AustLit

'It's difficult to write well about rites of passage. The awful business of ceasing to be one thing and starting to be another is at once universal and fiendishly difficult to capture. Possibly, the second phenomenon is a direct result of the first.' (Introduction)   

'Investigative journalist Louise Milligan chats with political commentator Annabel Crabb about her masterful and deeply troubling new book, Witness. This is a live recording of an online event hosted via Zoom during the Covid-19 crisis.' (Production summary)

'When New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced her pregnancy, the headlines raced around the world. But when Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg became the first prime minister and treasurer duo since the 1970s to take on their roles while bringing up young children, this detail passed largely without notice. Why do we still accept that fathers will be absent? Why do so few men take parental leave in this country? Why is flexible and part-time work still largely a female preserve?

'In the past half-century, women have revolutionised the way they work and live. But men’s lives have changed remarkably little. Why? Is it because men don’t want to change? Or is it because, every day in various ways, they are told they shouldn’t?

'In Men at Work, Annabel Crabb deploys political observation, workplace research and her characteristic humour and intelligence to argue that gender equity cannot be achieved until men are as free to leave the workplace (when their lives demand it) as women are to enter it.'

'Annabel Crabb chats with Virginia Trioli about her new Quarterly Essay exploring Australia's 'parenthood trap'. This is a live recording from our event.' (Production summary)

'A scintillating biography for an election year . . .

'In Stop at Nothing Annabel Crabb recounts the Malcolm Turnbull story with characteristic wit and perceptiveness.

'Drawing on extensive interviews with Turnbull, Crabb delves into the young man's university exploits – which included co-authoring a musical with Bob Ellis – and his remarkable relationship with Kerry Packer, the man for whom he was at first a prized attack dog, and then a mortal enemy. She asks whether Turnbull – colourful, aggressive, humorous and ruthless – has changed sufficiently to entrench himself as prime minister. She tells how he first lost, and then won back, the Liberal leadership, and explores the challenges that now face him as the forward-looking leader of a conservative Coalition government.

'This is a memorable and highly amusing portrait by one of the country's most incisive writers.' (Publication summary)

'Dear Crabb, 
'Recently I've noticed I receive a lot of correspondence addressed to both of us. Invitations, complaints, tweets decrying our hairstyles, even television viewing suggestions. 'You should watch The Katering Show on YouTube,' emailed my friend Ben the other day. 'You and Crabb will love it' Even an Easter picnic invitation arrived with the disclaimer 'Perhaps Annabel might like to come too' It's as if we've morphed into a sister act, perhaps a little more Laverne and Shirley than Thelma and Louise, but a dynamic duo nonetheless. '  (Introduction)

'In She’s Having a Laugh, 25 of the funniest women in Australia write about life, love and laughter. Their stories are irreverent, intimate and – most of all – often hilarious. They reflect on why they became comedians, celebrate the funny women in their own lives, explore what’s different about the female funny bone, and take a look at the power of laughter for us all.' (Source: Publisher's website)