All That She Carried: The journey of Ashley’s sack, a black family keepsake (left) by Tiya Miles (right), Penguin Random House. Photos by Penguin Random House and Kimberly P. Mitchell of USA Today Network
Book review: What you need to know about a South Carolina slavery keepsake that ended up in the Smithsonian
All That She Carried: The journey of Ashley’s sack, a black family keepsake is a story of resistence against all odds.
It was penned by Harvard Professor Tiya Miles and tells how in the 1850s an enslaved South Carolina girl Ashley, 9, was sold away from her mother Rose.
The Winter Road: A Story of Legacy, Land and a Killing at Croppa Creek (left) by Kate Holden (right), Black Inc. Photos by Black Inc and Darren James Photography
Book review: Behind the headlines of murder, land use and green laws
The Winter Road: A Story of Legacy, Land and a Killing at Croppa Creek is a gripping Australian read.
It was written by acclaimed memoirist Kate Holden and tells how in 2014 an elderly New South Wales farmer shoots an environmental officer.
Tell Me Why: The story of my life and my music audiobook (left) by Archie Roach (right), Simon and Schuster Australia. Photos by Simon and Schuster Australia and Adrian Cook Photography
Book review: What you ought to know about this stolen child, storyteller and leader
I was lucky to see Archie Roach AM at a sold-out concert the week I finished reading his memoir Tell Me Why: The story of my life and my music.
The Happiest Man on Earth: A Holocaust survivor shares how he found gratitude, kindness and hope in the darkest of places (left) by Eddie Jaku (right), Pan Macmillan Australia. Photos by Pan Macmillan Australia and Tim Bauer.
Book review: Amazing ways to live by a Holocaust survivor
Kicking off this year’s book reviews is the powerful life story by the late Eddie Jaku OAM: The Happiest Man on Earth: A Holocaust survivor shares how he found gratitude, kindness and hope in the darkest of places.
Sontag: Her Life and Work (left) by Benjamin Moser (right), Ecco/ HarperCollins Publishers. Photos by Ecco/ HarperCollins Publishers and Beowulf Sheehan.
A 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner by Benjamin Moser with HarperCollins Publishers
Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser is a definite portrait of an emblematic genius.
In short, it tells the story of one of America’s greatest 20th Century writers: a girl from the suburbs who grew up to be an intellectual and cosmopolitan force.
Indeed Moser was well-placed to tackle this towering life story as the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector.
Furthermore, he has worked as a books columnist for Harper’s Magazine and The New York Times Book Review.
Certainly the 832-page work has been hailed a “landmark biography” and picked up a slew of awards including being named the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Biography.
Keep reading to find out more about Sontag, what makes it interesting reading plus tips it offers us as life-story writers …
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X (left) by Les Payne (centre) and Tamara Payne (right), Liveright/ W. W. Norton & Company. Photos by Liveright/ W. W. Norton & Company, Newsday/J. Conrad Williams and Jamal K. Payne
A Pulitzer Prize and National Book Awards winner by journalist Les Payne and Tamara Payne with W. W. Norton & Company
Epic biography The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne is not just a life story but a lesson in history.
The Liveright/ W. W. Norton & Company publication was released last year and draws on hundreds of hours of interviews to present an unprecedented portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most politically relevant figures.
Renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Les Payne started the book in 1990 and was assisted by his daughter and principal researcher Tamara Payne.
However, after her father’s death in 2018, Tamara went on to finish his life’s work.
When All is Said and Done by Neale Daniher with Warwick Green, Pan Macmillan Australia. Portrait photo of Daniher, from FightMND.
ABIA winning biography by Ungarie’s Neale Daniher, with Warwick Green
This week I’m sharing an award-winner: When All is Said and Done by Neale Daniher with Warwick Green.
Certainly many know Daniher as an Australian Football League (AFL) legend – on and off the field.
But in 2013 he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and soon after co-founded FightMND, which has invested over $40 million into research and care initiatives.
Indeed this biography began as a letter by Daniher to the grandchildren he will never get to know.
