#australian-literature

#australian-literature

New biographies and freshly issued retrospectives reexamine the lives and legacies of fashion's biggest names, from archetypical It girl Jane Birkin to the eternally ahead of his time Issey Miyake.

Give your tormentors so much sweetness that they develop diabetes. To a girl in her early teens, that sounded like nonsense. I was the centre of the universe. Surely, no one had ever been as badly treated as I was! And here my father was, telling me to be nice to them? I would ask: Is this some turn-the-other-cheek rubbish? My father has quite a distinctive cackle, and I heard it in those moments.

No single musician better represents that contribution and its nearly forgotten history than pianist Sidney Porter. From 1941 until his untimely death in 1970, he cast a 6'8" shadow over Portland's jazz scene as both a performer and nightclub owner. Two months after he died, more than 3,000 people filled the Hoyt Hotel in a 10-hour show of respect that included 20 bands and more than 160 musicians.

As we have seen, defending the right of people to speak, even when we deeply disagree with them, is very, very difficult. Many people perhaps most can't manage it. It can feel like a betrayal of self, a betrayal of values, and certainly a betrayal of one's community or cause. Nor is it sensible to expect it of everyone. But we must demand it of the custodians of our culture. This is the way forward.

Because, let's face it, creative work does require some form of faith. It is a tumultuous thing to launch an idea into a vast nothingness and hope that it makes a light bright enough to be found by others. Luckily, these luminaries were my light, and I hope they may become yours as well, and - more so - that these snippets lead you to more of their work.