Dispatch #010
The Australian Fiction Prize 2026 news, an intimate evening with AC Grayling, and words from the CEO of Arts&Law, Louise Buckingham, the only community legal centre for artists.
Guess what? Gertrude & Alice is now celebrating its 10th newsletter! Didn’t that go fast? Thank you for signing up to receive it. Thank you for sharing with your friends. We have a few special events for subscribers coming up, so stay tuned.
It seems like AI is all anyone talks about these days. We here at Gertrude & Alice don’t want to read AI books. We want to read books by other human beings.
I’m not interested in what the machine thinks about life. I’m interested in what the living think about life.
We’re keeping an open mind about the Albanese government’s decision to sign a new deal with Anthropic, the maker of Claude.
We know that these guys lobby hard to steal your content - your books, podcasts, poems and music - so we spoke to Louise Buckingham, who is the CEO of Arts&Law, the only community legal centre for artists.
Louise said: “We are concerned to ensure artists' rights, including moral rights, are not eroded through Anthropic and other big tech companies' use of their work without their permission, remuneration or acknowledgement.
“Artists struggle to earn a living wage in Australia …. Anthropic is a $555 billion company that can well afford to compensate creators appropriately.
“We welcome the public commitment of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei not to seek to change Australia's copyright system, and we look forward to hearing details on his suggested arrangements that he says will work for everyone, in particular, how he plans to fairly compensate artists for the extraordinary and theft of their work in the context of training data.”
Keep on them, Louise. Australian writers can’t afford to lose their copyright. It’s all they really have.
Book fashion: Hot on the heels of the Coach launch of mini-book charms comes British Vogue’s new shoot, with models, actors and even ballerina dancers posing with their favourite titles, under the banner “I’d rather be reading.” It’s all rather stylish as you can see here:
Poetry prize: The shortlist for the 2026 Blake Poetry Prize has been announced. The prize is designed to encourage conversations about faith, and this year there is a focus on Christian themes, with “a strong presence of other equally powerful and venerable traditions, from Islam to Buddhism, and into the beliefs and practices of Aboriginal ancient ties to country.” Good stuff.
Movie news: The science fiction adaptation of Andy Weir’s blockbuster, Project Hail Mary, is now in the cinemas. It stars Ryan Gosling, which is probably all you need to know to make you rush out and get a ticket.
Audiobooks: Libro.FM has a special offer for people who love audiobooks: sign up for monthly membership using the code SWITCH and you’ll receive two free audiobooks, plus the one you get when you sign on, so that’s three books in the first month for the price of one! We support this service because they support us: Libro enables you to purchase audiobooks from independent bookshops like ours, and they share the profits, so we aren’t being eaten alive by the multinational tech companies. They also make a point of supporting female-owned businesses, like ours. You’ll find membership info here.
Prize news: sharpen your pencils, because the prestigious The Australian Fiction Prize 2026 is open for entries.
It’s a $15,000 prize for an unpublished work of fiction, open to all Australian writers, regardless of age or publishing history.
Amazingly, the winner receiving a contract from HarperCollins, meaning your book could soon be on the shelves alongside your favourite authors.
The 2024 winner was Katherine Johnson’s Every Wild Soul, which will be published in May 2026. Read more about it here.
The 2025 winner was River City by Troy Henderson, which will be published in 2027. Read more about it here.
HarperCollins Australia Head of Fiction, Catherine Milne said: “HarperCollins has a long history of discovering and championing iconic Australian voices, from Banjo Paterson to Trent Dalton, so we couldn’t be more excited to open the Australian Fiction Prize portal for entries.”
Go on, you may as well enter. What do you have to lose?
More prizes: Nominations are also now open for the $40,000 Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award – one of Australia’s most valuable book prizes.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Waverley Council presenting this award, which celebrates excellence in research-based literature.
“Council is immensely proud to present the Nib, which helps to uphold Australian literary excellence,” Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh said.
Previous winners include Helen Garner, Melissa Lucashenko, Clare Wright and Tim Low, with last year’s major prize awarded to historian Martin Thomas for his book Clever Men.
The independent judging panel considers literary merit, quality research, readability, and value to the community, and you can enter here.
AC Grayling, An Intimate Evening with the Author, Monday 20 April: be among a small group of people as AC Grayling talks about his latest book, The Challenge of the Future, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Click here for tickets.
Kathryn Heyman, An Evening with the Author, Tuesday 21 April: Kathryn will talk about her latest novel Circle of Wonder with Michaela Kalowski at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Click here for tickets.
George Orwell Bookclub, Bondi Literary Salon, Wednesday 29th of April: Let’s Talk About George Orwell hosted by David Francis at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Click here for tickets.
Poetica is having an open mic night on April 16, featuring the marvellous Ilan Kidron.
He will share his new album Swimmer and he will have a chat with Poetica founder Miriam Hechtman about his process and the album. The theme for the open mic is WATER and you are all welcome to try out some lyrics too. Bookings through Woollahra Gallery are here.
For those who don’t know, Poetica started in September 2017 at Gertrude and Alice Bookstore, after Miriam emailed owner Jane Turner asking if she could host a monthly night of poetry in Jane’s bookstore. A resounding “YES” from Jane set the poetry wheels in motion and Poetica was born.
The Titanic Story of Evelyn by Lisa Wilkinson: recreates the story of Evelyn Marsden, a plucky 28-year-old from South Australia who survived the sinking of the Titanic.
The Ruin of Magic by Kate Holden: building or renovating? Do not miss this philosophical discussion of what it means to find and decorate a home.
Heart the Lover by Lily King: when young love refuses to die. We’ve heard of people finishing this and going straight back to the beginning to start it all over again.
The Framing by Fernanda Dahlstrom: When the author was eight, her mother went to jail. Now a young lawyer in Darwin, she wants to show the world how her mother was framed.
And, swoon. Thames & Hudson has acquired a visual and lyrical portrait of Susie Cave, with words by her husband, the writer and musician Nick Cave. SUSIE will be published in hardback on September 16th, priced at $69.99.
Nick’s devotion to his wife, Susie, whom he met in 1997, is on display in images by her friend, Dominique Issermann, who has been photographing her since she was a young model.
Nick and Susie have survived the unimaginable: the loss of one of their twin sons. This book is a beautiful idea.
My fave weekly read. Thank you!!!