Biography > General

He Died With a Felafel in His Hand was first published in 1994 and introduced literary grunge to young Australians. After a slow start it became a cult and then a bestseller, selling over 100,000 copies and being turned into a film starring Noah Taylor. The book went on to achieve international success, and the original edition is still selling well. To celebrate the tenth edition of this phenomenon, John Birmingham suggested a comic edition, drawn by a young artist he met at a Brisbane reading. Ryan Vella is another young Queensl... read more

A stunning book about the right stuff in the wrong war. As a child, Robert Mason dreamed of levitating. As a young man, he dreamed of flying helicopters - and the U.S. Army gave him his chance. They sent him to Vietnam where, between August 1965 and July 1966, he flew more than 1,000 assault missions. In Chickenhawk, Robert Mason gives us a devastating bird's eye-view of that war in all its horror, as he experiences the accelerating terror, the increasingly desperate courage of a man 'acting out the role of a hero long after he ... read more

Loved by countless adoring fans--and the camera--Audrey Hepburn is an icon, an actress, and humanitarian whose beauty and elegance will never go out of style. This luxe, high-end compilation, produced under license with the Hepburn estate, features 100 of the most compelling and iconic photographs ever taken of the glamorous star--timeless images by such greats as Sir Cecil Beaton, Douglas Kirkland, Norman Parkinson, and Philippe Halsman. In addition, the book includes an 9" x 11" removable print, suitable for personal framing, tha... read more

EXTREME FRONTIERS: CANADA is Charley Boorman's brand-new adventure/travel book. Travelling mainly on his much-loved bike, Charley will explore the world's second largest country - home to some of the most stunning and challenging terrain known to man. Along the way he will work with Alberta's famous 'Bear Whisperer'; travel with Native Canadians and learn more about their mythology and shamanic rituals; get involved in the world famous National Lumberjack competition; work with the Mounties search and rescue team and visit the worl... read more

He is one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court - but from early childhood Andre Agassi hated the game. Coaxed to swing a racket while still in the crib, forced to hit hundreds of balls a day while still in grade school, Agassi resented the constant pressure even as he drove himself to become a prodigy, an inner conflict that would define him. Now, in his beautiful, haunting autobiography, Agassi tells the story of a life framed by such conflicts. Agassi makes us fe... read more

The internationally bestselling autobiography of world cycling superstar, Lance Armstrong - cancer survivor and seven-time winner of the Tour de France.

Say what you like about Jason Akermanis - footballer, showman, show-off, troublemaker - there's no denying that he's made an impression in his 15 years as an AFL star player. Now, after more than 300 games, three Premierships and a Brownlow Medal, the curtain has come down on his extraordinary career. No longer restrained by contractual obligations and free to speak at last, Aker looks at a stellar sporting career, including details of Aker's falling out with Leigh Matthews, his move to the Western Bulldogs, run-ins with fellow pla... read more

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - become one of the most important tools in modern medicine. Taken in 1951, these cells became the first immortal human cell line ever grown in culture. They were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered the secrets of cancer, viruses and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilisation, clon... read more

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It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain... Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask when you're going to have a baby? This title provides answers to such questions.

In Lives, an extraordinary writer encounters some remarkable people - and evokes their inner lives. Peter Robb has an uncanny ability to get into the skin of other people: to show them in a new light, to home in on what makes them tick. In Australia, these range from Alex Dimitriades to Ivan Milat, from Marcia Langton to Julian Assange. In Italy, Robb immerses the reader in the worlds of Fellini, Caravaggio, Calvino and Pasolini. Elsewhere, his observations of EM Forster, Arthur Rimbaud, Peter Carey and Gore Vidal illuminate the re... read more

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It's 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She's in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they're trying for a baby - and she doesn't want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance. So she travels to Rome, where she learns Italian from handsome, brown-eyed identical twins and gains twenty-five pounds, an ashram in India,... read more

Written by acclaimed biographer A. N. Wilson, Hitler is a short, sharp, gripping account of one of the twentieth century's most notorious figures

"Sweet Revenge" offers a detailed insider's account of entertainment mogul Simon Cowell's rise to meteoric fame and all of the controversial highs and lows along the way as he settles scores with rivals. The book will be packed with juicy details, hard-to-get interviews and never-before-revealed facts all written from an objective journalist's perspective. Just named one of Barbara Walter's "Most Fascinating People of 2011," Cowell continues to reign as a pop culture icon and media influencer.

From creating her very first sweater, an electric blue disaster that led to an unlikely bonding between father and daughter, to the yellow afghan that caused a break-up (and, ultimately, a breakthrough) and discovering that her love of knitting pales next to actual, true love, Rachael Herron's ability to spin wonderful yarns full of love, loss and laughter is addictive. Whether she's huddled with her cat Digit after a close encounter in a treehouse or reminiscing about her mother's idyllic New Zealand childhood while keeping vigil ... read more

"Robert Menzies remains a towering figure in our political and cultural history. This collection of letters written to his only daughter, Heather, is brimful of warmth, love and humour, and provides a fascinating insight into one of our most influential Australians. 'As prime minister, Menzies strode the stage like a colossus ...here he is affectionate paterfamilias, supportive sibling, benevolent uncle.' Sydney Morning Herald 'Menzies was a very accomplished writer and the combination of geniality and acerbity is winning.' The Age... read more

Kathleen Evans was an ordinary woman from an ordinary suburb on the NSW central coast. Although a committed Catholic, she wasn't excessively pious and had even had a decade-long disagreement with her Church after her philandering husband divorced her. Then in 1993, after finding love for the second time, Kath was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer; the diagnosis: terminal. She tried to make peace with her past and her God but was desperate to survive long enough to see her youngest son finish school. She and a group of supporters ... read more

For nearly a year Sharyn Munro travelled through rural Australia, visiting the communities in coal-mining areas. She found a war zone. Here, literally at the coal-face, towns and districts are dying - homeowners and farmers forced out by mining, broken in spirit and in health, or else under threat, their lives and properties in limbo as they battle the might of huge mining companies developing ever larger mines and prospecting ever more widely for new coal deposits or coal seam gas. Incidences of asthma, leukaemia and other cancers... read more