Openbook online

A magazine about books, libraries, art & ideas.

Openbook online

The Library's quarterly magazine has had makeover and is now called Openbook. Read a selection of articles here.

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Spring 2023

You say you want a referendum

by Andrew Trigg

Andrew Trigg explores the Library's referenda-related ephemera.

Poster with picture of parrot and text saying 'Don't be taken in by Parrot cries vote No'

Rara Avis the impossible black swan

by Margot Riley

A new addition to the Library’s world-class collection of Australian ornithological drawings.

A model archive

by Lisa Clifford

Lisa Clifford reflects on donating her late mother June Dally-Watkins’ scrapbooks to the Library.

June Dally- Watkins in ad
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Winter 2023

Shakespeare Wallah

by John Zubrzycki

The Bard on tour in Bengal and beyond.

Colour graphic with a man holding a sword and wearing Shakespearean ruff

A book by its cover

by Mathilde de Hauteclocque

A twenty-first century fine binder gains a student.

Old brown leather books on bookcase

The Captain

by Rowena Lennox

The devastation of a shipwreck echoes across time.

Picture of a sailing ship
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Autumn 2023

Summer 2022

Michelle Cahill

by Neha Kale

A novelist brings a marginalised character back to the centre.

Daisy and Woolf, by Michelle Cahill

Festive baking time

A recipe from The Keeyuga Cookery Book by Henrietta C McGowan, published in 1911.

Table with a bowl of shortbread cookies and Christmas decorations.
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Spring 2022

The long history of the power of positive thinking

by Alexandra Roginski

Self-help enterprises that advise how to be you — but better — aren’t as new as you might think.

Drawing of a man holding a face mask. Text read 'Dare to be yourself. The Motto of the Masters'.

The Tree of Life

by Sam Cooney

In the depths of grief, Indira Naidoo turns to the natural world around her for answers.

Indira Naidoo stands next to a tall strangler fig tree looking up.

Calling the Koori Knockout

by Brad Cooke

One of the most important sporting and cultural events on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander calendar returns.

Group of players celebrate with arms in the air. One player is lifted on their shoulders.

Broken Glass

by Jessie Cole

A short story.

Abstract illustration red tones with road sign motifs

Do we still have time for Henry Lawson?

by Susan Hunt

It is 100 years since the famous writer and chronicler of bush life died.

A pastel portrait of Henry Lawson in profile. Lawson wears a suit and tie and has dark brown hair and a reddish brown bushy moustache. His eyes are slightly downcast as he looks to the right hand side of the frame.
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Winter 2022

Helmut & Max, June & Maggie

by Margot Riley

Fashion photographer Helmut Newton’s career began in Australia, where he met fellow photographer Max Dupain and two women who would shape his life.

Art & life: Cressida Campbell

by Elizabeth Fortescue

As she finalises work for her landmark exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, Sydney artist Cressida Campbell invites Openbook into her studio.

Portrait of Cressida Campbell in 2022. Photo by Joy Lai

Q&A with photographer Matthew Abbott

We managed to ask Matthew Abbott a few questions as he sat on a train travelling to Amsterdam to attend the grand opening of the World Press Photo Exhibition.

Portrait of Matthew Abbott, by Saskia Wilson

On fire

by Miriam Cosic

Alexandra Christie is the new editor of HEAT, an illustrious literary publication in its third incarnation

A portrait of HEAT magazine editor, Alexandra Christie taken at her work, Giramondo Publishing in Redfern. Shot for Openbook Winter 2022
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Autumn 2022

The Long March from Wollongong

by Elizabeth Humphrys

A historian finds rich industrial history, and photography, in the archives.

How to colour in a ghost

by Rachel Franks

The challenges of bringing a hangman known as ‘Nosey Bob’ back to life.

A nondescript building in Cabramatta

by Tim Soutphommasane

The library that made me.

Tim Soutphommasane in Cabramatta

Doing Laundry on New Year’s Day

A poem by Toby Fitch.

Illustration by Rosie Handley
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Summer 2021

Three men and ...

The world of a goldfields publican comes within reach through research to uncover the secrets of an early photograph.

Take 5 ice creams

In celebration of summer, here are some of our favourite ice cream images from the collection.

Q&A with Andrew Kwong

Dr Andrew Kwong, writer and Central Coast GP, won the Michael Crouch Award for a debut book in the 2021 National Biography Awards.

Andrew Kwong, photo by Andy Carr
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Spring 2021

Grand designs

by Howard Tanner and James Broadbent

Photographs reveal the grand inner-city gardens that were once the glory of Sydney.

James and Isabella Martin and members of household at Clarens, Potts Point, c 1860, attributed to Thomas Wingate, Sydney Living Museums

Finding the poetry

by Mathilde de Hauteclocque

Writer and teacher Giacomo Bianchino found himself in need of a library collection and space to work in.

Giacomo Bianchino, photo by Bruce York
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Winter 2021

Light less guarded

A poem by Jane Gibian.

light_less_guarded_illustration.jpg

Self-portrait: Laura McPhee-Browne

A debut novelist observes a common peril.

Laura McPhee-Browne, photo by Leah Jing
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Autumn 2021

What about the sheilas?

by Elizabeth Fortescue

Peter Kingston couldn’t please everyone in his artist’s book Sheilas, but the result is a special piece of work.

Instructions before forgetting

A poem by Eunice Andrada.

Illustration by EM Mierisch

Finding Charlotte

by Kate Forsyth

Two writers’ search for their mysterious and talented forebear was full of archival riches.

View at Oldbury, c 1826, by Charlotte Atkinson

The divine Dante

The great Italian poet Dante Alighieri died in Ravenna, in northern Italy, in 1321. Seven hundred years later, the literary world is commemorating the life of a writer who is considered the father of the Italian language.

The Vision of Hell, 1868, by Dante Alighieri, illustrated by Gustave Doré
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SL Magazine - Winter 2020

Summer 2020

Drawing to a close

by Sarah Morley

An artist followed in the inspiring footsteps of a botanist rescued from a tragic expedition in 1848. 

Backscratcher Ginger, drawing by Janet Hauser, 2017

The Art of the Title page

A title page has always told readers what the book is about, but sometimes with an artistic flourish.

Vlyssis Aldrovandi patricii Bononiensis Serpentum, et draconu[m] historiae libri duo, 1640, by Vlyssis Aldrovandi

Six splendid street libraries

Street libraries are boxed shelters for books, managed by passionate local ‘librarians’. These tiny vestibules of literary happiness can be enjoyed, refilled and built by anyone.

Springwood Gumnut Library, front

'Demonstrations were our internet'

by Ashleigh Synnott

Fifty years after the first gay rights organisation was founded in NSW, the activism of the 1970s still resonates.

A writer’s guide: POC edition

A poem by Maryam Azam.

Illustration by Amani Haydar

A poem.
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SL Magazine - Spring 2020

SL Magazine - Autumn 2020

SL Magazine - Summer 2019

SL Magazine - Spring 2019

SL Magazine - Winter 2019

SL Magazine - Autumn 2019

SL Magazine - Spring 2018

SL Magazine - Winter 2018

SL Magazine - Autumn 2018

SL Magazine - 2017

SL Magazine - 2016

SL Magazine - 2015

SL Magazine - Previous years