Traversing anarchist collectives and experiments in autonomous living, political protest and DIY activism, Max Easton’s third novel continues his thirty-year portrait of working-class life in subcultures and music scenes, exploring intergenerational political solidarity, and the ever-present risk of disillusionment under the heavy hand of the state. Now, Autonomy is a novel about the echoes of the past in the present; about the way in which history repeats, even if the lyrics don’t always rhyme.
Max Easton is a writer from south-west Sydney. His first novel, The Magpie Wing, was longlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award, with its acclaimed follow-up, Paradise Estate released in 2023. He is the creator of Barely Human, a zine and cassette bootleg series exploring underground music’s ties to counterculture and subculture. His writing has appeared in Mess+Noise, HEAT, Maximum Rocknroll and Sydney Review of Books.