The World According to Monsanto was reviewed in this weekend's Sydney Morning Herald by John Newton. Unfortunately it's not online, but here's a sample:

"How curious that the publication in Australia of The World According to Monsanto coincides with the announcement of field trials of 11 lines of genetically modified wheat at Narrabri in NSW and Corrigin in Western Australia. Turn to chapter 11 and you'll find the heading 'Transgenic wheat: Monsanto's lost battle in North America'. The story of Monsanto and GM wheat in North America is an unusual one, according to Robin's book, because it was 'an extraordinary struggle that led to the greatest defeat ever suffered by Monsanto'. Defeat is not something that the company suffers gladly. The World According to Monsanto outlines the lengths to which it will go to avoid it. The industrial takeover of science in an age when public funding is being withdrawn is fraught with danger. Australia is not immune. And, as we've seen, Monsanto doesn't like losing. With GM wheat, is it a case of 'we failed in North America, let's try Australia'?"

Read an opinion piece highlighting our new book, The World According to Monsanto by Gene Ethics GM Bob Phelps on ABC Unleashed.

Spinifex intern Kate Page ponders why an unmarried gal like Julia doesn't support gay marriage, in our current blog.

The World According to Monsanto has been reviewed by Necia Wilden and John Lethlean in The Australian's food section, First Bite: “Not glamorous, and not a cookbook, but arguably the most important big-picture food book this year... Riveting, scary stuff.” Check out the full review here.

Listen in to ABC Melbourne or ABC local radio on Wednesday 14 July, 11am for Sandy Jeffs on the Conversation Hour. Or catch the podcast later. Sandy will also be a guest of the Melbourne Writers Festival Aug 27-Sep 5.

Gail Dines, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at Wheelock University has just released Pornland. She blogs about writing the book at the Huffington Post. Related Spinifex Press titles include Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls and Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography.

Susan Hawthorne – political scientist, author, poet and Spinifex director – has written a blog post for the Women's Media Centre about Julia Gillard and her own 'cautious optimism' about our new PM:

Julia Gillard is shaking some long-held norms however, since not only is she female, she’s also single... She is also not religious, a distinct difference from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. One doesn’t hear her speak of herself as a feminist, but many of her assumptions and actions are clearly based on an underlying feminist worldview.

Click here to read the whole article.

"Phantoms in the machine", an edited extract from The World According to Monsanto, about the introduction of GM crops in Mexico, appeared in print and online in The Age.

Melinda Tankard Reist, editor of Getting Real, appeared on the Gruen Transfer's Gruen Sessions, talking about the portrayal of women in advertising. You can watch the video on the Gruen Transfer's website.

Feminist, author and psychotherapist Betty McLellan discovers that free speech is not always fair in her new book Unspeakable. Read her blog here.