneurship which changes the way they live their lives. In the lead essay Cheryl Kernot explores what this may mean, in an essay that will provide a draft of a possible future. After a distinguished career in politics, Cheryl Kernot left Australia to work with social entrepreneurs in Britain. The lessons she learned apply to government, business and the not-for-profit sector - respect for people and the environment and faith in the ingenuity of people. Other essays will explore the nature of a new world in which participation is possible and the old paradigms no longer apply - in politics, government, health, social relations and education. This will be an important agenda setting issue of Griffith REVIEW - responding to the emerging new world order and anticipating what it might mean.

After the Crisis projects this new future, analyses the causes and historic parallels, examines the limits of the growth, and graphically reports what is happening on the front line around the world. The corruption of banking is at the heart of the global financial crisis. Like an internet virus, it is a contagion that has spread with remarkable speed and destruction. It has highlighted the weaknesses in the financial system and the economic order – the burden is not falling evenly. In the lead essay acclaimed author and business journalist Gideon Haigh goes beyond the clichés and the predictable explanations to make sense of what is happening and why. His essay critically examines the practices of banking and the finance industry and the consequences for us all. Other essays explore the limits of growth, the new meaning of globalism, the rise and rise of China, and front line reports of destruction and opportunities from Australia and around the world. This is an important agenda setting issue of Griffith Review – responding to the crisis that will reshape the world and anticipating what it might mean.

Stories for Today, a special summer fiction edition, presents a fresh and candid reinterpretation of the Australian character, with stories from the writers who are making an impact at home and overseas. Voices from home and the Australian diaspora explore the impact of migration, easy movement, pandemics, recession, connection with Asia, the service economy and more. Just as fiction provided the enduring images and notions of Australia at other key points in our history so we need stories to do this today. Articulating the new values – sustainability, tolerance and accountability – shouldn't be left to the politicians and advertisers but is something artists and writers are equipped to explore and express. This edition will also feature a series of short essays commissioned from leading writers who will engage with questions about why writing fiction matters, how it differs from other forms of communication and what it contributes to our culture and understanding of ourselves.

Food Chain explores the dimension of this looming problem, and our complex relationship with the food we eat and the food we drool over. The source, supply and price of food is likely to change significantly. Policies to reduce the impact of climate change will have a profound impact on the food supply here and around the world. Food is particularly vulnerable to global warming. Droughts, storms, pestilence and the increasing cost of fuel are already taking a toll on the reliable supply of affordable food. Food Chain explores the dimension of this looming problem, and our complex relationship with the food we eat and the food we drool over. In a stimulating lead essay Margaret Simons explores the complexity of the Murray Darling river crisis and its impact on the security of Australia's food bowl. This essay will provide a new framework to thinking about sustainable food production and contemporary policy debates on food security. Ranging from the farm to the fridge, this essay will change the way you think about what you put in your mouth. Food Chain will range widely across the whole food chain from farm gate to supermarket shelves with a national and global perspective. It will bring the abstract discussion of global warming to the dinner table and bring it to life with new urgency and immediacy. This issue promises to be an agenda setting contribution to the most urgent discussion in Australia at the beginning of 2010: what is to be done about climate change and how it will affect us all.

As economic, political and cultural power moves from North America and Europe to the Asia-Pacific, Australia is enjoying a new relationship with its neighbours. The shift of individuals and ideas across borders is giving rise to new voices in literature. Griffith Review's highly regarded second annual fiction edition features sparkling short fiction by established and emerging writers from around the Pacific Rim and Australia who are engaging with the region, including Peter Temple, Janette Turner Hospital, Nick Earls, Eva Hornung, Kate Holden, Alice Pung and many more. Packed with great summer reading, this edition also includes the announcement of the 2010 winners of the Griffith Review Emerging Writers' Prize.

The complexity and urgency of twenty-first century problems demand new Ways of Seeing. For decades, the humanities and social sciences have withered in the shadow of market economics and scientific rationalism. Now more than ever, we need a human-centred approach, learning from literature and philosophy and drawing on the creative imagination.

Anyone who has attempted a crossword puzzle understands wicked problems. One wrong letter and the whole solution collapses, elegance becomes a mess. So too in life: complexity makes systems less robust. Solutions are rarely linear unlike a crossword puzzle, wicked problems have no preordained solution. There are many possibilities. The latest edition of Griffith Review addresses diverse wicked problems and exquisite dilemmas: Barbara Gunnell considers the legacy of Julian Assange and the glut of Wikileaks information; Matthew Condon comes to terms with too much water and the floods of 2011; Greg Lockhardt reveals the legacy of wartime deception; John van Tiggelen confronts the myths of the bush; and Wendy McCarthy reflects on women in charge. Other writers consider what happens when design-led thinking, marrying analysis with applied creativity, meets intractable problems one step at a time. It ranges widely, from myth and information, innovation and evidence to sustainability and happiness.

There seems no end to our hunger for the stories of real people facing impossible odds or dealing with the mundanity of life. Yet not every life story finds - or deserves - an audience in addition to Facebook. Such is Life presents a dazzling selection of new memoir, personal essay and biography by some of the best Australian and international writers, with narratives that help make sense of the world and our conflicts about privacy, truth and perspective. Award-winning author Lloyd Jones reveals how childhood rugby and a reverence for the All Blacks shaped his adult sensibilities and success beyond the Wellington suburbs. Carrie Tiffany comes to terms with pain and shame; Shakira Hussein falls between identities and cultures in the wake of 9/11. Debra Adelaide learns the value of an official identity; Meera Atkinson's friendship transcends pubescent pop star fandom; and David Carlin attempts to write the history of Circus Oz. In essays, Frank Moorhouse tests the boundaries of privacy and stigma; Peter Bishop salutes teachers - real and literary - who nurture our creative imagination; A.J. Brown gets behind the writing of his new biography of Michael Kirby; and Matthew Ricketson surveys recent political memoirs. Marion Halligan, Toni Jordan and Anna Dorrington explore the legacy of mothers and children, while John Tranter, Brian Geach and Andrew Sant investigate rites of fatherhood. Raimond Gaita and Kate Holden consider what is honoured or lost when adapting memories to book or film; plus Virginia Lloyd, Rosie Scott, Sheila Fitzpatrick and much more.

Softcover. "Random acts of nature and man". Light creasing to upper leading and lower rear leading corners of covers. Head of page block is quite sunned. Binding is sound and pages are tight and clean throughout. Contents are clear. AF

What is Australia For? asks the big questions to encourage a robust national discussion about a new Australian identity that reflects our national, regional and global roles. In a powerful memoir, Frank Moorhouse confronts his own mortality when a routine trek through the bush at the back of Bourke takes a wrong turn; Cameron Muir argues for an urgent marriage between health and agriculture; David Hansen investigates the token Aboriginality of a Melbourne residential tower; and Nick Bryant takes the temperature of our cultural cringe. Dennis Altman asks if Australians have lost the will to create a better society; Robyn Archer contends that sustainability and resilience must be at the heart of our national debate; Kim Mahood offers a lacerating account of white workers in remote Aboriginal communities; David Astle and Romy Ash deliver two outstanding pieces of short fiction. Other contributors Peter Mares, Leah Kaminsky, Jim Davidson, Frances Guo, Bruce Pascoe, Maria Papas, Pat Hoffie, Charlie Ward, Michael Wesley and more.

Small World broadens the mind with postcards and intelligence from everywhere at a time when the growth of international air travel has shrunk the definition of proximity and the internet has enabled the globalised media industry to bring distant events and places tantalisingly close. Affluence has made Australians more mobile than ever. The notion of travel as a recreational pursuit of the wealthy is long past. Last year, a third of the national population travelled abroad, joining almost a billion tourists in the air, on the road, on board ships and trains. Some of Australia's best authors and journalists are featured, including an exclusive extract from Murray Bail's forthcoming novel The Voyage. Other contributors include: Inez Baranay, Nicholas Haeffner, Brett Caldwell, Dianne D'Alpoim, Patrick Holland, Kristina Olsson, Olivera Simic, Maria Tumarkin, Elma Softic-Kaunitz, Lesley Synge, Chris Flynn, Desmond O'Grady, Sam Vincent, Sally-Ann Jones, Mira Robertson, Pat Hoffie, Heather Taylor Johnson and a striking photo essay by Michael Hall.

Novellas – longer than a short story, shorter than a novel – have come into their own, with the digital publishing revolution providing new opportunities for writers to experiment with longer stories that are intense, detailed, often grounded in the times, and perfectly designed for busy people to read in one sitting. This edition features six stories picked by a panel of judges from more than two hundred entries. Mary-Rose MacColl explores the rippling consequences of a single moment of distraction; Lyndel Caffrey poignantly recreates the bleak Melbourne winter of 1923; and Katerina Cosgrove combines a portrait of strife-torn Greece with a tale of tortured love. Ed Wright tells the tragic story of a spirited teenager torn between love and duty in wartime Japan; Christine Kearney embraces the complexities of the mythic and contemporary reality of life in East Timor; and Jim Hearn cooks up a challenging and gritty tale of a junkie in trouble. The Novella Project marks the beginning of an ongoing project, developed in collaboration with the Copyright Agency Limited's Cultural Fund, which we hope will help foster a new golden age for the novella with an antipodean perspective. The Novella Project Judging Panel: Craig Munro, Estelle Tang and Julienne van Loon.

For many Tasmanians a darker reality lies behind the seductive tourism brochures showcasing the state’s pristine wilderness, gourmet magazine articles celebrating its burgeoning food culture, and newspaper stories gasping at a world-leading art museum. Tasmania ranks at or near the bottom among Australian states on virtually every indicator of socio-economic performance – including levels of employment, income, investment, education and health. Where does Tasmania’s future lie? Has Tasmania reached a ‘tipping point’, politically, economically and culturally? In Tasmania – The Tipping Point? Griffith REVIEW serves up strategic slices of Tasmania’s past, present and future. Thinkers, writers and doers from Tasmania and beyond, including members of its extensive diaspora, challenge how Tasmania is seen by outsiders and illuminate how Tasmanians see themselves, down home and in the wider world. Natasha Cica asks does Tasmania need an intervention?; Peter Timms writes of Lady Franklin’s heirs and successors; Jonathan West asks what’s wrong with Tasmania, really?; Cassandra Pybus on tin dragons and silver smoke screens; David Walsh with a story of humility and hubris from Glenorchy; Danielle Wood says you can check out any time you like; Jo Chandler tells how from little things, big things grow; Kathy Marks on surviving, belonging, challenging and enduring. With more works from Rodney Croome, Will Bibby, Richard Eccleston, Lea McInerney, David Hansen, Greg Lehman, Luke Wright, Scott Rankin, Matthew Evans, Moya Fyfe, Fleur Fallon, Margaret Merrilees, Celia Lendis and Joanna Talberg with fiction from Favel Parrett, Romy Ash, Erin O’Dwyer and Matthew Lamb. Featuring a striking picture gallery from Julie Gough titled 'Fugitive history'.

The empowerment of women it is one of the most remarkable revolutions of the past century. But like all good revolutions it is still not settled. In a generation women have taken control of their economic fate, risen to the most powerful political positions in the land and climbed to the top of the corporate ladder. However, there still remains vast inequality between men and women across all measures, from economics to opportunity to security. Does access to power equate to actual power? In WOMEN & POWER, Griffith REVIEW explores the changing relationship between women and power in public and private spheres, here and abroad. Are women accepted as equal partners in politics in Australia? Would the introduction of quotas mean that men with higher merit are overlooked? Should a woman act as ‘one of the boys’ in order to get ahead? Can a woman be too good at sport? Are women their own worst enemy? Does the cut of Julia Gillard’s jacket matter? WOMEN & POWER brings provocative and insightful perspectives on these questions and many more through a fascinating mix of memoir, reportage, essays and fiction. Contributors include Anne Summers, Chris Wallace, Mary Delahunty, Jo Chandler, Mischa Merz, Tegan Bennett Daylight and many more ...

Griffith Review's tenth-anniversary edition features Australia's best writers tackling the underlying forces that will shape the next sustainability, equality, belonging, technology and the capacity for change.Over its first decade Griffith Review has had an uncanny ability to anticipate emerging trends. In this anniversary edition the insights from the past will inform a forward-looking agenda, explored with flair and literary panache.

Once upon a time—and the story begins. Fairy tales endure because their messages still speak as strongly and clearly to people today as they ever did—hidden within the metaphoric codes of princes, witches, curses and towers, insurmountable tasks, elaborate tests and exaggerated trials. We all have the same dragons in our psyche, as Ursula K Le Guin once said. Fairy tales tell us it is possible to face these dragons, these ogres of our darkest imaginings, and triumph over them. Australia is a story as well as a place. The Aboriginal place was telling itself for at least those sixty-thousand years, while outside Australia existed only in the imaginations of people in the northern hemisphere, a Great South Land below the equator. The shocking, defining moment in 1788 when the First Fleet landed fractured the backbone of the story, and set off a whole galaxy of further plots and subplots that continue to play out. Wherever people go they carry their personal and cultural stories with them. We have inherited the stories of Europe, the tales of the brothers Grimm and the Bible that came in the memories and books of settlers over the past two hundred years, and we are increasingly integrating the stories of other cultures and civilisations in this region. In Once Upon a Time in Oz, Griffith REVIEW holds up an enchanted mirror to explore the role of fairy and folk tales across cultures in this country, and creates new ones. For many, coming to Australia meant leaving centuries of fairy tales, myths and legends behind and falling painfully onto the hard and naked ground. How did immigrants re-weave a cushion of stories encompassing the new narratives of place? What are the tales that preoccupy, entertain and guide the culture today in the land of Oz? How did they make their way here? What has happened to them over time? Once Upon a Time in Oz presents new stories by renowned writers including Cate Kennedy, Arnold Zable, Ali Alizadeh, Tony Birch, Marion Halligan, Margo Lanagan and Bruce Pascoe. Other writers including Kate Forsyth, Michelle Law, Jane Sullivan, Lucy Sussex and John Bryson examine through essay and memoir some of the mysteries of storytelling. And David Rowe takes us Down the Abbott Hole in a cartoon essay. Once Upon a Time in Oz features Carmel Bird as contributing editor.

Isolated by ocean, New Zealand’s ecosystem is particularly vulnerable to introduced species. The constant arrival of new flora and fauna, via humans, wind and sea, means the biodiversity is constantly changing. Humans too have been washing up on New Zealand’s shores for centuries, leading to constant shifts in demographics, culture and economics. Auckland is now one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. As a result. New Zealand is adjusting and evolving to create a new twenty-first century identity at the crossroads of the Pacific. Griffith REVIEW: Pacific Highways, edited by acclaimed New Zealand author LLOYD JONES and JULIANNE SCHULTZ, examines the shifting tides in New Zealand through a heady mix of essay, memoir, fiction and poetry by some of New Zealand’s most exciting and innovative writers. Pacific Highways explores New Zealand’s position as a hub between the Pacific, Tasman and Southern oceans, and examines the exchange of people and culture, points of resistance and overlap. How New Zealand adapts to recent profound changes and moves forward is a matter of urgent consideration. The country’s economic model is generating escalating environmental and cultural strains, but also presents great opportunities. A recent worldwide survey found the NZ education system is one of the worst at overcoming economic and social disadvantage. Auckland is home to more than a third of the (increasingly diverse) population, presenting challenges and opportunities for the whole country. Christchurch is finding inspiring new ways of reinvention. Pacific Highways asks what can be learnt, and what lessons does New Zealand offer the world? With multiculturalism comes questions of identity which many of the writers in Pacific Highways explore. Who decides who is a ‘New Zealander’? How are Chinese immigrants accepted? Who are you if you are brought up with the strict codes and behavioural norms of your parents’ country? Does immigration offer the capacity for reinvention? Are Australians really ‘shameless’? New Zealand is an island nation, and oceans and rivers imbue Pacific identities. They run paths through major cities and offer courseways for stories. From migrating eels to tasty sea grapes, castaway sailors to volcanic rafts, waterways flow through the essays and stories of Pacific Highways. Pacific Highways also celebrates the art and literature of New Zealand looking at the country’s wealth of artistic and literary talent in critical essays, and includes short stories and poetry by many of New Zealand’s best writers. Griffith REVIEW: Pacific Highways is a profound overview of a complex Pacific nation with a polyphony of voices. It will challenge what you thought you knew, and inspire you to think again.

The way we work has changed profoundly in recent years. Australians are now near the top of the list of working hours in developed countries; a substantial and growing proportion of people work part-time with multiple employers – not all by choice; unpaid internships are the normal entry path for young people; women are no longer forced to resign when they marry or become pregnant, but the wage gap remains; manufacturing and agricultural jobs have given way to working in services, and now those jobs that don’t actually demand hands on contact are also moving offshore. Many welcome the flexibility of the new environment. For others, though, it represents a deepening of risk and insecurity. The proletariat is giving way to what has been called the precariat, a new class who lack the stability and certainty of regular work or predictable social welfare. Griffith REVIEW 45: The Way We Work explores the extraordinary structural changes in work caused by technology, globalisation, economic theory, the collapse of the unions and an ageing population. Featuring essays from Ashley Hay, Gideon Haigh, Mandy Sayer, Rebecca Huntley, Peter Mares, Josephine Rowe and more, The Way We Work asks: How does work shape our values, our citizens, cultures and communities? As our work changes, how will it change us? How does the blurring of work and leisure through ‘access anywhere’ technology affect our attitudes to work? How are older Australians going to find consistent and flexible work (as the government wants them to do) when age discrimination is rife? Will flexible work help decrease the gender gap? Australia is not America, where millions struggle to make ends meet with inadequate jobs and social support, or one of those European countries where unemployment rates have reached well into double digits and remained there for years, or one of the many countries where work itself may be life threatening. But even here work is less secure and less predictable, forcing us to adapt. We exist in professional landscapes that didn’t exist fifteen years ago, that are still being altered and transformed today, and that are probably all but incomprehensible to our parents’ generation. One thing remains constant though, work is essential to economic wellbeing and meaning, so getting it right is important.

Griffith REVIEW 46: Forgotten Stories – The Novella Project II explores in fiction forgotten stories with a historical dimension, delving beyond the handful of iconic tales that have grown threadbare. The massive migration of the past generation is not only changing Australia, but reviving the need to find new ways to tell forgotten stories. Stories that are part of a shared, but often overlooked, cultural heritage of this country In 2012 Griffith REVIEW published The Novella Project, re-launching the novella as a literary artform. Two years later, we announced a competition open to all residents and citizens of Australia and New Zealand calling for submissions for The Novella Project II. The response was overwhelming from established authors to emerging writers, resulting in Forgotten Stories, a confronting, moving and provocative collection of new fiction by some of Australia's best writers. A sea-change couple dig into the past of their newly adopted small town, and discover a secret better left undisturbed in a masterful story by Cate Kennedy. Tensions simmer between Afghan cameleers, Aborigines and white Australians at the time of Federation in a story by John Kinsella. A newly arrived Japanese family remembers World War II and confronts 1960s Australia's narratives of themselves in a novella by Masako Fukui. Emma Hardman's fourteen-year-old Margaret gets more than she bargains for as she heads into the country to help her sister in flu-ravaged post-WWI Australia. Megan McGrath's moving story returns the reader to Australia's recent whaling past; it is a story about the mistakes we continue to make, about the crippling power of love and the grip of small towns. Forgotten Stories – The Novella Project II is proudly sponsored by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

'Go west young man' has been a siren call in Australia, Canada and the US for centuries - a new frontier for them, yet already home to others for millennia. In Australia, the lure of bounty from mineral riches drew generations of fortune hunters to its western third. For some this was a stop on the road to a better place, for many a destination for new beginnings, while for those who had always lived there dislocation was inevitable. Since the 1980s Perth has become a byword for new wealth and in the first years of the 21st Century became a boom-town the likes of which Australia hasn't seen since the 1850s. There is evidence this is starting to slow, but what will be left when the boom deflates? WA is also Australia's (and perhaps the world's) largest state, most of which is a vast desert butting hard against a broiling ocean. The view, looking back east, is sceptical, looking west uncertain, with a lot of space between both. This edition will see submissions from Tim Winton to Carmen Lawrence reflecting on the unique place and perspective that is Western Australia. With the escalating pace of change in the west it is time to reappraise what makes Western Australia distinctive and how its future might unfold. Authors include: Tim Winton, Gail Jones, Brooke Davis, Carmen Lawrence, Shaun Tan, Helen Trinca, David Whish-Wilson, Ashley Hay, Kim Scott, David Carlin and many more. Professor Julianne Schultz AM FAHA is the founding editor of Griffith REVIEW, the award-winning literary and public affairs quarterly, produced by Griffith University and Text Publishing. She chairs the Australian Film Television and Radio School, is a member of Australia Council for the Arts Pool of Peers, and was until recently a non-executive director of the boards of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Grattan Institute. Julianne is an acclaimed author, and in 2009 became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to journalism and the community.

In the year that marks the centenary of the battle at Gallipoli and the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II, Griffith Review 48: Enduring Legacies switches the focus from the battles to the long shadow of the great wars of the twentieth century. In Enduring Legacies, eminent Australian and New Zealand historians challenge myths and reveal forgotten truths about the consequences of these wars, and popular writers flesh out the lingering human and social impact of conflict. Contributors include John Clarke, Clare Wright, Peter Stanley, Greg Lockhardt, Cory Taylor, Paul Ham, Meredith McKinney, Jenny Hocking, Frank Bongiorno and Gerhard Fischer. Professor Julianne Schultz AM FAHA is the founding editor of Griffith Review, the award-winning literary and public affairs quarterly, produced by Griffith University and Text Publishing. She chairs the Australian Film Television and Radio School, is a member of Australia Council for the Arts Pool of Peers, and was until recently a non-executive director of the boards of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Grattan Institute. Dr Peter Cochrane FAHA has written extensively about war. His books include the companion volume to the ABC series Australians at War, First World War - The Western Front 1916-1918 and Simpson and the Donkey: The Making of a Legend. He is also the author of the award-winning Colonial Ambition and the novella Governor Bligh and the Short Man.

Making sense of the Asian Century is an urgent challenge for the world.it is hard to do from a distance, so we need to get closer. The picture from inside the diverse region, told here by young writers, is exciting and confronting. With articulate, passionate and insightful voices they unpick history, detect new attitudes and reveal fresh understandings of this new era.

Griffith Review 51: Fixing the System sets out to examine Australia’s political and social system and to investigate why so many believe it to be unfit for the purpose. While Australia has never been richer, its people better educated and the country better connected internationally, there is a widespread perception that systems and key institutions are broken. Interest groups flex their muscle and block each other. Risk management has paralysed the system. Commentators proclaim the ‘end of the reform era’. They lament the rise of a ‘new volatility’ in the nation’s electoral politics; the demise of the capacity and will to lead; and the paucity of debate of the problems and challenges facing Australia. They complain about the resistance to change and openness to bold new ideas, and the ability to talk frankly and fearlessly about the kind of society we want to build for the future. All this is happening in a world that is changing rapidly, but without a clear road map. Edited by Julianne Schultz and Anne Tiernan, Fixing the System examines this chorus of complaint. It asks what is broken and examines the reasons how and why. It considers what needs to be done to revive the lucky country. Contributors include Carmen Lawrence, Clare Wright, Peter Van Onselen, Paul Ham, Gabrielle Carey, Chris Wallace, Jonathan West, Megan Davis, Stephen Mills, Anne Coombs, Graham Wood, Lee Kofman and many more. Julianne Schultz is the founding editor of Griffith Review. She is a member of the Griffith Centre for Creative Arts Research and chairs the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. She sits on the editorial board of The Conversation and is a member of the Australia Council for the Arts’ Pool of Peers. She is an acclaimed author of several books, including Reviving the Fourth Estate (Cambridge) and Steel City Blues (Penguin), and the librettos to the operas Black River and Going Into Shadows. She became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to journalism and the community in 2009 and an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities the following year. She is a thought leader on media and culture and an accomplished public speaker and facilitator. She has served on the board of directors of the ABC and Grattan Institute, and chaired and been a member of many advisory boards with a particular focus on education, journalism and creativity, including the Centre for Advancing Journalism, A Companion to the Australian Media, the National Cultural Policy reference group and the Queensland Design Council.Anne Tiernan is a Professor in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University. A political scientist, who had earlier careers in government in the Commonwealth and Queensland, and in teaching and consultancy, Anne is respected for her independent, professional and research-informed analysis and commentary on national politics, public administration and public policy. Her research focuses on the work of governing. Anne is author of books including: Lessons in Governing: A Profile of Prime Ministers’ Chiefs of Staff and The Gatekeepers: Lessons from Prime Ministers’ Chiefs of Staff (both with R.A.W. Rhodes, Melbourne University Publishing, 2014), Learning to be a Minister: Heroic Expectations, Practical Realities (with Patrick Weller, Melbourne University Press, 2010) and Power Without Responsibility: Ministerial Staffers in Australian Governments from Whitlam to Howard (UNSW Press, 2007).

Griffith Review’s annual showcase of the best Australian novellas features a rich diversity of voices, subjects and styles. The fourth novella collection from Griffith Review once again demonstrates the strength of Australia’s fiction-writing talent. The judges of this year’s competition – Nick Earls, Aviva Tuffield and Sally Breen – were unanimous in their praise of the entries. ‘These pieces are a showcase for the strength of the novella form,’ said Nick Earls. ‘Each writer takes us deep into the inner workings of their characters.’ Aviva Tuffield commented. ‘I was impressed by the overall quality and by the range of themes, voices and styles on display.’ Numbed following the death of his wife, Evan finds himself reinvigorated when his daughter’s partner urges him to return to his long neglected talent for drawing. MELANIE CHENG follows the lonely old man’s fledgling efforts to reconnect with the world, but will Evan’s growing fascination with the nude model he sketches in life-drawing classes lead to disaster, or will it inspire him to heal what remains of his fractured family relationships? Terminally ill Saul has exiled himself to the remote Australian interior in a final attempt to reconnect with his ancestral lands. GRAHAM LANG chronicles Saul’s decline, and his unlikely battle of wills with the landowner – an isolated and aged farmer clinging to his patch of territory in the far-flung isolation of the outback. A newly arrived teacher at a college in the Middle East struggles to make sense of the studied silences that surround the fate of her American predecessor. DANIEL JENKINS explores the complexities of life as an ex-pat as Rachel investigates the whispers she hears about a fellow Australian teacher. Claire is overjoyed to meet the adult son she gave up for adoption as an adolescent. However, the intensity of their first encounter upsets her hard-won equilibrium and, as the relationship develops, SUZANNE McCOURT examines how quickly the fragile certainties that have underpinned Claire’s adult life begin to erode. In ‘Datsunland’, STEPHEN ORR focuses on William, a middle-aged teacher and failed rock star, who is fed up with his work, his lack of success and his inability to break through with his band of hopeless mediocrities. In his student Charlie, a talented 14-year-old guitarist, William spies a possibility of redemption – but can he overcome his almost nihilistic sense of detachment to forge a meaningful connection? Alongside the five winners of the Griffith Review annual fiction competition, Earthly Delights also features ‘The White Experiment’, the final piece of fiction written by the recently deceased CORY TAYLOR.

Hope is at the heart of South Australia. More than any other state it has shaped its own destiny with large doses of vision and optimism. It has been less frightened of ‘the vision thing’ and demonstrated willingness to challenge prevailing sentiments, experiment, boldly innovate and take a national lead. As a result, the state has produced a disproportionate number of leaders in business, sciences, arts and public policy. This spirit is needed more than ever. The state faces profound challenges as the industrial model that shaped twentieth century South Australia is replaced by an uncertain future. State of Hope explores the economic, social, environmental and cultural challenges facing South Australia, and the possibilities of renewal that draw on the strength of the past. It celebrates the unselfconscious willingness that hope enables. State of Hope features leading South Australian writers and others with a connection to or deep knowledge of this unique place, with the distinctive Griffith Review mix of essays, reportage, memoir, fiction and poetry.

Millennials have had bad press for a long time. Now they are fighting back, making their mark on a world that is profoundly different from the one their parents knew. The oldest were in primary school when the Soviet Union collapsed and deregulation swept the west. As they entered adulthood they witnessed 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq and, more recently, watched as Chinese capitalism revived consumerism, the global financial crisis pushed capitalism to the brink, and Facebook was born. This is the best educated, most connected generation ever, but the world they live in does not offer easy pathways. Some millennials are detached and disillusioned, but others are coming up with innovative ideas, experimenting with new ways to live and work. Their vision and energy will shape the future. This special edition of Griffith Review is devoted to the challenges and opportunities this generation is facing and embracing—political uncertainty, climate change, globalisation and economic stagnation.