Each year, ABR’s prestigious Calibre Essay Prize, one of the world’s leading prizes for a new essay, attracts some of the finest writers from Australia and overseas.

Last year, the first prize of $5,000 was awarded to Michael Adams, an associate professor of Human Geography at the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research at the University of Wollongong. Before that, Michael worked for environment NGOs, the national parks service, and Aboriginal organisations. His focus is on human–nature relationships, especially with Indigenous and local communities, and he likes full-immersion methodologies. He writes in a wide variety of forms, including narrative non-fiction, online essays and peer-reviewed academic articles.

His Calibre Prize-winning essay ‘Salt Blood’, is a thought-provoking and original meditation on human evolution, the practice of freediving, and his father’s suicide. Few things we published in 2017 had such resonance with readers. We weren’t surprised when it was included in Black Inc.’s Best Australian Essays 2017.

To read 'Salt Blood' by Michael Adams, visit the June-July 2017 issue in the ABR Online archive.

To subscribe to Australian Book Review, visit our Subscriptions page.

Music by www.bensound.com

Edited, produced, and introduced by Dilan Gunawardana, Deputy Editor (Digital) at Australian Book Review.

From the Herbig family who lived in a hollowed out tree trunk to Dr Bosisto’s ‘Syrup of Red Gum’, from the trauma and regeneration of bushfires to the ill-fated Burnside Village tree, the Tree of Knowledge, and the ‘dig tree’ - how can we understand Australia’s complex relationship with the eucalypt? The October 2017 Environment issue of Australian Book Review includes the third ABR Eucalypt Fellowship essay, ‘Ambassadors from Another Time’ by South Australian novelist Stephen Orr, in which he examines Australia’s evolving understanding of these iconic trees.

Stephen Orr studied ecology at university before starting to write fiction. He has taught Biology, Agriculture, and English. He especially loves novels about science and our sometimes difficult relationship with the natural world. His most recent novel, The Hands (2015), describes a farming family trying to scratch a living from drought affected grazing country. His most recent novel is Datsunland (UQP, 2017), which was reviewed in the June-July 2017 issue of Australian Book Review.

This $7,500 Fellowship is funded by Eucalypt Australia and we acknowledge their generous support.

Music featured in this podcast comes from the 2017 album The Double by David McCooey, which can be listened to and downloaded via Spotify.

This essay appeared in the October 2017 issue of Australian Book Review. To purchase a copy of the print edition, or to access the essay online, please visit our Subscriptions page. Subscriptions start from just $10.

ABR Deputy Editor Dilan Gunawardana spoke to Greg Sestero: actor, model, author and co-star of the 'best/worst film ever made', The Room (2003).

His award-winning memoir The Disaster Artist: My life inside The Room, the greatest bad movie ever made chronicles the film's production and Greg's relationship with its creator, the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau. It was recently adapted into a film directed by and starring James Franco as Tommy Wiseau (In select cinemas now).

Audio from the trailer of the The Disaster Artist is courtesy of Roadshow Films/A24.

Background music is courtesy of www.bensound.com

Eliza Robertson won the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Pheidippides’. Author David Malouf announced Eliza Robertson as the overall winner at a ceremony at Potts Point Bookshop, Sydney. Dominic Amerena placed second for his story ‘The Leaching Layer’ and Lauren Aimee Curtis came third for her story ‘Butter’.

Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2017 Fiction issue.

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from forty-two different countries. The 2017 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Ellen van Neerven and Chris Flynn.

Peter Rose: 0:00 – 7:55
David Malouf: 7:56 – 12:45
Amy Bailleu: 14:15 – 18:22
Dominic Amerena: reads ‘The Leaching Layer’: 20:00 – 24:24
Lauren Aimee Curtis: reads ‘Butter’: 24:55 – 31:00
Eliza Robertson reads ‘Pheidippides’: 31:47 – 36:25
David Malouf announces the winner of the 2017 Jolley Prize: 36:56