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Maggie Nolan

Maggie Nolan

The Conversation

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What was Australia’s first novel?

A riches to rags tale written by a convict, was published in Hobart in 1830. On mainland Australia, an Irish widow published a gothic melodrama in...

15.10.2026 60

The Conversation

Maggie Nolan

These 5 Australian novels will get your book club talking – and enjoying a good disagreement

It’s increasingly rare for us to respectfully disagree these days. Book clubs invite us to do just that – while making time for a good read.

19.08.2026 40

The Conversation

Maggie Nolan

A ‘thoroughly white’ novel of national mythmaking: Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang at 25

Written in Kelly’s vernacular, this Booker Prize- winning novel is a masterclass in mimicry. But in exploring injustice, there are telling erasures.

17.09.2025 40

The Conversation

Maggie Nolan