Autobiography

“People were supposed to remember who they were and where they lived. They were supposed to remember who loved them and who did not and where their grandmothers were born. Martin Jeremiah Westley didn’t remember any of it, including the fact that he was Martin Jeremiah Westley.” [click to continue…]

Ray Martin needs no introduction. Well known as the face of the Midday Show, A Current Affair, 60 Minutes, Carols by Candlelight… If you trust anyone on Australian television, you trust Ray Martin.

But Ray’s was a less than stellar introduction to the glamorous world of television. Before he had even got to high school, he had lived in thirteen different places, in three Australian states, mostly in the bush. [click to continue…]

Professional road cyclist Robbie McEwen will do whatever it takes to win on a bike. He is proud of his reputation as a ‘competitive little bugger’ and ‘a bit of a hard bastard in the peloton’, yet he is at pains to point out that what he’s channelling is not rage or aggression but a fierce determination and razor-sharp focus. Here, in his own words, Robbie reveals what has made him one of the most successful road cyclists of the last 20 years, winning over 200 professional races and three Tour de France green jerseys. [click to continue…]

When Kate decides to leave her past behind in Melbourne, it is the beginning of a new journey. In the ruins of Rome and the piazzas of Naples, through poetry and passion, in strange streets and strange beds, she hopes to find truth. [click to continue…]

World-famous writer and national treasure Colleen McCullough has always resisted the idea of writing an autobiography – books on the subject of the self tend to be “stuffed to pussy?s bow with boring bits”. But her mind has a life of its own. Here, finally, is its portrait. Among the personal reminiscences and thought-provoking musings in Life Without the Boring Bits lie clues as to the shaping of this extraordinary mind: the confused, impulsive, thoughtlessly cruel mother; the miserly absentee father; the far-reaching effects bureaucrats can have on the lives of strangers; the riddle of Time … [click to continue…]

Loved by many, loathed by others, Barry Hall is unarguably one of the greatest AFL forwards and crowd pullers of the modern era – as well as the most notorious and colourful player currently on the field. Now, for the first time, Barry tells the story of his rise to AFL greatness, beginning with his childhood in country Victoria and early years as a junior boxing champion, through to his draft to St Kilda as a teenager. [click to continue…]

Born of Palestinian migrants, Arwa did not have a country that she could call home. Just before her ninth birthday her parents came to Australia to give their daughters the greatest gift they could, the right of citizenship and a country that they could call their own, a place were they could belong.  [click to continue…]

Performer Jane Clifton had a classic army brat upbringing, constantly on the move as the family followed the postings of her English officer father from Gibraltar to England, Germany to Malaysia and eventually to Australia. Always the new kid in town, Jane became adept at fitting in anywhere.  [click to continue…]

For years, people have tried to persuade the leader of the Cuban Revolution to tell his own life story. Here, finally, Ignacio Ramonet has succeeded. [click to continue…]