AustLit has implemented a number of new services since its October 2001 release.

• Try the AustLit Advanced Search , which allows you to construct your own search on any of the AustLit work or author fields. Awesome searching power!
• View, print or email either a selection or all of your retrieved AustLit citations as plain text.
• Secure web based user statistics for subscribers.
• AustLit now indexes Conversations : Occasional Writing from the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (Australian National University) . It is a biennial publication featuring poetry, short stories, essays, photography and autobiographical articles. Its production team is headed by Ian Templeman of Molonglo Press. Ian previously produced Voices for the National Library of Australia

Several new AustLit features will become available in the next two months:

• Try our Australian Literary Archives Search. AustLit subscribers can launch targeted searches for author archives from AustLit's author pages, via the National Library's RAAM (Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts), and the University of Western Australia's Guide to Australian Literary Manuscripts by kind permission of those institutions. Non-subscribers can use our archives page as their launch pad to these excellent free services. Available late January.
• A citation filter for users of the EndNote bibliographic package: available late January.
• Combined searches: available before the end of March.

Australian dramas and playwrights have been in the news over the summer.

Sydneysiders are attending:

• The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin, a revival of Steve Spears' play which was first produced in 1976. The current production was instigated by Richard Wherret who was to have directed it; prior to his death he nominated Adam Cook to take over the director's role. Performed by John Wood (of Blue Heelers fame) at The Playhouse, Sydney Opera House.
• A Man with Five Children, a new play by Nick Enright being performed by the Sydney Theatre Company. The play deals with the role of a documentary film-maker in the lives of his subjects over a 28 year period of filming, raising issues of reality, privacy and fame.

Melburnians are flocking to see:

• The Day My Bum went Psycho, adapted by Lynn Ellis from the chilren's novel by Andy Griffiths. The season was sold out before the first performance!
• Bombshells, a series of six monologues written by Joanna Murray-Smith specifically for Caroline O'Connor. The monologues cover various stages of womanhood including schoolgirl, abandoned wife and widow.

And in other theatre news, Hannie Rayson will soon depart for the UK to prepare for the first British production of Life After George. Following a two week preview season at the Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, the play will open at the Duchess Theatre in London on 19 February 2002.

The ACT 2001 Book of the Year was won jointly by Alan Gould for The Schoonermaster's Dance and Dorothy Johnston for The Trojan Dog.

Many excellent Australian literature websites are created by individuals or small organisations. Please be patient with download times, and try again if you have difficulty accessing these services.

Visit the State Library of South Australia's excellent Catherine Helen Spence Bibliography which includes comprehensive bibliography, information on Spence's career, and a digitised selection of Spence's writing, both literary and political.

Visit the Currency Press site. The site includes information on Currency House, and many invaluable study guides on Australian dramas (all of which are separately indexed by AustLit).

Visit John Kinsella's site, which includes many of his own poems and essays, and a series of interviews with other Australian poets.

Visit the site of popular fantasy author, Sara Douglass. Douglass' site was one of the most visited Australian sites during 2001.

You'll find these new fiction and literary titles in your bookshops:

• Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay
• Lime Bar by Matt Condon
• Red Dog : An Australian Story by Louis de Bernieres, inspired by a trip de Berniere made to Australia's Pilbara district in 1998.

Some excellent new literary/cultural titles are also now available. We recommend:

• Bibliography of Australian Literature A-E, published by a number of AustLit's Contributors.
• Letters of John Reed : Defining Australian Cultural Life 1920-1981, including extensive coverage of the Ern Mally affair and a marvellous index.

Richard Wherrett, theatre director and lifetime supporter of Australian drama died on December 7, at the age of 60.

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We welcome your feedback on our new service, and will work hard to develop content and services to meet your needs. If you have any comments and suggestions, please contact us at:

info-austlit@austlit.edu.au