Description

Book Synopsis
Celebrated playwright, author and screenwriter Louis Nowra loves King Cross. A long-time resident, he makes us reimagine the most infamous and misunderstood place in Australia, a magnet for bohemianism, cosmopolitanism and organised crime.

In a wildly energetic book that walks the streets, sits in bars, chats with the locals, and spends time in clubs and apartments where you wish the walls could talk, Nowra traverses the history and the future of his beloved neighbourhood. He burrows beneath the sensationalist Underbelly ‘sex and sin’ narrative, revealing stories and a cast of characters – some household names, others little-known – that not even a writer could conjure up.

Kings Cross is a no-holds barred place where backpackers, prostitutes, strippers, chefs, mad men, poets, beggars, booksellers, doctors, gangsters, sailors, musicians, drug traffickers, eccentrics, judges and artists live side by side. Part flâneur, part historian and part eyewitness, Louis Nowra is the best possible guide to a place that is both real and a state of mind.

Kings Cross: a biography

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    A Paperback / softback by Louis Nowra

    £17.95

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    RRP £19.95 – you save £2.00 (10%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Thu 22 Oct 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher NewSouth Publishing
      Published 1 October 2013
      ISBN-13 9781742233260
      978-1742233260
      ISBN-10 1742233260
      Also in:
      Cultural studies Travel writing

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Celebrated playwright, author and screenwriter Louis Nowra loves King Cross. A long-time resident, he makes us reimagine the most infamous and misunderstood place in Australia, a magnet for bohemianism, cosmopolitanism and organised crime.

      In a wildly energetic book that walks the streets, sits in bars, chats with the locals, and spends time in clubs and apartments where you wish the walls could talk, Nowra traverses the history and the future of his beloved neighbourhood. He burrows beneath the sensationalist Underbelly ‘sex and sin’ narrative, revealing stories and a cast of characters – some household names, others little-known – that not even a writer could conjure up.

      Kings Cross is a no-holds barred place where backpackers, prostitutes, strippers, chefs, mad men, poets, beggars, booksellers, doctors, gangsters, sailors, musicians, drug traffickers, eccentrics, judges and artists live side by side. Part flâneur, part historian and part eyewitness, Louis Nowra is the best possible guide to a place that is both real and a state of mind.

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