Jessica Alice

using public office to name and shame evil landlords into submission is so cool. i hope democrats learn from him

I wrote a book about theft and deception – and now AI scams are flooding my inbox | Walter Marsh Authors like me are being targeted by AI-powered accounts promising exposure and fake reviews

Walter Marsh on becoming a scam target after publishing a book on scams www.theguardian.com/books/commen...

Thanks to a group of booksellers, Amazon is pulling out of the Paris Book Fair. Amazon has pulled out of sponsoring the Paris Book Fair, thanks to pressure from a booksellers’ association: Syndicat de la Librairie Française (SLF). The SLF, which represents independent bookstor…

Let’s go booksellers!
lithub.com/thanks-to-a-...

WOMAD acts unable to get to Adelaide in midst of Middle East conflict The WOMADelaide festival has confirmed a program change as four acts cancel due to flight restrictions put in place as the Middle East conflict continues.

The WOMADelaide festival has confirmed a program change as four acts cancel due to flight restrictions put in place as the Middle East conflict continues.

in retrospect most of the country is a vampire squid relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money

Louise Adler sets the record straight on Adelaide Writers' Week The Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) debacle might have served as a “life lesson” to politicians and lobbyists about the risks involved in interfering with the independence of arts organisations. But as w...

For those who missed the incredible Constellations event at Adelaide Town Hall last night, some of Louise Adler’s words are published here.
Appreciate her patience in putting some facts on the public record.
johnmenadue.com/post/2026/03...

No one is doing the work Royce does in this space. We are so lucky to have him.

Bill Callahan’s Vita Nuova | Los Angeles Review of Books On his latest album, the singer-songwriter explores themes of fatherhood, time, and forgiveness.

lareviewofbooks.org/article/bill...

Byron Writers' Festival headed into town this year! Really looking forward to seeing the program when it comes out
www.byronwritersfestival.com/festival

Cutting the creative state: funding changes threaten the cultural future of Melbourne, arts workers warn Creative Victoria funding has dropped by more than $20m since 2022 and organisations including Writers Victoria now face closure

“I think the wider cultural shock is [Melbourne] is going to go from the cultural capital to the least funded city in Australia.”

New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States According to new data analyzed by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, warming temperatures, rising seas and changing rainfall will profoundly reshape the way people have lived in North America...

In 2020, we mapped out the danger zones that will close in on Americans over the next 30 years — combining climate data with wildfire projections by US Forest Service researchers and others.

See what changes are in store for your county 👇

As beautiful as they were powerful: Jon Kudelka’s political cartoons were made with true conviction The award-winning cartoonist Jon Kudelka died in Hobart on Sunday, aged 53. Over 30 years, his work resisted the polarisation of the contemporary Australian media.

As beautiful as they were powerful: Jon Kudelka’s political cartoons were made with true conviction #AusPol theconversation.com/as-beautiful...

The only surprise is they admit it

The muted response to the Perth bombing exposes a pattern of national indifference A failed bomb attack in Perth on Invasion Day drew little attention from the media and public. It shows Australia has long been selective in its sense of danger.

The coverage and response from the commentariat and our political leadership to the pipe bomb attack at the Invasion Day rally was so muted, that even I didn’t find out about until the next day. But I know about it now and what it says about us a country, so I’ve written about it here for Crikey.

Adelaide writers’ week was cancelled two weeks ago. ‘Not Writers’ Week’ is determined to do things differently Constellations – or ‘Not Writers’ Week’ – has been pulled together by a grassroots coalition of authors who have turned ‘heartbreak’ into a community-led event – and one that won’t police speakers’ so...

More great coverage for Constellations / Not Writers Week, feat. special guest star Willow (who will not be appearing)

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

Australia’s heatwaves are getting deadlier – and renters are paying the price | Maiy Azize Some are trapped in a vicious cycle: rising rents, rising energy bills and falling standards. But this is not inevitable

“Governments have created a system where landlords can charge record rents for homes that trap heat, leak air and offer no protection from extreme weather.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The heatwave in Australia is beyond belief. And it's caused by people making decisions to burn coal, oil and gas when there's so many other options available.

The Advertiser has the letter Malinauskas wrote to the board of Adelaide Festival. It is very hard to see how this is not a direction to remove Abdel-Fattah, despite a line saying board decisions are independent. drive.google.com/file/d/169Pi...

My grandfather handed this carving through the barbed wire at Beaune La Rolande to my father who was 14 . They would never see each other again . My grandfather was then deported to Birkenau where he died. As a secular Jew he recognised the scourge of antisemitism. That is my inheritance.

From a conversation with the mighty @roycerk2.bsky.social
at the most excellent Byron Bay Writers Festival:

Why authors really walked from the Adelaide Writers' Week Jane Caro explains why she withdrew from Adelaide Writers’ Week and why the right for writers to speak matters more than agreement.

"I’ve been on arts organisations’ boards, and one thing I learnt really thoroughly from that experience was if you’re on the board then you back the artistic director in particular 100%" @janecaro.bsky.social
www.mediaweek.com.au/the-death-of...

At 25 hours in, the final chapter of the Moby Dick marathon was read by actor Steven Weber (who I used to watch every week in WINGS).

Gave me chills.

This event drew 3,100 people. Hundreds stayed all 25 hours. And it’s free! Mark your calendar for January 9 & 10, 2027.

🔗 in threads for deets

American Cant | Defector Dante Alighieri thought he could write himself out of exile. In 1300, while serving on a governing committee in his beloved Florence, the poet was involved in a factional dispute among city leaders. T...

I read American Canto and I think it’s wonderful. haha jk

Chris Wallace-Crabbe was a poet of international renown, a beloved teacher and a generous man Chris Wallace-Crabbe was one of Australia’s best-known poets. Generations of students and colleagues benefited from his wisdom and generosity.

Nice tribute to the late Chris Wallace-Crabbe by David McCooey

theconversation.com/chris-wallac...

I have a lifelong connection to Victoria’s state library – which is why I am aghast at its crude self-lobotomy | Gideon Haigh If the ‘suits’ can come for the State Library of Victoria, they can come for anyone, and no public institution is safe

‘The people running the library seem not to see their institution as a library at all, in the sense of furthering the diffusion of knowledge or the nourishment of community.’

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Ryan Lizza installments will continue until morale improves

Meanjin was closed – but new Australian literary journals are springing up around the country Literary journals are breeding grounds of talent – including the new Splinter, rebooted Southerly, and First Nations journal Sovereign Texts, launching next year.

The abrupt and indefensible closure of Meanjin makes me ask, what can be done to shore up the future of literary journals in this country? How about funding the arts to the OECD average. That would mean an extra $5b per year.

With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this

New York City helped my mother become the artist she is today. The next generation deserves a City Hall that lifts up tomorrow's artists as well.

And that's a wrap on Australia's COP31 bid.