Ellena Savage and Rachel Kushner on stage — Photo: Scott Limbrick

‘This is a story that gets to the root of how my society is structured right now … There’s a way that prison is invisible to a middle-class person. It’s not a conspiracy, but it may be by design in certain regards. It’s a serious subject for a novelist.’

Rachel Kushner is among America’s brightest literary stars. With her previous, highly acclaimed novels, Telex from Cuba (about American expatriates in 1950s pre-Castro Cuba) and The Flamethrowers (about radical New York artists in the seventies), she explored two very different scenes of ideological chaos and confusion, with exhilarating prose and virtuosic storytelling.

Kushner's latest novel, The Mars Room, sees her applying her talents, once again, to probing the political context and meaning of a very specific time and place. This time, it’s the American prison system, and it's the present day. The Mars Room is about a woman serving two life sentences for killing her stalker and it’s the product of years of research, and close collaboration with Americans who have themselves served time.

In conversation with Ellena Savage for our Mayhem series in April 2019, the extraordinary Kushner talks crime, punishment and American institutions.

How do we become estranged from ourselves – and from the people and places that have moulded us? What’s the way back? And how can we begin again?

These questions are at the heart of the new book from award-winning writer Andrea Goldsmith. Invented Lives is about a young Russian-Jewish woman who arrives in Australia in the mid-1980s as a refugee. It’s an affectionate portrait of 1980s Melbourne, and a sophisticated and engrossing novel of ideas – about exile, about multicultural Australia, and about the social, political and technological tides that impact our personal lives.

Invented Lives is Goldsmith’s eighth novel. Best known for her 2015 Melbourne Prize-winning novel, The Memory Trap, and for the Miles Franklin-shortlisted 2003 novel, The Prosperous Thief, Goldsmith is also an accomplished essayist and superb short-story writer.

At Montalto with Michael Williams, Goldsmith discusses her latest novel and her body of work.

Simon Schama is a familiar figure on the BBC as well as a professor at Columbia University, and he’s produced multi-volume histories of Britain, documentaries with momentous names like The American Future and a TV series called Simon Schama’s Power of Art. He's a heavyweight scholar, best known for in-depth works on French history, Jewish history, art history and Dutch history. But he’s also a writer of great versatility who has concerned himself – through his columns for the New Yorker and the Financial Times – with a dizzying array of topics, from poetry and baseball to Tom Waits and ice-cream.

At Montalto, in conversation with David Hansen, he draws from his new BBC series, Civilisations – which explores the origins of human creativity, and its universal importance – and from … well, millenia of artworks and ideas.

Content note: This podcast episode contains some strong language, and mentions violence and child sexual abuse.

As the decade turns, The Show of the Year marks 2019 in style – with host Casey Bennetto and a glittering line-up of writers, comedians and musicians. Paul Kelly, Nath Valvo, Alice Bishop, Sista Zai Zanda, Margot Morales Tanjutco, Laura Jean, Alice Gorman, Evelyn Araluen, The Merindas, Brodie Lancaster, Louise Milligan and Bill Shorten share their thoughts on subjects as various as the decommissioning of the Opportunity Rover on Mars, the Tigers' premiership run, the death of Toni Morrison, The Masked Singer and the closure of Uluru to tourists.

Select an image to view in detail

Select an image to view in detail

What a year. Protests shook Hong Kong, the Amazon caught fire and children led a worldwide climate strike. Boris Johnson picked up the prime ministerial ball as it came loose from the back of the scrum, Scott Morrison baseball-capped his way back into government, and Trump impeachment talk turned to (some) action. 

We said goodbye to towering figures in literature and politics, including Toni Morrison, Bob Hawke, Les Murray, Clive James and Mary Oliver. And we farewelled meowing figures of the internet. (R.I.P. Grumpy Cat.)

There were the mandatory Big Cultural Moments, too: someone (no spoilers) finally won the Game of Thrones, Fleabag stormed the Emmys, and a Sydney real estate video went viral. Beyoncé came home, Fyre Festival blew up (again) and Lil Nas X shot to stardom via TikTok. Ah yes, how could we forget: TikTok.

Goodbye 2019 … we hardly knew ye! 

Bri Lee, Nikki Stamp, Abbey Mag and Frances Cannon at the Wheeler Centre

Bri Lee's Beauty is a deeply personal treatise on body image, discipline and perfectionism. For this discussion, hosted by Lee herself, our panellists take the essay as a jumping-off point for a broader conversation about beauty standards in the 21st Century.

Together, they consider the beauty lies we tell ourselves and each other, and explore the impossible standards amplified through social media. What impact is our obsession with beauty and wellness having on our physical and mental health? When wielded by major multinational brands, do ideas of beauty diversity, inclusion and body positivity signify progress or ploy? Can they be both?

Join artist and ‘Self Love Club’ founder Frances Cannon, plus-size model and advocate Abbey Mag and doctor and author Nikki Stamp as they discuss reasons for caution and celebration in a time of changing beauty ideals.

A warning: this event includes some discussion of eating disorders and mental illness.