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Non-Essential Work (Omar Sakr, UQP) 

Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Omar Sakr’s work is polished to a razor-sharp point in his third poetry collection. As expected, Non-Essential Work contends with notions around identities outside the white and heteronormative. But rather...

West Side Honey (Claire Christian, Text) 

Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Claire Christian’s novel West Side Honey serves up everything you’d want from a bingeable, indulgent rom-com, all the while remaining original and exciting. When she and her ex-husband start a...

Between You and Me (Joanna Horton, Ultimo) 

Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Numerous authors have invited comparisons to Sally Rooney, and Between You and Me undoubtedly will too. Similar to Frances and Bobbi in Rooney’s breakthrough debut Conversations with Friends, 25-year-old best...

Books in the media this weekend: 18–19 February 

Friday, 17 February 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National The Saturday Paper  Credo: Selected essays (Imants Tillers, Giramondo)  O'Leary of the Underworld (Kate...

Crushing (Genevieve Novak, HarperCollins) 

Tuesday, 14 February 2023
After being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of five years, Marnie finds herself alone for the first time in her adult life. As a self-professed serial girlfriend, the 28-year-old Melburnian...

Books in the media this weekend, 11–12 February 

Friday, 10 February 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National The Saturday Paper  A Country of Eternal Light (Paul Dalgarno, Fourth Estate) The Matchmaker...

Gigorou (Sasha Kutabah Sarago, Pantera) 

Thursday, 9 February 2023
As women our identity and self-worth is often defined and limited by our understanding of beauty. Gigorou is a reverent and awe-inspiring foray into memoir. It is the personal genre...

Thirst for Salt (Madelaine Lucas, A&U) 

Tuesday, 7 February 2023
Madelaine Lucas’s debut novel opens with the unnamed female narrator, now 37 years old, recalling a past lover. Twenty-four years old at the time and holidaying with her mother, the...

The Half Brother (Christine Keighery, Ultimo) 

Tuesday, 7 February 2023
Psychological thriller The Half Brother is the first adult novel by Christine Keighery, a prolific author of children’s and young adult books. The novel opens with alternating chapters from the...

The Anniversary (Stephanie Bishop, Hachette) 

Tuesday, 7 February 2023
The Anniversary is a book that’s hard to describe: the writing is quiet, meandering, full of thoughts on art and the act of creative expression. And yet, it is also...

The Last Daughter (Brenda Matthews, Text) 

Tuesday, 7 February 2023
The Last Daughter might be one of the most important books an Australian could read. In particular, it counteracts misconceptions and disinformation about the Stolen Generations. Brenda Matthews, proud Wiradjuri...

Books in the media this weekend, 4–5 February 

Friday, 3 February 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National The Saturday Paper  Is Mother Dead (Vigdis Hjorth, Verso)  The Passion of Private White...

The Quiet and the Loud (Helena Fox, Pan) 

Tuesday, 31 January 2023
Helena Fox, author of award-winning debut How It Feels to Float, returns with another powerful, heart-tugging YA novel. Nine years after her dad disappeared under the lake, 18-year-old George is...

Return to Valetto (Dominic Smith, A&U) 

Tuesday, 24 January 2023
This is the sixth novel from Australian-American author Dominic Smith, perhaps best known locally for his 2017 ABIA-winning novel The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. The fictional Valetto, in...

The God of No Good (Sita Walker, Ultimo) 

Tuesday, 24 January 2023
The memoir of Brisbane schoolteacher Sita Walker begins with divorce papers and a side of vanilla custard slice. But there are much more pressing things on Walker’s mind than the...

Nightbirds (Kate J Armstrong, A&U Children’s) 

Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Magic is illegal in Simta, punishable by death, but that does not mean it does not exist. Matilde, Æsa, and Sayer are nightbirds: privileged girls who have the ability to...

Books in the media this weekend, 28–29 January 

Tuesday, 24 January 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National  The Saturday Paper  Bad Cree (Jessica Johnson, Scribe)  Little Plum (Laura McPhee-Browne, Text)  Too...

Books in the media this weekend, 21–22 January 

Friday, 20 January 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper  Abandon Every Hope (Hayley Singer, Upswell)  All the Rage (Paulie Stewart,...

Children of Tomorrow (J R Burgmann, Upswell) 

Tuesday, 17 January 2023
J R Burgmann’s debut novel is an intergenerational story that foresees a century of environmental devastation. We begin in the present day, when one of our protagonists, Arne, bears witness...

One Illumined Thread (Sally Colin-James, Fourth Estate) 

Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Fans of Sarah Winman and Pip Williams will love Sally Colin-James’s debut novel One Illumined Thread, an intriguing story of three women separated by centuries yet inextricably connected by their...

Books in the media this weekend,14–15 January 

Friday, 13 January 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  ACT The Canberra Times  Art is Life (Jerry Saltz, Ilex Press) The Complete Guide to...

Dark Mode (Ashley Kalagian Blunt, Ultimo) 

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Dark Mode opens with the graphic discovery of a woman disturbingly murdered in the same way as the infamous, unsolved case of the Black Dahlia. Also disturbing for Reagan Carsen,...