Noble Fragments by Michael Visontay tells the fascinating story of how a rare book dealer in the 1920s took apart a Gutenberg Bible and sold its pages individually—an act that shocked the literary world. Decades later, this decision would play an unexpected role in Visontay’s own family history, helping them rebuild their lives after fleeing post-war Hungary. Blending history and personal memoir, the book explores how seemingly small events can have lasting and life-changing consequences.
Video Series: Writing Lives
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Writing Lives: Shifra Horn
Welcome to the latest episode of Writing Lives. Our guest is award-winning Israeli author, Shifra Horn, in conversation with Melbourne-based author and writing mentor, Dr Lee Kofman. This conversation with the internationally renowned Shifra Horn focuses on her latest book Scorpion Dance and her life as a writer.
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Writing Lives: Joanne Fedler on ‘The Whale’s Last Song’
Channelling The Alchemist, The Princess Bride and The Little Prince, Joanne Fedler’s new work — The Whale’s Last Song — is a celebration of the beauty and mystery of being alive in a world in which we are part of everything, and everything is part of us. In this conversation with MJBW Director Debbie Lee, Joanne discusses the inspiration for a book unlike anything she has written before.
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Writing Lives: Katia Ariel on ‘The Swift Dark Tide’
Katia Ariel discusses her 2024 Stella shortlisted sensation, ‘The Swift Dark Tide’, in conversation with playwright and theatre producer, Jessica Bellamy. Ariel’s memoir deftly flows between journal entry and reminiscences of a childhood in Odessa, emigration to Australia, a happy family life, and the urgency and turmoil of a same-sex love affair. The depth and honesty of this ‘Writing Lives’ is both disarming and profound.
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Writing Lives: Anne Sebba on Ethel Rosenberg
We are delighted to present our Writing Lives conversation with esteemed British biographer, Anne Sebba, discussing her remarkable book: ‘Ethel Rosenberg: The Short Life and Great Betrayal of an American Wife and Mother’. How did an otherwise non-descript, first generation Russian Jewish émigré, and mother of two young boys, become the first American woman executed on spurious charges, for a crime other than murder?
Anne Sebba is a biographer, journalist and former Reuters foreign correspondent. She has written many books including the best-selling ‘Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image’, ‘Laura Ashley, A Life by Design’ and ‘That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor’. She lives in London.
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Writing Lives: Ruth Weiss & Michael Cohen
First in our Writing Lives series, is an interview with Ruth Weiss, human rights campaigner, journalist, and activist in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. As a child, Ruth fled Nazi Germany with her family, arriving in South Africa only to witness oppression of a different kind. Ruth remains an outspoken voice against hatred in any form and, at 98, is finally receiving international public recognition for a lifetime of activism.
Ruth will be interviewed by South African born educator and historian Michael Cohen.