ABR tours

Because of the floods in the northern part of the state, mid-October proved to be an interesting time to lead a tour of Victoria’s plentiful regional galleries. Shepparton, badly inundated, was soon off the agenda, despite the attractions of its new gallery, which opened in 2021. Adjustments were quickly made, and the tourists soon found themselves visiting parts of the state that were not on the original itinerary, the odd detour and fresh pothole notwithstanding. The tour – co-presented by ABR and Academy Travel, and intrepidly led by Christopher Menz – was a grand success, with visits to galleries in the Yarra Valley, the Mornington Peninsula, Geelong, Ballarat, Castlemaine, and Bendigo.

Now we’re all looking forward to the Adelaide Festival tour in March 2023. With the imminent announcement of the entire Festival program, full details of the itinerary will shortly appear in the Academy Travel website.

Those keen to visit, or revisit, Vienna – home of Mozart and Beethoven and Schubert, Freud and Wittgenstein and Thomas Bernhard, and practically everyone who was interesting in the twentieth century – may want to join Christopher Menz, ABR’s ace cicerone, when he leads a tour of the city from October 13 to 24, 2023. This is a further ABR/Academy Travel tour.

Podcast

After a lull during spring, the ABR Podcast is back in full swing, with weekly additions featuring writers either in conversation with ABR staff or reading their articles. Recent podcasts include Shannon Burns in conversation with Peter Rose (who reviewed Burns’s memoir Childhood in the October issue); Claudio Bozzi on the volatile state of Italian politics; Gideon Haigh on Daniel Andrews; and Anne Rutherford on the SBS television series The Australian Wars (which she reviews on page 56).

Check out the ABR Podcast each Friday. Listen and subscribe via the ABR website, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Stitcher, and all your favourite podcast apps.

Books of the Year

So what have you been enjoying this year? Our December issue will enable you to compare your fancies with those of forty or so ABR critics when they nominate their books of the year. Not that the publishing season is over yet, as this month’s historically and politically themed issue attests, with reviews of major new works such as Alan Atkinson’s dual study of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, Frank Bongiorno’s magisterial political history of Australia, and yet more accounts of the 2022 federal election: Victory by Peter van Onselen and Wayne Errington, and Plagued by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers.

Prizes galore

Congratulations to those prompt Calibristi (as past winner David Hansen once dubbed them) who have already entered the Calibre Essay Prize. It’s open until 30 December, with total prize money of $7,500. This year’s judges are Yves Rees (another past winner), Peter Rose, and Beejay Silcox.

ABR for Christmas

The best gifts, we think at ABR, are those that stimulate the mind and the senses. Look no further than an ABR gift subscription. It comes with a free inner glow, which you will receive knowing that you are supporting writing, ideas, and conversation.

For a limited time, we invite you to give a gift subscription of the print edition to a friend at the special rate of $90 per year, a saving of $10 of the normal rate. (This package includes full online access.) Alternatively, give the online edition for just $60, a saving of twenty-five per cent off the normal price.

ABR subscribers also receive discounted entry in our many literary prizes and competitions, and are eligible for giveaways of film, concert, and theatre tickets. Bring someone special into the fold of Australian Book Review – the nation’s foremost magazine of literary review and comment.

To take advantage of this special Christmas gift subscription offer, ring us on (03) 9699 8822 with the gift recipient’s postal address, contact number, and a message at the ready. This offer is valid until 31 December.