Kirsten Krauth

is an author, poet and podcaster. Her novel Almost a Mirror was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and SPN Book of the Year.

By this author

Culture November 29, 2025

Crimson Velvet Heart

Luscious and rich with detail and emotional resonance, Carmel Bird’s 12th novel, Crimson Velvet Heart, is an ambitious slice of life from late 17th and early 18th century France, moving between the stories of Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy …

News August 02, 2025

I was Hillsong’s babysitter

A decade after the Hillsong Church was founded, Carly worked as a babysitter for Bobbie and Brian Houston. She recalls a culture of sycophancy, sexualisation and shunning.

Culture August 23, 2025

The Visitor

Rebecca Starford’s The Visitor is an atmospheric and tightly controlled novel that focuses on apparitions and the various shapes of grief, spooling out into fear and chaos. Along with other recent novels such as The Name of the Sister …

Culture June 11, 2025

Violinist Warren Ellis is confronting his demons

The documentary Ellis Park follows musician Warren Ellis from regional Victoria, where he faces his childhood trauma, to a wildlife sanctuary in Sumatra.

Culture June 07, 2025

The Name of the Sister

Gail Jones is a prolific writer – her latest book, The Name of the Sister, is her 11th novel. Winner of The Age Book of the Year Award (Sixty Lights) and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award (The Death of Noah Glass), …

Visual Art November 02, 2019

Olympia: Photographs by Polixeni Papapetrou

For 20 years, photographer Polixeni Papapetrou’s images were often inspired by her daughter. A new retrospective of this work explores the tensions between art and motherhood and the shifting boundaries between adult and child.

Portrait October 05, 2019

Musician Ben Folds

A conversation about memory, memoir and bringing the spirit of punk to the piano.

Culture August 10, 2019

Producer Alex Kelly

A conversation with film and theatre producer Alex Kelly about making the documentaries Island of Hungry Ghosts and In My Blood It Runs, and working with Naomi Klein on This Changes Everything.

Culture June 15, 2019

Author Meg Wolitzer

Talking The Wife, The Female Persuasion and the female gaze with novelist Meg Wolitzer.

Culture May 11, 2019

Director and writer Jocelyn Moorhouse

A quiet chat with one of Australia’s most acclaimed directors about visual thinking, motherhood and her memoir, Unconditional Love.

Culture March 31, 2018

Author Sarah Sentilles’ churchless faith

Author Sarah Sentilles was once set on the priesthood, but she questioned church doctrine. Now her experimental writing interrogates state violence, using juxtaposition to expose the gaps in what we know. “If God is bigger than anything human beings can say about God, then all the things we say are going to fall short. So if you’re not questioning them, you’re actually engaged in idolatry of some kind. Doubt, to me, is very ethical.”