Oxford Australia Blog

Sharing our love of education, language, and books

Category: Literature

  • The books we hope to find in our Christmas stockings

    The books we hope to find in our Christmas stockings

    Is there a better gift to find in your Christmas stocking than a book? At Oxford University Press, we don’t think there is. Here is a list of the books that we’d love to receive on Christmas morning (loved ones, take note!). Sophie Rasic Although she’s been popular for decades, I hope to find more…

  • Celebrating the anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth with our favourite quotes

    Celebrating the anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth with our favourite quotes

    To celebrate the birth of Jane Austen on this day (December 16) in 1775, here are some of our favourite quotes from her novels. “Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.” Mansfield Park “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel,…

  • Our favourite books of 2018

    Our favourite books of 2018

    To celebrate Book Week 2018, here are our favourite books of 2018 … so far. Let us know yours! Joe Piantoni, Marketing Coordinator, Schools Room to Dream by David Lynch and Christine McKenna. I’m only about halfway through this book at the moment but it’s extremely interesting thus far. A hybrid biography of filmmaker David Lynch, with chapters…

  • English teacher and author reveals his top 5 books of all time

    English teacher and author reveals his top 5 books of all time

    English teachers spend the day sharing their love of literature and helping students get the most out of texts. But what books are they influenced by? We asked one of the authors of English for Queensland , Lindsay Williams, for a list of his favourite books. Here they are, in no particular order: Mullumbimby by…

  • Research reveals shifts in language used by Aussie kids, but the gender divide remains

    Research reveals shifts in language used by Aussie kids, but the gender divide remains

    The new Oxford Wordlist research has revealed Australian children had learnt to love their informal lingo, with words like super, awesome, crazy, stuff and amazing, featuring in the words most regularly used by primary school students. The research, released on June 25, drew on research from more than 3,000 writing samples and detailed the top…

  • What makes a literate nation?

    What makes a literate nation?

    An excerpt from Australian Literature for Young People by Rosemary Ross Johnston The arts – literature in all its forms, theatre and cinema, dance, music, drawing, painting and sculpture – both sustain and create literate nations. They are not an extra-curricular frill, but an integral part of communal and personal lives; they arm for the…

  • There are many reasons to love libraries

    There are many reasons to love libraries

    Modern libraries can take the form of a local book exchange to a huge community centre, complete with roof gardens and cafes. The reasons why Australians love them are just as diverse. From the smell of books to the friendly librarian, there are plenty of reasons to visit, and to love, our libraries. To mark…

  • The Oxford English Dictionary celebrates one hundred years of Roald Dahl.

    Last week marked the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth and to celebrate, the Oxford English Dictionary has published a range of revised and newly drafted entries containing references to Roald Dahl’s writing in its latest update. The words included are recognisably ‘Dahlesque’ and while not all are coined by him, they have magical qualities that…