Loretta Barnard is an author, arts writer, reviewer, editor and project manager, who is a regular contributor on the arts to a number of online sites. Her most recent book is Imagining Australia: a history of our nation through music, film, literature & art
In her debut novel, Jacqx Mililli has tackled the world of vaudeville in Australia in the first half of the twentieth century. Based on reminiscences the author heard from a real-life vaudeville performer, whose father led a travelling troupe of …
Above : Author pic
This fantasy/romance novel centres around Wren, princess of Thezmarr, an alchemist and poisoner, and Torj, a warrior whose bravery is renowned across the Midrealms. These two have history, having fought together in the magical Shadow War …
Four stars
This is an absorbing story of Maddy, a young woman in her first year of university, with all its accompanying stresses. Sometimes she’s erratic and moody, and feels weighed down by the pressure her mother puts on her …
Ruth Mary is a tooth fairy, whose usual job is to collect teeth from under children’s pillows, but one night, she’s given a special assignment from the Fairy Queen: to collect the teeth of three jungle animals. She dons her …
It’s 1839, and 20-year-old Bonnie is fleeing an arranged marriage. She arrives in London in 1839, where she meets Crawford, a charming conman, who makes money tricking people in a range of schemes, among which is selling dodgy burial sites.
The opening night and world première of a new work by a respected artist always evokes a heightened sense of anticipation and excitement in audiences, and everyone in the packed Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney on Tuesday evening knew that …
Well, the place was buzzing, the large crowd at Foundry 616 on Saturday 23 March eager to hear the very first performance of newly-formed Sydney-based big band, the Melaleuca Jazz Orchestra. And who doesn’t love a big band? It’s a …
I began this wonderful book by dipping my toe into The Rite of Spring, as this is the chapter from which the book’s title comes. That great ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev always ordered his collaborators in the Ballet Russes …
