Catriona Menzies-Pike

Oooof!

Hoo boy!

‘Dalton demonstrates over and over again that he is incapable of presenting his declared themes with any nuance or gravitas or pathos, or even credibility.’

Maybe - just maybe - Trent Dalton is not a national treasure?

Christopher Pyne: curriculum must focus on Anzac Day and western history Education minister wants to remove 'partisan bias' as part of national curriculum review

An anti-woke crusader avant la lettre, a trailblazer in bemoaning failures to celebrate the triumphs of western civilisation in the school curriculum - and now on the board of the NLA ffs. www.theguardian.com/world/2014/j...

Yes! I think international praise can exert a distorting effect on the local reception of Australian books, and reset the terms of reading.

Thank you! I feel lucky to have had the time and space to sort through my ideas about the book.

Who else remembers Pyne’s extemporising on Australian history when he was education minister? Absolute rubbish appointment

Thanks for sharing the piece!

Catriona Menzies-Pike on ‘critical provincialism’: ‘I’d advocate for a set of reading practices that stay close to the contours of place and culture, that let themselves be informed by topography and history’. Yes!

The Monastery and the Monaro | Sydney Review of Books How do Australian writers find an overseas readership? Reviewing the highly acclaimed Stone Yard Devotional, Catriona Menzies-Pike surveys the critical oversights and abstractions that allow stories f...

I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.

sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...

If, when I wrote this piece in 2022, you’d asked me whether Boy Swallows Universe would’ve been judged best book of the century so far in a poll of 288K readers, I think I would’ve said, yeah naaaaah. But here we are.

Thank you! I am still steaming about this

Thank you very much! i thibk the big difference between here and the heyday of ozlit Twitter is that people are a little more cautious about what they post. For better or worse I guess that includes me 🤷‍♀️

I think it’s also the case that people are much less inclined to shoot their mouths off publicly on controversial topics than they were back in the day. So we have sanitised/discreet public spaces like Bluesky, and the usual ratty gossip behind the scenes…

@secondmentions.bsky.social 'the polarizing spread'

I know! I won’t go back to Twitter but it’s like posting into the void here, at least if your subject is books…

The Monastery and the Monaro | Sydney Review of Books How do Australian writers find an overseas readership? Reviewing the highly acclaimed Stone Yard Devotional, Catriona Menzies-Pike surveys the critical oversights and abstractions that allow stories f...

I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.

sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...

The Mushroom Tapes review – Erin Patterson through the eyes of Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein This account of what the three authors observed during Patterson’s triple murder trial does resemble a podcast transcript at times, but it is extremely readable

I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

It strikes me as bold to present readers with a transcript. And yet it seems there are droves of readers all set to hoover this up.

That all the coverage of the book - interviews and features and extracts - appeared before the media embargo on reviews was lifted is quite revealing.

The Mushroom Tapes review – Erin Patterson through the eyes of Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein This account of what the three authors observed during Patterson’s triple murder trial does resemble a podcast transcript at times, but it is extremely readable

I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

My guess is that pre-orders alone would cause a crisis in remand centres. Several massive events associated with the book sold out weeks ago…

The defenestration of Andrew is a good start. But why stop there? www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

I suppose not taking a massive step backwards counts as a win. I wrote for Crikey about copyright, AI, Anthropic and the TDM exemption that the Albanese government has finally ruled out.

Some personal news: I’m a baseball fan now. 🤷‍♀️

Canada will remember.

Imagine being Stephen fucking Miller and coming for de Niro…

This is why they’re going after the right to culture, per @annakornbluh.bsky.social and @isanchezprado.bsky.social; because they cannot control it, do not understand it, and truly fear it (as well they should).

As for desperation and self-degradation, Stephen Miller obviously speaks as an expert.

Not paying artists fees and taking a big commission and making artists shoulder operational costs - terrible. i hope they get lots of blowback

Especially if the org hasn’t bothered to apply!

Truly, truly, truly