Griffith Review 83: Past Perfect

Sharlene Allsopp was born on Bundjalung Country into the Olive mob. She has been published in Griffith Review, Portside Review, Aniko Press, and Jacaranda Journal. As a recipient of The Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter program in 2020/21, she completed her debut novel The Great Undoing, released with Ultimo Press in February 2024. Sharlene lives in Meanjin/Brisbane with her family and beloved doggo—Morty.

Michael Ondaatje is Head of the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, and Professor of History, at Griffith University. Michael is a prize-winning researcher and teacher and a regular commentator on American history and politics in the media. He is the author of Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America (University of Pennsylvania Press) and is currently writing a biography of Neville Bonner, the first Indigenous Australian elected to federal parliament (Melbourne University Press). Michael has been a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and was selected by the US Department of State for the International Visitor Leadership Program, the premier professional exchange program of the US government. He is also a recipient of the Max Crawford Medal — ‘Australia’s most prestigious award for achievement and promise in the humanities’ — and a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Richard King is an author, critic and poet based in Fremantle. Raised in the United Kingdom, he gained an MA in Literary History and Cultural Discourse and worked in publishing before moving to Australia. His work appears widely, including in The Australian, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Independent, The Monthly, Griffith Review, The Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin, Overland, New Matilda, Australian Book Review and 3 Quarks Daily (for whom he wrote a regular column between 2016 and 2018), The Best Australian Poems and The Best Australian Science Writing. His first book, On Offence: The Politics of Indignation, was published in Australia and the United Kingdom. King writes regularly for Arena, focusing on the relationship between culture and technology. His website is bloodycrossroads.com. His latest book is Here Be Monsters: Is Technology Reducing Our Humanity? (Monash University Publishing, 2023).

Carody Culver is the editor of Griffith Review. Her writing has appeared in Kill Your Darlings, Peppermint, Books+Publishing, The Toast and elsewhere. Her chapbook, The Morgue I Think the Deader it Gets, was published by Cordite in 2022. She’s interviewed writers and public figures including Grace Tame, Jonathan Franzen, Waleed Aly, Clementine Ford, Anna Funder and Cory Doctorow.