Item category 1: Biographies & Memoirs

Elected to federal parliament aged just twenty-eight, Tanya Plibersek has lived almost half her life in the public eye and is the longest-serving woman in Australia's House of Representatives. But how much do we know about what drives her, what she values, and what we can expect from her next? Pl...

From the Beatles to Elton John and the Rolling Stones, Tony King has been a confidante and creative muse for some of the world's greatest artists. Now, for the first time, he tells his story. The Tastemaker charts the singular life of a man who has been at the beating heart of music's most iconic...

Growing up on the whitewashed Central Coast in the 1980s and attending an elite school as a scholarship student, Lebanese-Cypriot Simone Amelia Jordan felt like an outcast among her peers. Her lifeline was hip-hop, then in its golden age. From girlhood, it's pro-Black consciousness and resonant l...

A stunning memoir of one man's search for his birth parents, which uncovered an astonishing global scandal at the heart of the Catholic Church. Brendan Watkins was eight years old when his parents told him he was adopted. When he was in his late twenties, he started searching for his birth parent...

Then There Was You is the eagerly awaited follow up to Sophie Cachia's best-selling memoir Then There Was Her. In the best-selling Then There Was Her, Sophie Cachia revealed how falling in love with a woman turned her whole world upside down. Her story inspired thousands of readers to reach out, ...

If we're lucky, we all encounter at least one person whose life elevates and inspires our own. For acclaimed novelist Daniel Wallace, it was his longtime friend and brother-in-law William Nealy. Seemingly perfect, impossibly cool, William was an acclaimed outdoors-man, a famous cartoonist, an acc...

Moving to a small farm is Rebeca Schiller's dream come true. But as her young family adjusts to a new life in the countryside, her dream is threatened by something within. I'm aware of everything, all at once, which is too much. As Rebecca's symptoms mount -- frequent falls, rages, and strange la...

Time of Our Lives presents the extraordinary lives of ordinary women in their seventies, eighties and nineties, challenging the stereotype of the helpless old woman who is nothing more than a burden. The first collection of its kind in Australia, it demonstrates the rich lives led by 21 women of ...

'Toast' is top food writer Nigel Slater's eat-and-tell autobiography. Detailing all the food, recipes and cooking that have marked his passage from greedy schoolboy to great food writer, this is also a catalogue of how the British have eaten over the last three decades. 'Toast' is Nigel Slater's ...

"Having cut his teeth in music journalism, Graham Linehan became the finest sitcom writer of his generation. He captured the comedy zeitgeist not just as the co-creator of Father Ted but also with The IT Crowd and Black Books, winning five BAFTAs and a lifetime achievement award. Then his life to...

In 1934, a friend brought fledgling actress Vivien Leigh to see Theatre Royal, where she would first lay eyes on Laurence Olivier in his brilliant performance as Anthony Cavendish. That night, she confided to a friend, he was the man she was going to marry. There was just one problem: she was alr...

When I was younger I wanted to be an interesting, sophisticated, semi-heroic, multi-layered person. But. That kind of perfect is impossible. Being an actual twat is much more the real me. Sorry to boast, but I am a champion twat. In The Twat Files I will tell you about all the times I've been a t...

On September 12, 2018 British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested at Tehran Airport by Iran's feared Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Convicted of espionage in a shadowy trial presided over by Iran's most notorious judge, Dr Moore-Gilbert was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Incarce...

In 1977, twenty-seven-year-old Robyn Davidson set off with a dog and four camels to cross 1,700 miles of Australian desert to the sea. A life of almost constant travelling followed. The only terrain she had no interest in exploring was the past. In Unfinished Woman Davidson turns at last to explo...

In his darkest hour hope became his closest companion. 'Australia's most unlikely political prisoner . . . is known as a person of deep optimism, bubbling enthusiasm and infectious warmth.' Melissa Crouch, Sydney Morning Herald For 650 days Sean Turnell was held in Myanmar's terrifying Insein ...

Today Tariq Trotter-better known as Black Thought-is the platinum-selling, Grammy-winning co-founder of The Roots and one of the most exhilaratingly skillful and profound rappers our culture has ever produced. But his story begins with a tragedy: as a child, Trotter burned down his family's home....

Today Vegemite is recognised around the world, but when the salty black paste was first produced in 1923 the public wasn't interested. In fact, it took another 15 years and a world war before we embraced it. Vegemite shares the fascinating tale of Cyril Callister, the man who invented what would ...

Let's travel in time together, a thousand or so years back, and meet Viking women in their hearth-lit world... In this groundbreaking work, Lisa Hannett lifts the veil on the untold stories of wives and mothers, girls and slaves, widows and witches who sailed, settled, suffered and survived - and...

Telling the story of their lives from children to modern day, this fascinating and revelatory new book will look at the fraught relationship (and fiery rivalry) between King Charles and Prince Andrew. Raised for vastly different futures, one burdened with the responsibility of becoming the future...

By the time Will Schwalbe was a junior at college, he had already met everyone he cared to know. He also knew exactly whom he wanted to avoid- the jocks. The jocks wore backwards baseball caps and moved in packs, filling boisterous tables in the dining hall and on the whole seemed to Will another...

As FIFA's most decorated female football manager and a former player, Sarina Wiegman has led both the Netherlands and England women's national teams to historic victories. She stands out as a true pioneer in the game, and her coaching philosophy has earned her a reputation as one of the most succ...

As FIFA's most decorated female football manager and a former player, Sarina Wiegman has led both the Netherlands and England women's national teams to historic victories. She stands out as a true pioneer in the game, and her coaching philosophy has earned her a reputation as one of the most succ...

Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own... When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it's a revelation. Eileen O'Shaughnessy's literary brilliance shap...

Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own. And when she uncovers his forgotten wife, it's a revelation. Eileen O'Shaughnessy's literary brilliance sh...

An important tribute to the work and life of an extraordinary Aboriginal activist. William Cooper's passionate struggle against the dispossession of Aboriginal people and the denial of their rights and his heroic fight for them to become citizens in their own country has been widely commemorated ...

Joseph Steinberg presents a deeply researched, shattering new account of Nelson Mandela's relationship with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Drawing on never-before-seen material, Steinberg reveals the fractures and stubborn bonds at the heart of a volatile and ground-breaking union, a very modern poli...

Filled with facts, tributes and anecdotes, as well as beautiful illustrations, this book celebrates Sir David Attenborough, providing a fascinating insight into his life as well as showcasing his brilliant sense of humour. Running chronologically, this book begins with his early days, to his firs...

Neal Wooten grew up in a tiny community atop Sand Mountain, Alabama, where everyone was white and everyone was poor. Prohibition was still embraced. If you wanted alcohol, you had to drive to Georgia or ask the bootlegger sitting next to you in church. Tent revivals, snake handlers, and sacred ha...

During her 31-year career as a soldier in the Irish Defence Forces, Karina Molloy achieved many firsts. First female to get promoted to Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) rank. First to attempt the Army Ranger Wing selection course, Ireland's SAS equivalent, when it was considered impossible f...

"The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope. In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice--her truth--was undeniable, and it changed the course of her li...