Poetry for an anxious world: 5 experts share poems of grief, hope and restorationJames Ley, The Conversation and Jo Case, The Conversation
Friday essay: Bollywood helped make me – now, it projects Modi’s Indian nationalismVijay Mishra, Murdoch University
Half His Age: Jennette McCurdy’s novel is an uncomfortable take on a new genre – literary abuseKate Cantrell, University of Southern Queensland
What’s the place of humans in a world redefined by AI? Steve Toltz’s new novel has some ideasSeth Robinson, The University of Melbourne
A tech billionaire and troubled girls: Madeline Cash’s ‘unhinged’ debut novelAmber Gwynne, The University of Queensland
Despairing at the state of the world? The ancient Greeks and Romans knew the feelingKonstantine Panegyres, The University of Western Australia
A New York Times critic used AI to write his review – but criticism is deeply humanBec Kavanagh, The University of Melbourne
Judy Blume is the patron saint of teen girl readers – so why did a man write her biography?Penni Russon, Monash University
George Eliot is best known for Middlemarch, but she also wrote an early work of science fictionJessica Murray, The University of Western Australia
Friday essay: how to have brave conversations in an age of loud moral certaintyFarid Zaid, Monash University and Daniel Heller, Monash University
Kay Scarpetta led the trend for serial killer hunters. I love crime heroines – but she leaves me coldSue Turnbull, University of Wollongong
How Norman Lindsay wrote the The Magic Pudding to critique ‘Australian values’ – inspired by NietzscheJohn Uhr, Australian National University
Nickel and Dimed at 25: Barbara Ehrenreich’s classic reveals the high cost of low-wage workEve Vincent, Macquarie University
Dennis Altman urges us to radically reimagine the future – like he did in the 60sMarty Branagan, University of New England
‘AI will be the end of us’ – is Colm Tóibín right about the threat to creative writing?Tom Benn, University of East Anglia
If you win most literary prizes, you pay tax. If you win The Block, you don’t. How is this fair?Alice Grundy, Australian National University
The Queensland government has interfered with the state’s literary awards – againBronwyn Lea, The University of Queensland
Friday essay: my mother survived polio – stories like hers show why vaccination mattersCatharine Coleborne, University of Newcastle
Friday essay: ‘epic fury’ – the men of MAGA might be the most emotional US leaders everNatalie Kon-yu, Victoria University; Emily Booth, University of Technology Sydney; Michael Burke, Victoria University, and Tom Clark, Victoria University
Friday essay: I thought a 5-day solo hike would reclaim a lost self. My menopausal body had other plansRachael Mead, Adelaide University
Friday essay: long in the shadow of Freud, Carl Jung’s ideas are finding fresh relevance todayNick Haslam, The University of Melbourne
Friday essay: I grew up fearing Queensland cops. Then I hung out with 17 Gold Coast detectivesSally Breen, Griffith University
5 books to help you understand Iran – recommended by expertsJames Ley, The Conversation and Jo Case, The Conversation
What is consciousness? Michael Pollan spent 4 years looking for the answerNick Haslam, The University of Melbourne
A senior Iranian cleric thinks Trump is the Muslim Antichrist. Who is this figure, al-Dajjāl?Philip C. Almond, The University of Queensland
Yorta Yorta Elder Wayne Atkinson reflects on a life of activism and the quest for justiceHeidi Norman, UNSW Sydney
Secrets, sexism and hypocrisy: Bonfire of the Murdochs reveals the family’s real succession dramaMatthew Ricketson, Deakin University
Risk-averse voters want caution and visible reform. Can Albanese deliver both?Intifar Chowdhury, Flinders University
The Iranian revolution transformed global extremism, replacing left-wing radicalism with religionAlexander Howard, University of Sydney
Blame John Howard for our housing and migration woes, says Amy Remeikis – but is he due some credit too?Judith Brett, La Trobe University
A history of assassination reveals how ‘targeted killings’ became an extension of state powerKevin Foster, Monash University
Australia once enshrined white superiority. These 10 trailblazers helped shift our attitudes to raceAngela Woollacott, Australian National University
Far-right ‘gangster morality’ and the search for meaning: why you should read CamusMatthew Sharpe, Australian Catholic University
‘It could happen here’: Lord of the Flies took its lessons from Hitler’s Germany. They speak to nowAlexander Howard, University of Sydney
Guide to the classics: death-haunted masterpiece The Blind Owl shadows the decline of modern IranHossein Asgari, Adelaide University
It takes many ghosts to make a story: how Maggie O'Farrell’s Hamnet takes from – and mistakes – ShakespeareKate Flaherty, Australian National University and Amy Walters, Australian National University
‘My prey, my prize, my Vladimir’: flipping the gender script on predatory professorsKate Cantrell, University of Southern Queensland
Do people still care about opera? An insider raises some doubtsPeter Tregear, The University of Melbourne
Ancient texts and marital breakdown: Yann Martel’s Son of Nobody descends into implausibilityKonstantine Panegyres, The University of Western Australia
Desperate, intelligent, irreverent: in Big Kiss, Bye-Bye, Claire-Louise Bennett breaks up with illusionsGeorgia Phillips, Adelaide University
A knock-off Pynchon without the punchline: George Saunders’ Vigil falls flatTamlyn Avery, Adelaide University
Words can’t save a life – but they can capture it. Debra Adelaide farewells friend Gabrielle CareyJen Webb, University of Canberra
Tenderness and brutality collide in the abject world of Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s BuggerMichelle Hamadache, Macquarie University
These Australian memoirs are shimmering meditations on grief, nihilism and motherhoodLiz Evans, University of Tasmania
A wild girl considers land rights and community in Eva Hornung’s ‘utterly gripping’ new novelShady Cosgrove, University of Wollongong
Stories of beauty, mourning and ‘moments of being’ inspire in Claire Thomas’ On Not Climbing MountainsJessica Gildersleeve, University of Southern Queensland
Grim, funny and unremitting, Evelyn Araluen’s The Rot is a book attuned to dark timesThomas H. Ford, La Trobe University
Dexies, doof and depth: The Paris End’s long-form journalism moves from Substack to pagePer Henningsgaard, Curtin University
Publishing tips, poetry and witty takes on classics: 6 of the best Australian literary podcastsCaitlin Macdonald, University of Sydney
Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, set in 1984, is translated for the Trump era in One Battle After AnotherAlexander Howard, University of Sydney
Does Nick Cave’s Death of Bunny Munro critique misogyny – or does it hate women?Liz Evans, University of Tasmania
20 best New Zealand books of the 21st century: as chosen by expertsFinlay Macdonald, The Conversation; Jo Case, The Conversation; Matt Garrow, The Conversation, and Suzy Freeman-Greene, The Conversation