Each year, The Monthly’s December – January bumper double issue offers a treasure trove of long reads and indulgent pleasures to get readers through their summers. Twice the length, it’s well suited to sit dog-eared on the coffee tables of many Australian beach houses while the cricket burbles on the radio, and the smells of sunscreen and insect repellent jostle for supremacy.

To bid farewell to 2024 and usher in 2025, we have a wealth of the surprising, the curious, the revealing and the essential. Kath Kenny takes a dive into the aquatic moments in the life and career of Gough Whitlam, Elle Hardy walks us through the history and troubling present of far-right organisations in Australia, and Anna Goldsworthy shares why we – as individuals and as a society – need classical music in our lives.

This is also the one time of the year The Monthly includes new fiction, and with stories from celebrated authors Tara June Winch and Josephine Rowe, your itch for a transportive short story will be well catered for.

Megan Davis offers her post-mortem on the civility policing of Lidia Thorpe and what it tells us about the national conversation without a Voice to Parliament; Rebecca Huntley visits northern New South Wales to find out about therapeutic trials of MDMA; Quentin Sprague visits summer exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia; and Margaret Simons and Dave Tacon visit former Philippines senator Leila de Lima and talk about democracy, being framed as a drug dealer, and rebuilding her life and political career.

Plus there are books (including the new Helen Garner), television, film, birdwatching, a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons… all the distractions you might be seeking for a long hot summer. Take your time.

Read The Saturday Paper while sipping from our ceramic mug, made in collaboration with local illustrator Celeste Mountjoy aka “Filthyratbag”.

The November issue of The Monthly is full of writing that considers the kinds of communities – cultural, technological, political and social – that we build around ourselves, and the successes and failures in how they operate and serve us. The cover essay comes from Anna Krien, who is considering the odd case of the digital frontier: once loaded with promise and hope for a more connected future; now the home of dislocation and isolation. Krien takes in a generation’s worth of predictions and analysis, asking what we’ve lost in our willingness to subjugate our entire lives to the devices in our hands.

Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci famously observed: “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” In our politics, our technology, the planet’s very climate, we often find ourselves stuck between the old world and the new. While this liminal space may give us monsters, our hope is that it can also be a breeding ground for great art, for ideas and conversations, for meaningful journalism.

In our September cover essay, Stan Grant unpacks the story of America: its promise, its self-belief and, to his mind, its collapse. In a wide-ranging reimagining, Stan tackles the self-serving lies of national exceptionalism that underpin the Trump/Harris showdown, and reckons with what the rhetoric of the Great American Experiment means, and what it might mean if it has already failed.

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The news that, after more than 14 years of public overtures and backroom negotiations, Julian Assange was finally to be freed and sent home to Australia felt not just momentous but like the end of an unhappy chapter for our notions of public speech and journalistic freedoms. It was an impression bolstered by the alacrity with which our lawmakers publicly celebrated the outcome: prime ministers past and present, attorneys-general and other ministers lined up to herald this as a consequential moment. In the August issue of The Monthly, we consider the question of how earnt that feeling might be, from two distinct but parallel perspectives. Kieran Pender looks as the fortunes of whistleblowers and whistleblowing laws under the Albanese government, while Malcolm Knox asks whether lovers of serious journalism have cause for confidence about what comes next.

This July, The Monthly has the context and the inside word on recent movement at News Corp Australia. The arrival at the Holt St offices of executives Lachlan Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks signalled that the much-anticipated cutbacks were imminent. As the company moves to its post-Rupert era, Jonathan Green considers what the changes signal about a shift in culture at the media behemoth, and the ways in which they reinforce business as usual.

The June issue of The Monthly is full of smart, urgent essays that speak to the current moment: Laura Tingle on the failures of civility in public discourse; Katherine Wilson on a story about intimidation, surveillance and standover tactics in the fight over NSW’s forests; and for our cover story, Kate Manne writes about the future of misogyny in the aftermath of the Bondi Junction attack.

The May edition of The Monthly is here, and it brings with it groundbreaking essays from two of Australia’s most respected writers, illuminating the dark corners of environmental and energy politics that have plagued industry and poisoned public discourse.

The April issue of The Monthly is on newsstands, featuring Sean Kelly on how Scott Morrison changed our politics, Rebecca Huntley on what the gender pay gap really means, and Russell Marks on whether public hospitals should allow patients to pay for reduced waiting times, as well as Jock Serong on the remarkable story of menswear retailer Fletcher Jones and Ceridwen Spark’s profile of Samoa’s first female PM, Fiamē Mata‘afa.

Our cover story for The Monthly’s March issue, courtesy of Martin McKenzie-Murray, is a profile of the new ABC chair, Kim Williams. With the ABC facing both internal and external headwinds, is Williams the right man for the job of protecting and strengthening the national broadcaster?

The February issue is kicking the year off in style – just as 2023 began with the federal treasurer setting the economic agenda, 2024 will open with an essay from the attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, articulating a vision for restoring government integrity.

Our annual bumper Summer Reading issue is here to see you through December and January in a wide variety of thoughtful, surprising and entertaining ways.

The November issue of The Monthly hits newsstands today, and it’s packed with essays taking stock of where Australia finds itself as 2023 winds down.

In the aftermath of the Voice referendum, Daniel James and Don Watson traverse the result with two searing works of commentary.

October brings The Monthly’s annual Culture issue, celebrating and interrogating the best in arts and culture for today. It’s also a special edition that – on the eve of the referendum for the Voice to Parliament – pins our colours to the mast and shouts “Yes” from the first page.

This September, The Monthly is looking at the past for lessons, and to the future with trepidation. For the cover essay Joëlle Gergis presents grim prognostications about the upcoming summer, while George Megalogenis reads the tea-leaves on the Voice referendum, Shane Danielsen makes sense of the rise of AI on our screens, and Jackson Ryan investigates how one university has dealt with allegations of research misconduct.

The August issue of The Monthly is here, with multiple questions occupying its writers around the function and disfunction of our major institutions. Judith Brett, one of the country’s most astute observers of politics and Australian public life, delivers a cover story that unpacks the whole sordid PwC affair, and what it tells us about the outsourcing of government, of responsibility and of character. There’s also a major essay from Claire Connelly about what we need next from the Reserve Bank of Australia, and how reducing its level of influence in economic policy may be a damaging miscalculation.

At the heart of the July issue of The Monthly is two major essays on the voice to parliament. Patrick Dodson, the Grandfather of Reconciliation, shares his account of a life’s work fighting for recognition and justice leading up to the referendum later this year. It’s a singular, powerful treatise on why the nation needs to vote “Yes” to move forward. And Richard Flanagan, one of our finest novelists, explores why the symbolism of the vote – often cited as a sign of its inconsequential nature – is vitally important for being able to tell authentic, meaningful stories about who we are as a country. The pair of essays make this edition of the magazine essential reading.

The June issue of The Monthly marks the magazine’s 200th edition, exemplifying why the nation’s only magazine dedicated to politics, society and culture has become an indispensable part of our conversation and our landscape.

Its lead essay is by Sean Kelly, who turns his analytical eye to the Albanese government's first year in office. In the words of Paul Keating back in 1996, “When you change the government, you change the country,” but has Labor’s return to power been matched by the shift that it promised?

The May issue of The Monthly features a magnificent piece of writing: long-form journalism at its very best. Sarah Krasnostein turns her considerable skills to unfurling the story of Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train, and the circumstances and beliefs that led them to kill two police officers, a neighbour, and ultimately themselves on their property in Wieambilla, Queensland late last year.

The April issue of The Monthly takes in questions of local activity and the global arena: from politics, to business, to climate justice and beyond.

One of our finest analysts of geopolitics and foreign affairs, Hugh White, considers the challenges facing Foreign Minister Penny Wong in her portfolio, and what the AUKUS agreement means for our relationships in the region and beyond. It’s a measured, insightful and urgent analysis of where Wong is coming from and where she might go next.

There’s something about the criminally dishonest – scammers, grifters and con-artists – that makes for irresistible storytelling: the how, what, why of it all is endlessly fascinating. And the March issue of The Monthly is underpinned by three major essays that tease out some truly wild hustles and lies of recent Australian political and cultural life.

The Monthly kicks off 2023 with a February issue that sets the agenda for the year ahead: our cover story, as the nation grapples with rising cost of living and economic uncertainty, is from the federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Laying out the challenges facing us – to our economy, our society and our environment – Chalmers argues for the place of values and optimism in how we might rethink capitalism itself. It’s a major essay and one that offers singular insights into how our government is regarding the road ahead.

The most reliable indulgence over December/January – if the cricket is rained out, or the Boxing Day sales full of COVID coughs – is the extra reading time. And our annual Summer Reading double issue will get you through those long La Niña afternoons down at the beach. This year’s is an absolute bumper.

The Monthly’s November issue shows the magazine at its very best: a heady mix of considered long-form journalism, incisive political commentary and essential cultural analysis.

In an exclusive interview for the magazine, Malcolm Knox spoke with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, asking why a man whose key political attribute is consistency is attempting to make over his image.

This October, The Monthly’s traditional Culture Issue is back, and between the pressures of COVID cancellations and locked-down audiences and a change of federal government heralding promises of significant new arts policy, there’s much to discuss from across our creative sectors.

As they head to Oslo to accept the prestigious International Ibsen Award — theatre’s Nobel Prize — Geelong-based Back to Back Theatre are arguably Australia’s greatest cultural export. Alison Croggon joins them on the journey.

The 47th parliament is well and truly under way, and it’s already possible to see key parts of the new government’s agenda taking shape. The Monthly’s September issue has a can’t-miss profile of the newly minted Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, written by the incomparable Chloe Hooper. Plibersek is one of the most recognisable members of the new government, so what does her new posting say about how the battle for our climate-ravaged country might play out.

As winter drags on and the rain continues to fall, eyes are not just on the skies but also on parts of the country that are still recovering from the last one-in-100-years event. When the floodwaters subside, when the decisions are made about whether to rebuild or rethink, we can be too often guilty of looking away and thinking the story is done. For the August issue of The Monthly, John van Tiggelen takes us to Lismore: to the human toll and the logistical quandaries of seeking higher ground in a time of climate crisis.

The recent federal election result upended Australian politics, and the July issue weighs up the implications. Don Watson looks at the challenging road ahead for the new government. George Megalogenis writes about the future of the Liberal party. And in the broad level of support for climate action Rebecca Huntley sees a way to end the climate wars. (Not so fast, writes Royce Kurmelovs, after attending the fossil-fuel industry’s annual conference.)

Following the 2022 federal election, The Monthly June issue features in-depth analysis of the result. Richard Denniss looks at the major swings and political shifts, and Lech Blaine writes about the colour and drama of the campaign trail, and the performances of candidates and leaders in key electorates.

It was billed as the trial of the century: Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe was charged over the killing of young Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker. Anna Krien was at Rolfe’s trial, and her report for the May issue of The Monthly includes stunning new revelations about events leading up to the tragic killing.

There’s a new wave of independent candidates and they threaten to upend Australian federal politics. Margaret Simons meets the most prominent of them, and surveys their policies and prospects for the upcoming election.

One of Australia’s most acclaimed longform journalists, Chloe Hooper, profiles one of Australia’s most intriguing and controversial politicians, Senator Jacqui Lambie. In the lead-up to the federal election, we survey Australia’s overheated real estate market and examine the litany of COVID-related government failures in the aged-care sector.