Telling the Australian stories that need to be told

Important stories can be shared through books.

The Walkley Book Awards attract some outstanding and illuminating stories from journalists and writers. The books explore issues related to Australian media, journalism, politics and history. Here are a few notable entries as covered in the Walkley magazine recently. I’ll add a few of these to my reading list for this year.

Balibo and the deaths of the Australian newsmen has been in the press a lot recently with the movie of the same name and the coronial inquest. Shirley Shackleton has given her account of the struggle to get to the truth in The Circle of Silence: A personal testimony before, during and after Balibo and her book won the 2010 Walkley Book Award.

If you’re interested in the development of radio in Australia, then Bridget Griffen-Foley’s book Changing Stations is worth a look as it captures radio from its earliest days.

Historians might want to turn their attention to Paul Kelly’s latest offering The March of Patriots which looks at Australian politics and life during the Keating and early Howard years.

Ben Hills’ book Breaking News captures the life of the influential editor Graham Perkins.

Miscarriages of justice are good foodder for long-form journalism and Colleen Egan’s account of wrongeful conviction of Andrew Mallard is compelling (and disturbing) in Murderer No More.