Jo Case
@jocaseau.bsky.social
Professional book nerd (writer, editor, critic - former publisher, bookseller). Deputy Editor, Books & Ideas, The Conversation: @aunz.theconversation.com. Co-editor, Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Autistic Writers (UQP).
"I just think if you’re going to enjoy his music, let’s also consider the fact that he liked to have sex with children and see how that affects your enjoyment, in all honesty."
“People Just Don’t Care”: ‘Leaving Neverland’ Director on Why Michael Jackson Won the Court of Public Opinion
Seven years after his explosive HBO doc, Dan Reed watches Hollywood cash in on a man he calls "worse than Jeffrey Epstein" with the biopic 'Michael' — and explains why nobody seems to mind.
hollywoodreporter.com
The Guardian has partnered with the Australian Historical Association to use history to explain stuff. Today I do the University crisis. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Australia's universities have found themselves in crisis. But it has been decades in the making | Hannah Forsyth
Rather than a set of teaching and learning relationships, universities have become a bunch of metrics to be gamed. Unwinding these systems will take effort
theguardian.com
This was a fun little piece to write with @baibi.bsky.social from our @everydayheritage.bsky.social research. #history
Why doesn’t Hobart have a Chinatown?
Early Chinese communities might seem to have left little tangible trace. But such an absence does not necessarily mean the absence of a Chinese history.
theconversation.com
Israel is responsible for two in three journalist killings across the globe in 2024 and 2025. The Israeli military has committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government’s military since CPJ began documentation in 1992. Read more in CPJ’s #2025KilledReport: cpj.org?p=553549
ah yes, the rise of the populist right marks the perfect time to make services worse, and families poorer archive.is/M1LCu
If you're combing through the Epstein files with an LLM, or are reading people who are, I'd exercise a degree of caution. Watch this test from tiktok of various models to do something simple like count the spells in the Harry Potter novels & think about the complexity of typo ridden emails (1/2)
Lawrence Krauss being endearing again: "good news btw is that woman on conciliation committee seems like a sweetie.. she is old…. not some young metoo bitch."
Master clown and French theatre guru Philippe Gaulier has died at 82. His influence will live on in generations of artists from New Zealand.
‘New Zealanders are inventive by necessity’: how the master clown Philippe Gaulier shaped NZ theatre
theconversation.com
Hooray for QUT's resurrection of Meanjin! @aunz.theconversation.com Angela Glindemann reports. reflecting on how it's a smart move for QUT, at a time when creative arts courses are in crisis. Might Meanjin be an enrolment drawcard? theconversation.com/meanjin-has-...
Meanjin has been resurrected by QUT, in a clever move
Cancelled Australian literary journal Meanjin returns to its origins in Brisbane, where it was founded in 1940. It’s a good move for more than one reason.
theconversation.com
I love this essay by Sally Breen. She grew up in fearing Queensland cops – then she got curious. The stories she uncovered in her interviews with 17 Gold Coast homicide detectives sit under her skin, 'like lava'. @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/friday-essay...
Friday essay: I grew up fearing Queensland cops. Then I hung out with 17 Gold Coast detectives
Sally Breen wanted to know more about real police work after she met a Queensland top cop who seemed good. The stories she found sit under her skin like lava.
theconversation.com
Publishing expert @alicektg.bsky.social takes the pulse of Australia's literary festivals & their challenges – cancellations, culture wars, climate change and new hate speech laws – as Adelaide announces Constellations: Not Writers Week. @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
What is the future of Australia’s embattled writers festivals?
Australia’s literary festivals are under threat from culture wars, climate risks, new hate speech laws and ongoing funding scarcity.
theconversation.com
With threats from culture wars, climate disaster and insecure funding, Australia's thriving writers' festivals face an uncertain future. Read more in @theconversation.com theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
What is the future of Australia’s embattled writers festivals?
Australia’s literary festivals are under threat from culture wars, climate risks, new hate speech laws and ongoing funding scarcity.
theconversation.com
This was a fun story to work on: Rocket or arugula? How a salad vegetable mapped the Italian diaspora theconversation.com/rocket-or-ar...
Rocket or arugula? How a salad vegetable mapped the Italian diaspora
The words used to describe this peppery green are a linguistic fossil record revealing the history of Italian migration.
theconversation.com
Polished the manuscript of my debut novel, Every Breath, at a Writers Victoria workshop. Met my first publisher (and editor) at a Writers Victoria panel discussion. I wouldn't have what is now a decade+ author career without my state writers org, now defunded. theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Writers Victoria has been defunded – but writers’ centres are ‘fundamental’ to literary culture
Authors Hannah Kent and Toni Jordan got their start through writers centre initiatives. If Victoria loses its centre, it will be the only mainland state without one.
theconversation.com
Writers Victoria has been defunded – but writers’ centres are ‘fundamental’ to literary culture. So many writers have found work and been discovered through their programs – and they support the next generation of your favourite writers. @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Writers Victoria has been defunded – but writers’ centres are ‘fundamental’ to literary culture
Authors Hannah Kent and Toni Jordan got their start through writers centre initiatives. If Victoria loses its centre, it will be the only mainland state without one.
theconversation.com
Amy Thunig-McGregor expresses what we need to hold onto, for succour and sanity: the goodness in real connections & feelings, our (chosen) families, our friends and communities, in the face of chaos, misinformation & feeling powerless. thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
In our age of AI and constant crisis, real-life community is powerful and precious
So much is deeply wrong with the world right now, but when it comes to the sphere of life that is within my own influence – my home, my heart and my place within my community – I am the happiest I hav...
thepoint.com.au
I wrote this some time ago - with all of us knowing this day would come, and Rob, of course, fighting like the bloody-minded bastard he was to the very end. He irrevocably changed my life - and how our country saw itself. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...
Rob Hirst was a force of nature, a born showman who led Midnight Oil from the back
Phenomenal drummer and percussionist was an equally accomplished songwriter who embodied the band’s bloody-minded spirit
theguardian.com
“Devastated literary figures have been working hard behind the scenes” This community 📚❤️✊🏼 www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
Read the room: Guerilla Writers’ Week is happening - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia
Organisers of an alternative Writers’ Festival have vowed to push ahead after receiving support at an Adelaide City Council meeting.
indailysa.com.au
We asked 5 creative writing experts if they would use AI to break writer's block. Their answers surprised us. theconversation.com/would-you-us...
Would you use AI to break writer’s block? We asked 5 experts
A publishing giant believes AI can help break writers’ block. We asked 5 creative writing experts if they’d use it that way – and the range of results surprised us.
theconversation.com
I really love this piece.
Dr Richard Denniss@richarddenniss.bsky.social · 7mo agoSo much democracy rests on the assumption we live in, & care about, our physical communities…but while social media can helps us build new online communities, it can also tear us apart from our old ones. Great piece by @amythunig.bsky.social on the dangers of AI thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
This is not in fact the definition of the “working class.”
Basically, every generation of Americans has its own prophets of prosperity and popularity. But the message is always (essentially) the same. And its aim is always to justify massive inequality and pacify the masses by promising that someday they'll be on the winning side, too.
Ah yes, famously events with interstate attendees, book sales, coffee carts, wine bars, hundreds of employed artists, dozens of staffers, thousands of daily visitors to the city and, yes, ticketed events, generate "zero revenue". www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
Knut Hamsun gave his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels in 1943, if anyone is looking for a precedent. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
María Corina Machado says she presented Trump with her Nobel peace prize medal
The Venezuelan opposition leader did not confirm whether the US president accepted the award
theguardian.com
The Greens are again urging the Malinauskas Government to investigate these claims of political interference. The allegations that public servants have been told to stall investigations into the toxic algal bloom in order to protect the political interests of Labor are shocking.
Seems like there are a few issues in Malinauskas’ government www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
SA ecologist resigns from algal bloom panels, citing government's 'adversarial' approach
South Australian ecologist Dr Faith Coleman has resigned from two state government algal bloom panels and criticised the state government's approach.
abc.net.au
All education in Australia should be 💯 free and 💯 secular … if parents opt for a private or religious education for their children they should have to fund 💯 of the cost.
Data today shows rents again at record highs in nearly every capital city in Aus - Sydney at $800 a week! Rental vacancy rates are at record lows & Labor’s policies are incentivising wealthy property investors, which push property prices up & result in skyrocketing rents.
