History

Queensland Reviewers Collective (QRC) is the new name for an initiative that began eighteen years ago. Up until November 2016 it was known as M/C Reviews. In December 2015, the M/C Reviews website had a major security breach that took it down, and the editor of the book reviews section and some of the reviewers responded by starting a blog as a temporary site for book reviews until the website could be repaired. Unfortunately, it eventually became apparent that the website was not able to be restored, thus ending its long and illustrious presence as a place for the lively engagement with books and film through reviewing.

Once again, the editor and a small group of book reviewers decided they valued M/C Reviews enough to enable its rebirth as the Queensland Reviewers Collective. It no longer has an association with the Queensland University of Technology.

The website that M/C Reviews was initially a part of was M/C – Media and Culture, founded in 1998 as, according to the History section, ‘a place of public intellectualism, analysing and critiquing the meeting of media and culture’. It was meant as a place where the popular and the academic could meet, and ‘debates may have some resonance with wider political and cultural interests’.

The website was initiated and developed at the University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia; since 2004, it has been hosted by the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology in Kelvin Grove. The first publication was the M/C Journal, still thriving today, followed by M/C Reviews, and then M/Cyclopedia of New Media.

Acknowledgement of Country

In the spirit of reconciliation Queensland Reviewers Collective acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

Other Reviews

Children

Ming and Maria Explore the Universe by Jackie French

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The author of this children’s book is Jacqueline Anne French AM, known professionally as Jackie French. She is an Australian author who has written across several genres for both adults and children. Her most notable works, among the 200 she has written, include Rain Stones, Diary of a Wombat, The Girl

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Historical Fiction

33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen

Reviewed by Colleen McLennan Alice Austen is an American writer, playwright, screenwriter and producer.  She was a student at the University of Oregon and was a member of the women’s track team.  She studied at Harvard Law School and was the co-founder of the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and studied creative writing under Seamus Heaney. 

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The Age Book of the Year Awards

The Age Book of the Year 2025 The winners of the 2025 Age Book of the Year awards have been announced. Rodney Hall won the fiction award for his novel Vortex (Picador) and Lech Blaine won the nonfiction prize for Australian Gospel: A Family Saga (Black Inc.). The winners, chosen from shortlists announced earlier this month, were announced at the opening night of the Melbourne Writers

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ABIA Awards 2025

THE 2025 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED Books+Publishing, in partnership with the Australian Publishers Association, are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs).  The highly anticipated winners, including the prestigious Book of the Year were revealed at a glittering gala event hosted by Myf Warhurst in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday 7 May. Celebrating 25

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General Fiction

Saturation by William Lane

Reviewed by Rod McLary Dystopian novels – and there are many of them from Brave New World to The Road to The Handmaid’s Tale – all attempt to anticipate the future and of course we have no way of telling whether they are or will be accurate.  Some assume huge scientific advances, others a cataclysmic

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Historical Fiction

My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende

Reviewed by Clare Brook My Name is Emilia Del Valle is the latest historical-fiction novel by Isabel Allende set in nineteenth century Chile.  Written in the first person, it reads like a memoir.  However, Emilia del Valle is a fictional character who is determined to overcome her impoverished background and the societal conventions of the

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History

Charles Todd’s Magnificent Obsession by David Dufty

Reviewed by Richard Tutin When someone wishes to pursue a momentous project at all costs they are often regarded as being obsessive. If they manage to complete it well, they are then called visionary. Such is the situation with Charles Todd whose greatest achievement was the completion of the Overland Telegraph in 1872. David Dufty

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The Age Book of the Year Awards 2025

The Age Book of the Year Awards 2025 Twelve books have made the shortlists for this year’s entries in The Age Book of The Year awards. The six books on the fiction shortlist have been described as particularly exciting in “eclecticism and range” by the judges, author and critic Bram Presser, and The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Canberra bureau

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NSW Literary Awards 2025

NSW Literary Awards 2025  The NSW Literary Awards are held annually. They are the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia and cover all genres of writing. The Awards provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of literacy and to encourage everyone to enjoy and learn from the work of our writers. These

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If you would like to contact the coordinator of the Queensland Reviewers Collective, either to enquire about becoming a reviewer, to offer a book to review, or to make a comment on the blog generally, please use the form.

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