INTERNATIONAL NON-FICTION
Three Women | Lisa Taddeo | $32.99 | Bloomsbury I didn’t realise how urgent and necessary Taddeo’s work is until I was a couple of chapters in. These women’s stories are raw, they are bleak, they are intense. They are liberating. They are sexy. If you, like me, have been rejoicing in the increased publication of women writing honestly about womanhood and all the amazing, awful shit that comes with it, this needs to be on your radar. — Kate Like one intimate therapy session, Taddeo brings us right into the lives of three women, and unashamedly bares all – exposing their fears, their desires, their shame – and it feels so transgressive, so brave, and so unlike any other book about women I’ve ever read because it hit so close to home. — Lucy H. I found this book confronting, but it opened some much-needed conversations with myself and with other women — I couldn’t help but bring my questions and anger to a dinner party after reading a new chapter… This book is an essential read for those who refuse the female status quo. — Fabienne
Feminism: A Graphic Guide | Cathia Jenainati | $24.99 | Allen & Unwin From the publisher of the critically acclaimed Queer: A Graphic History comes an accessible, insightful exploration of feminism. What does it mean to be a feminist in the age of #MeToo? More broadly, how has the term emerged out of diverse social, historical, and cultural contexts, and how is it being used today; in Australia, in the Middle East, in Europe, in Japan? Tracing feminism’s entangled genealogies and intersections from the 16th century through to the present, this is a fascinating, nuanced, and gripping guidebook that equips readers with the knowledge necessary to engage in some of the most urgent debates of our times. — Zak
Mr Know-It-All | John Waters | $45 | Hachette John Waters is the People’s Pervert. As director of cult classics and smashfailures, Waters has recently come to a shocking realisation and something of an existential crisis – as a creative person, he has been accepted. By plumbing the depths of human bad taste and depravity Waters seeks not to alienate or exploit, but to promote a kind of acceptance so allencompassing that few escape its filthy embrace. John Waters is trash, which is to say he’s treasure. — Sarah
Garments Against Women | Anne Boyer | $22.99 | Penguin Random House
We Need New Stories | Nesrine Malik | $32.99 | Hachette
Splendidly negative, ardent and political, Boyer’s book happily denies genre and definition. Emerging from single parenting and poverty, the book investigates power systems around the realities of exploitation, and also the literature that services existing power systems seen with all of their brutality intact. This is about ‘survival living’, asking the meaning of her life as labour hired for ten dollars an hour. — Virginia
The exchange of myths and stories are a key point of difference between humans and animals. We are living in a time where the once-steadfast stories of the ‘centre’ are eroded and replaced by those at the fringe. Malkik pulls the rug out from under the reader; this is a destabilising, challenging and invigorating read, which asks you to question what you know and more importantly, how you know it. — Emma Cr.
We Are The Weather | Jonathan Safran Foer | $35 | Penguin Random House
Year of the Monkey | Patti Smith | $29.99 | Bloomsbury
If you have ever felt removed from the climate change conversation or thought the topic was too inaccessible then this is the book for you! Outlining the impact of climate change and the repercussions of our actions in simple terms, and proposing easy solutions that even the individual can practice, We Are the Weather brings the climate change debate to life. — Lucy V.
Patti Smith is a hero and icon to many. Her writing lights a fire in your soul. Just Kids is my all-time favourite read. M Train is equally spectacular. Now Smith’s third memoir is coming, continuing on with her poetic mastery and I just can’t wait. This covers one transformative year where Smith wanders alone, weaving through her own dreamscape. Her elegant writing shares the brilliant wit and wisdom of a shamanic mind, thinking and dreaming and looking towards building hope for the future. — Dean
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