Declan Fry

I came close to writing a hatchet job once, and I was confused by how popular the piece became online. Criticism should offer more than a cut-throat execution.

Rather than being a vehicle for selling books, the critic in Australian literature is first and foremost a loving, engaged reader. In a fundamentally privileged industry, false praise harms writing more than it helps.

Lucky’s, A Jealous Tide, Collisions, Azadi, Memorial

Recent Australian and international releases use memoir, poetry and reportage to look laterally at the trauma, grief and nuance of domestic abuse in marginalised communities.