Katie Cunningham

5 days ago | theguardian.com | Katie Cunningham

I’d completely forgotten it was my little sister’s 40th birthday, so that morning I hurriedly arranged to send some flowers to her house. She died before she could receive them. My sister died at 11am and I got a text from the florist saying they’d delivered the flowers at 11.30am – how ridiculous. They must have sat on her doorstep for days. I got the call as I was walking through the doors at Emerald airport in Queensland, about to fly home to Brisbane.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Katie Cunningham

I was towards the end of a nine-week trip, travelling solo around the world. After that long abroad, I was just exhausted. So when I went to the ATM to get money out, I made a critical mistake. At home in Australia, we take the card out and then we get our cash. In Argentina, where I was, it’s the reverse – first your cash comes out, then your card. So I put my card in, got my money and just walked away, leaving my card behind.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Katie Cunningham

Pink Floyd, Queen, AC/DC and, of course, Elvis play every weekend around Australia, often to sell-out crowds. Sure, they might not be the real thing – but they’re close enough. Tribute acts – the artists who make their living performing covers of well-known musicians – are not new. But in the past few years they’ve surged in popularity – even while Australia’s live music industry has struggled – as audiences embrace nostalgia more than ever before.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Katie Cunningham

As evidence of what’s changed for the Australian hip-hop act OneFour, the group’s Jerome “J Emz” Misa points to the blue sky behind him. “Right now I’m going for a midday walk – I never used to do this back in the days!” the rapper laughs, his Zoom screen shaky as he puffs through the streets of western Sydney.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Katie Cunningham

Ever since she was a little girl, Sruthy Saseendran wanted to “achieve something remarkable” – something that would earn her a place in the record books. But growing up in what she describes as a traditional Indian family, that dream had to take a backseat to more conventional markers of success: university, marriage, career. Decades later – after she had married, become a mother and taken a job as a business analyst in Melbourne – she felt the itch return. It was time to do something for herself.