Shortlisted for the Walkley Book Award 2022In QAnon and On, Guardian columnist Van Badham delves headfirst into the QAnon conspiracy theory, unpicking the why, how and who behind this century’s most dangerous and far-fetched internet cult.From Gamergate to Pizzagate and beyond to QAnon, internet manipulation and disinformation campaigns have grown to a geopolitical scale and spilled into real life with devastating consequences, ent...

In QAnon and On, Guardian columnist Van Badham delves headfirst into the QAnon conspiracy theory, unpicking the why, how and who behind this century’s most dangerous and far-fetched internet cult.From Gamergate to Pizzagate and beyond to QAnon, internet manipulation and disinformation campaigns have grown to a geopolitical scale and spilled into real life with devastating consequences, entangling everyone from politicians to Hollywood celebrities.But what would motivate follo...

Shortlisted for the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting'Van Badham may have one of the biggest and quickest minds in Australia, but it's her her huge heart that takes the stage. Not unlike Van, Banging Denmark is a play that speaks its mind with edge, wit and heart. By the end of it you can't help but feel enraged, endeared and ultimately, empowered. Van Badham has created the ultimate political rom-com, a battle o...

The wounds of a horrific event are re-opened as Eve tries to navigate a friendship with her ex and his new partner. The play uses both grim sadness and dark humour to challenge perceptions of feminism and self-image in the prism of sexual love.Winner of the 2015 NSW Premier’s Award for Drama.‘An intelligent, challenging, deeply thoughtful and highly original piece of work. In a world where gender relationships remain the minefield they always were, and where male violence t...

Alone in the museum, in the dark, Marion unravels a ball of string so Michael can venture into a mystery. In recent weeks, strange stirrings have haunted the ancient relics and rumours of a monster abound. Michael finds his way back to her and to an impossible situation. Marion flees and finds herself the prim centre of an over-sexed septuagenarian art group at a seaside resort. Here, Marion is infuriated by Mark, a wayward sommelier with an eye for the ladies, determined to disrupt her lesso...

Sophie is in the last term of Year 11. She's used to moving around with her accountant father and free-spirited mother, so the move to a small town on the South Coast in NSW doesn't seem too out of the ordinary - at first.But things are changing around Sophie. A new school means a new start - and she's tired of her mother's superstitions and control. When she's recruited to the ranks of the school's popular girls, Sophie seizes the opportunity to remake herself... and unleashes for...

Longlisted for the 2022 Indie Book Awards.Longlisted for the Australian Political Book of the Year Award.Chosen as a ‘Book of the Year’ in The Australian, The Australian Financial Review and The Australian Book Review.In a quiet Sydney street in 1937, a seven year-old immigrant boy drowned in a ditch that had filled with rain after being left unfenced by council workers. How the law should deal with...

What happens when the prime minister views politics only as a game?Australia wanted Scott Morrison. In a time of uncertainty, the country chose in 2019 to turn to a man with no obvious beliefs, no clear purpose and no famous talents. That we wanted Scott Morrison was the secret we did not know about ourselves. What precisely that secret is forms the subject of this book.In The Game, Sean Kelly gives us a portrait of a man, the shallow political cul...

Lies and Falsehoods: The Morrison Government and The New Culture of Deceit by well-known political journalist Bernard Keane combines Crikey's eye-opening dossier of Scott Morrison's documented lies with Keane's insightful take on why deceivers dominate in the new era of politics. This book is the first in The Crikey Read series by Crikey and Hardie Grant Books.All politicians lie. They twist the truth, exaggerate and spin. But blatant lying has now...

Nine months after the spill that catapulted him to the prime ministership, Scott Morrison won the 2019 election, shocking politicians and political pundits (and, quite possibly, himself). Yet, unlike his predecessors, little was really known about the former marketing man whose hard-nosed political instincts and 'daggy dad persona' saw him become the 30th Prime Minister of Australia. Voters knew what he allowed them to see - a policy embrace of slogans like 'Stop the Boats'; his deft rebut...

What happens when the usual political tactics of deflect and dodge are no longer enough?A reckoning.The Guardian's political reporter Amy Remeikis has spoken before about being a survivor of sexual assault, but Brittany Higgins going public with her story ripped the curtain back not just on political attempts to deal with real-world issues, but also how unsafe women can be, even inside the most protected building in the country.Amy didn't ...

Who can be a larrikin and how is it used politically?The figure of the larrikin goes deep in Australian culture. But who can be a larrikin, and what are its political uses?This brilliant essay looks at Australian politics through the prisms of class, egalitarianism and masculinity. Lech Blaine examines some “top blokes,” with particular focus on Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese, but stretching back to Bob Hawke and Kerry Packer. He shows how Morrison bro...