Lisa Wilkinson: ‘Evelyn was my safe place. She was my refuge’

The TV presenter turned author on the toll the past five years have taken and how telling the story of Australia’s only Titanic survivor helped her navigate them

Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

An imposter monkey, an underworld princess, art’s female trailblazers, and YA tales of fear, family and friendship

Joe Dunthorne: ‘Growing up in Swansea, I developed an allergy to Dylan Thomas’

The author on feeling Thomas Hardy’s pain, being duped by Donna Tartt and how reading his sister’s copy of Trainspotting made him want to write

The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke review – a compelling debut of mental meltdown

A young woman’s dissociation from reality and her road to recovery are vividly rendered in this striking novel

David Malouf will always be one of the world’s great writers. I will always be grateful to him

Malouf’s astounding talent was to remain lucid and attentive in his language, while imbuing his worlds with a sensuality that was subtle but deeply felt

Mantle by Romy Ash review – an exquisitely wild and exhilarating vision of the near future

Thirteen years after her celebrated debut, the author returns with a bizarre, evocative work that merges science and the surreal

After collapse and controversy, Adelaide writers’ week has a new director: ‘I don’t envy anyone in this position’

Rosemarie Milsom, who formed and runs Newcastle writers festival, will take over from Louise Adler after the literary festival imploded over invitation to Randa Abdel-Fattah

The Waves review – superb staging of Virginia Woolf’s deep dive into friendship

Deft production follows six friends as they morph from truth-blurting children into weary midlifers in effortless and capable performances

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch audiobook review – an award-winning story of homophobia and divorce

Dual timelines reveal the real reason a mother was forced to leave her daughter in the 80s, in this Nero prize-winning novel inspired by real-life events

Double Indemnity review – leaden drama turns crime classic into a very cold case

James M Cain’s hard-bitten novella gained bleak power on screen but this version, giving Mischa Barton her UK stage debut, loses its flinty edge

David Malouf, Australian author of Remembering Babylon and Ransom, dies aged 92

Acclaimed Brisbane-born writer was known for his work exploring his own childhood, great myths and colonial Australia

The Asset Class by Hettie O’Brien review – the hidden hand of private equity

From utilities to care homes, how capital’s most rapacious form yet is taking over the public realm

University of Queensland Press cancels children’s book over illustrator’s post on ‘Zionist framing’ of Bondi attack

Authors including Evelyn Araluen and Melissa Lucashenko say they won’t work with publisher after it dumps Jazz Money’s book illustrated by Matt Chun, who called Bondi victims ‘affluent beneficiaries of imperialism’

US saw record high of 5,668 books banned in libraries in 2025, says agency

Most-banned book was Sold, a 2006 novel by Patricia McCormick about sex trafficking in India

Susan Choi and Lily King shortlisted for Women’s prize for fiction

The US writers join four debut authors in demonstrating ‘the complexity and beauty of the female experience’, said chair of judges Julia Gillard