Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Megan Rogers on ‘The Heart is a Star’ 

Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Megan Rogers' debut novel, The Heart is a Star (HarperCollins, May), centres on a middle-aged anaesthetist, Layla, who is juggling her career, family and love life when she must travel to Tasmania...

Dominic Smith on ‘Return to Valetto’

Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Return to Valetto (A&U, March) is Seattle-based Australian expat Dominic Smith's sixth novel. Set in a fictional semi-abandoned Italian town, the book excavates the town's mysteries and explores the lives of the...

True story: 2023 nonfiction preview 

Wednesday, 16 November 2022
From a multitude of memoirs to deep-dives into sex and gender, from biographies of public figures to guides on coping with an uncertain future, here's a sneak peek at some...

Novel ideas: 2023 fiction preview 

Wednesday, 9 November 2022
A new year brings a jam-packed roster of new releases showcasing the many talents of fiction writers across the country. Acquired in a ‘hotly contested’ auction, Michael Thompson’s How to...

Laura McPhee-Browne on ‘Little Plum’

Wednesday, 9 November 2022
Little Plum (Text, February) is Laura McPhee-Browne's second novel after her 2020 debut Cherry Beach. Reviewer Danielle Bagnato describes Little Plum as a sincere character study of 29-year-old protagaonist Coral, who...

Meg Foster on ‘Boundary Crossers’ 

Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Meg Foster is a historian of banditry, settler colonial and public history; her new book Boundary Crossers (NewSouth, November) explores the lives of four lesser-known Australian bushrangers. Described by reviewer...

Tracey Lien on ‘All That’s Left Unsaid’

Tuesday, 12 July 2022
Tracey Lien's debut novel All That's Left Unsaid (HQ Fiction, September) blends a murder-mystery with a 'raw and honest' exploration of the Vietnamese-Australian experience in the late 90s. Reviewer Anthea Yang, who...

Books yule love: 2022 Christmas nonfiction 

Wednesday, 29 June 2022
Books+Publishing rounds up Australian publishers’ top local adult nonfiction titles releasing in time for Christmas 2022. Memoir and biography Themes of joy, love and community run through two highly anticipated memoirs...

Books yule love: 2022 Christmas fiction 

Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Books+Publishing rounds up Australian publishers’ top local adult fiction titles releasing in time for Christmas 2022. Book club picks Among the releases due in the second half of 2022 are several...

Sophie Cunningham on ‘This Devastating Fever’

Wednesday, 15 June 2022
This Devastating Fever (Ultimo, September) is Sophie Cunningham's first novel in more than a decade. The novel interweaves the story of Leonard and Virginia Woolf and their friends in the Bloomsbury...

Claire G Coleman on ‘Enclave’

Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Described by reviewer Stefan Brazulaitis as Brave New World for the smartphone generation, Enclave (Hachette, July), Claire G Coleman's third novel, centres on a young woman who lives in the walled city...

Neela Janakiramanan on ‘The Registrar’ 

Tuesday, 10 May 2022
In her novel The Registrar (July, A&U), doctor and debut author Neela Janakiramanan looks at the many issues deeply ingrained in the healthcare system through the story of young doctor Emma...

Jennifer Pinkerton on ‘Heartland’

Wednesday, 2 March 2022
Jennifer Pinkerton's Heartland (A&U, May) is a wide-ranging survey of modern dating and relationships that addresses topics from love in lockdown and dating app usage to polyamory and pornography consumption. Reviewer...

Dominique Wilson on ‘Orphan Rock’

Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Dominique Wilson's third novel Orphan Rock (Transit Lounge, March) spans generations and continents, following the life of a young woman living in Sydney in the late 19th century. Reviewer Deborah Crabtree...

Getting in early: 2022 children’s and YA preview 

Wednesday, 17 November 2021
New novels by Lynette Noni, Zana Fraillon and Holden Sheppard are among the exciting new children's and YA books releasing next year, alongside forays into fiction for younger readers by...

Reality bites: 2022 nonfiction preview 

Wednesday, 10 November 2021
New books by Hannah Gadsby, Tom Tilley, Osman Faruqi and Kim Mahood are among next year’s most anticipated nonfiction releases. Here's a look at Australian publisher’s 2022 nonfiction titles. Memoir and...

Stories we tell: 2022 fiction preview 

Thursday, 4 November 2021
New novels from literary heavyweights Alexis Wright, Geraldine Brooks and Dervla McTiernan are among the Australian books releasing next year. Books+Publishing shares a sneak peek at Australian publishers’ 2022 fiction...

Josh Pyke & Ronojoy Ghosh on ‘Family Tree’

Tuesday, 26 October 2021
Singer–songwriter and children's book author Josh Pyke celebrates Australia's diverse and multicultural society in his latest picture book Family Tree (Scholastic, January) with illustrations by Ronojoy Ghosh. Reviewer Romi Sharp said...

Freya Blackwood on ‘The Boy and the Elephant’

Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Freya Blackwood is a Greenaway Medallist and seven-time CBCA winner whose picture books are beloved for her warm and perceptive drawings. Her latest book, The Boy and the Elephant (HarperCollins, November) is a tender, wordless picture book...

Chelsea Watego on ‘Another Day in the Colony’ 

Wednesday, 1 September 2021
Chelsea Watego is an Indigenist health humanities scholar, prolific writer and public intellectual. Her debut essay collection Another Day in the Colony (UQP, November) examines the ongoing racism faced by...

Bookselling in a pandemic: 18 months later 

Monday, 23 August 2021
Brunswick Bound manager Ellen Cregan travelled to the United States in March 2020 as part of Melbourne City of Literature’s Bookseller in Residence program. Although her trip was cut short...

Corey Tutt on ‘The First Scientists’

Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Kamilaroi STEM advocate and founder of Deadly Science Corey Tutt is the author of The First Scientists (illus by Blak Douglas, Hardie Grant, October), which explores early and contemporary First...

Jennifer Down on ‘Bodies of Light’

Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Jennifer Down's third book Bodies of Light (Text, October) follows protagonist Maggie as she reluctantly revisits a past she's fought to keep buried. Reviewer Jacqui Davies says 'despite its bleak...