Australian authors recommend
We asked Australian creators to share a recent book they have read and loved – and why.
Newly minted Miles Franklin winner Siang Lu is ready to build up your reading pile. His novel Ghost Cities (UQP) is described by the Miles Franklin judging panel as ‘shimmering with satire and wisdom, and with an absurdist bravura’ and a ‘genuine landmark in Australian literature’. Lu shares his recommendations:
I’m reading Raeden Richardson’s The Degenerates (Text, 2024), which was longlisted for both the Miles Franklin and the ALS Gold Medal this year. It’s an ambitious work of literary fiction that, among other things, strives to honour all the author’s geographies. There were many moments, reading its lines and characters, in which I recognised some artistic impulse of my own reflected back. Wonderful to read a book that makes you want to write.
Beloved author and past Australian Children’s Laureate Jackie French is best-known for her beloved Diary of a Wombat (illus by Bruce Whatley, HarperCollins), as well as its recent sequel, Diary of a Rescued Wombat (illus by Bruce Whatley, HarperCollins, 2022). Her most recent title is a middle-grade historical fiction, Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger (HarperCollins, 2024). French recommends:
Living Art: Indonesian Artists Engage Politics, Society and History edited by Virginia Hooker [along with Elly Kent and Caroline Turner]. I’m reading it because I’m not good at digesting two-dimensional images, i.e., most art. That is possibly from dyslexia – at art exhibitions, I absorb maybe three artworks closely and never lose them from my mind, and then I don’t remember any others. (I don’t forget a landscape or a topographic map, but a street map is just a set of wriggly lines.) Virginia sees politics, society and history in an extraordinarily vast range of art. Through her words, I can finally see and understand it, too.
Jessica Stanley’s Consider Yourself Kissed (Text) has seen worldwide acclaim, called ‘oh-so-relatable’ by NPR, ‘charming and intelligent’ by Publishers Weekly, and ‘a lovable, compelling novel’ by our own B+P reviewers. So, what does Stanley recommend?
I’m reading a book about psychotherapy called The Talking Cure (Gill Straker & Jacqui Winship), published by Macmillan in 2019. One of the authors has a therapy podcast I’m obsessed with, called Three Associating. (I started training as a therapist a while ago, but it’s on hold for now.) I also just read Six Square Metres: Reflections from a Small Garden by Margaret Simons (Scribe, 2015) because I wanted something gentle and Helen Garner said in the Saturday Paper that it ‘heartened’ her ‘with its radiant pragmatism’. Novel-wise, I’ve just started re-reading Alex Miller’s Autumn Laing (A&U, 2014) – I want to see how he draws from the lives of Sunday Reed and Sidney Nolan to create his real-feeling fiction.
Emma Pei Yin’s recent debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake (Hachette, 2025), is described as a ‘an immersive and compelling read’ by B+P. Yin is, herself, a reviewer with us! She shares her recommendations:
The most memorable Australian fiction I read in the last few years is Hannah Bent’s When Things Are Alive They Hum (Ultimo, 2022). It will always be a favourite of mine, and I encourage you to read it if you haven’t already.
Australian books on my TBR that I’m most excited about are Madeleine Cleary’s The Butterfly Women (Affirm, 2025) and Toni Jordan’s Tenderfoot (Hachette, 2025).
One of the launch titles of new publishing initiative Pink Shorts Press, Olivia De Zilva’s autofiction debut, Plastic Budgie (2025), is described as ‘bold, bright and steeped in complicated nostalgia’. De Zilva recommends two titles:
Cher Tan’s Peripathetic: Notes on (Un)belonging (NewSouth, 2024). I’ve worked with Cher before and have been a fan of her writing for a long time. Cher was really one of the first people who encouraged me to be experimental. I loved the book because of how incisive, funny, deeply personal and smart it was. Cher profoundly touched upon ways of resistance – against whiteness, capitalism, patriarchy, hegemony and authenticity. I liked the mix of theory and criticism intertwined with the author’s own lived experience and anxieties. I really related to the work because of the provocation of belonging, which is something that I write about a lot in Plastic Budgie. What really makes us belong to a place?
I also really loved Theory & Practice (Text, 2024) by Michelle de Kretser, which recently won the 2025 Stella Prize! This book was an immaculate piece of non-literature. I liked the way that de Kretser rejected conventional structure and simply wrote a story with exposed stitching and roots. Like Cher’s book, I enjoyed the contrast between the highly theoretical concepts and deeply personal vignettes. The construction of female identity – especially from marginalised backgrounds – is never easy or clear-cut. There is a lot of heat and stickiness, trial and error, itching and bursting, and I thought that de Kretser captured this so perfectly. I was really inspired by her work and am loving seeing people embrace the weird and wonderful in writing rather than what society expects people of diverse backgrounds to write.
Jasmin McGaughey is an award-winning writer and rising star in Australian letters, collaborating with Ash Barty on the Little Ash books, editing the groundbreaking poetry anthology Words to Sing the World Alive (UQP. 2024), and recently releasing her first YA novel, Moonlight and Dust (A&U Children’s, 2025). She shares her recommendations:
I’m currently reading the First Nations Classics out with UQP, and I’ve been loving every book from the series. There are about 16 books published, with four more coming in the middle of the year. I’ve particularly loved Heat and Light (2014) by Ellen van Neerven and Blood (2011) by Tony Birch.
Also for young adult readers, Sophie Clark’s Cruel Is the Light (Penguin, 2025) was described by a B+P reviewer as ‘a fast-paced, alluring fantasy with immersive world-building, political intrigue and a sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance worthy of travelling to the depths of hell to save’. Clark joined us to recommend:
Dark Heir by CS Pacat (A&U Children’s, 2023)! I blame the brilliance of that book for the world-class reading slump I’ve been in for much of this year. It was quite simply everything I could have wanted from a YA fantasy. Incredible world-building and all the twists, turns and delicious interpersonal tension one could wish for. And characters you would go to battle for. All things I love.
Her first book, Love & Virtue (Ultimo, 2021), won the 2022 MUD Literary Prize and the ABIA Book of the Year; Diana Reid’s third book, Signs of Damage (Ultimo, 2025), was described as ‘an engrossing, meticulously crafted drama’. She shares her recommendation:
I was completely engrossed by Emily Maguire’s Rapture (A&U, 2024): it’s immersive, visceral and thrillingly original.
Scriptwriter and author Thomas Vowles released his first novel, Our New Gods, with UQP this year. His novel follows the turns – and potentially sinister twists – of a love affair between Ash and the charismatic James. Our reviewer said, ‘Think The Talented Mr Ripley with touches of Christos Tsiolkas’. Vowles recommends:
Losing Face by George Haddad (UQP, 2022). He knows something about the complicated nature of the human soul. I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Fiona Hardy is a bookseller, a children’s writer and, most recently, a crime writer. Her latest novel, Unbury the Dead (Affirm, 2025), is a gritty, dryly funny Australian noir, with our reviewer particularly noting Hardy’s touch for ‘sharp, natural dialogue […], making even the darkest moments crackle with life’. In a move common with booksellers, Hardy couldn’t limit herself to one recommendation:
Honestly, I think Australian fiction is the strongest out there. This country has amazing writers, and I’ll almost always try to pick out an Australian to read, not out of patriotic loyalty, but just because the quality is so high. I know we’re talking about crime books here, but I recently read and loved Judith Rossell’s entertaining and very aesthetically pleasing (and award-winning) middle-fiction book The Midwatch (HGCP, 2024).
I also raced through Emma Lord’s YA book Anomaly (Affirm, 2024), despite not reading much in the way of post-apocalyptic fiction in general. As far as crime goes, I really loved Kate Kemp’s The Grapevine (Hachette, 2025) and Zane Lovitt’s The Body Next Door (Text, 2025) – both set in suburban streets where a crime has taken place and the residents are on the case, but otherwise completely different and both absolutely riveting.
Speaking of Kate Kemp, she has also shared some recommendations with us. Her latest novel, the ‘viscerally real’ The Grapevine (Hachette, 2025), is a historical mystery set in Canberra. She shares a recent favourite:
I recently read and loved The Wakes by Dianne Yarwood (Hachette, 2023). I am instantly drawn to books about women reinventing themselves at various ages. This book is a wonderful exploration of re-evaluating our relationship with hope and possibility in the midst of loss and the ongoing demands of work and family life. It’s also an excellent portrayal of Australian suburban life, and there’s so much food. Food is such a great way to deepen our understanding of people, relationships and culture.
The Grandest Bookshop in the World and its sequels (Affirm Kids) have been a fantastic success story for Australian children’s writing. Author Amelia Mellor follows up her historical middle-grade series with a new fantasy series, starting with The Wicked Ship (Affirm Kids, 2025), a ‘fast-paced adventure’ sure to draw in reluctant readers. Mellor shares a recommendation:
An in-joke with my sister recently led me to revisit Odo Hirsch’s Bartlett and the Ice Voyage (A&U Children’s, 1998), an audiobook we once listened to on a road trip as kids. The story is refreshingly straightforward: a plucky explorer has to find a way to bring a fast-perishing tropical fruit to an impatient queen. The writing is vivid and gently humorous, and the folktale-like adventure flows seamlessly. It made me wish for more kids’ books like it!
Staying in children’s literature for a moment, Melissa Garside’s Lexie Moon and the Word Burgling Bungle (Riveted Press, 2025) is a reviewer favourite for its high stakes, humour, short chapters, and great twist. Garside shares another recommendation suitable for younger readers:
I recently read Lights Out, Little Dragon by Debra Tidball and illustrated by Rae Tan (HarperCollins, 2024). Debra and Rae have created a delightfully humorous and beautifully illustrated picture book. I was instantly drawn into the story and loved the interactive aspects of the book – the reader is called upon to help get the cheeky little dragon ready for bed. Children will love it, too, and I’m sure it will be in high demand at bedtimes everywhere. It is the perfect book for little ones who struggle with going to bed, and I can’t wait to share it with two little dragons in my own family.
Another author who couldn’t stick to recommending one title is Sophie Beer, author of Thunderhead (A&U Children’s, 2024), a ‘warm-hearted’ debut novel that includes ‘an awesome playlist of songs from a range of genres and generations’ in each chapter, as our reviewer notes. Beer says:
Oh, this is too difficult! Can I break it down into different genres?
Adult: Because I’m Not Myself, You See (Black Inc., 2024) by Ariane Beeston is a heartbreaking, unputdownable story of Ariane’s experience with perinatal psychosis.
Young adult: Erin Gough’s amazing, long-awaited follow-up to Amelia Westlake (HGCP, 2018), Into the Mouth of the Wolf (HGCP, 2024).
Middle-grade: This Camp Is Doomed (Puffin, 2023) by Anna Zobel. Spookiness and laugh-out-loud humour mixed together so deftly.
Junior fiction: The Hello Twigs (HGCP, 2023) series by Andrew McDonald and Ben Wood. My 3-year-old is obsessed with them, and I do an air punch every time he asks for them.
Picture book: Bernie Thinks in Boxes (Affirm Kids, 2024) by Jess Horn and Zoe Bennett. A beautiful, gentle story about neurodivergence.
Also recommending a memoir is Laura Elvery. Elvery’s latest novel, Nightingale (UQP, 2025), is a historical reimagining of Florence Nightingale’s story, told in three parts in ‘elegant, moving prose’. Elvery recommends:
Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine (Black Inc., 2024) – a book that is completely fascinating, heartbreaking, measured and fair. There’s a pace and a clarity in Lech’s writing that is so refreshing.
Continuing with narratives around strong women, Outrageous Fortunes by Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex (La Trobe, 2025) follows Mary Fortune, ‘one of Australia’s most prolific – if often overlooked – woman crime writers’ and her criminal son George in a ‘deeply researched portrait’. Sussex recommends:
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville (Text, 2024), which captures the female Australian voice and experience so well – just like Mary Fortune.
And Brown recommends:
Natasha Lester’s The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard (Hachette, 2023). I really enjoyed it because it weaves fact and fiction together, but not in a forced way or in a way that tries to create an alternative history. Lester used history as a prop around which to weave her story. I thought she skilfully wove the three threads of the story together, which is quite difficult. I also enjoy a mystery, and it doesn’t always have to involve a detective or a murder!
Ali Gripper’s Saltwater Cure (Murdoch, 2024) ‘blends interviews with narrative and excerpts from memoirs’ in ‘captivating, bite-sized insights into the lives of some amazing Australians’, and our reviewer called it ‘vivid and engaging, effortlessly drawing the reader to the shore’. Gripper shares a recommendation with us:
I am completely enthralled by Nadia Wheatley’s The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift (HarperCollins, 2002). It’s a true labour of love, brilliantly written and researched, and introduces new generations of readers like me to Charmian’s extraordinary talents as a writer. Wheatley’s descriptions of Greece are so evocative they’ve inspired me to travel there with my partner to see where Charmian lived and worked with such a sense of purpose.
Finally, because it’s important to end happily, we asked Karina May, author of That Island Feeling (Macmillan, 2025), ‘a swoon-worthy rom-com and a story that grapples with reality’, what she recommends. This is what she said:
The best rom-com I’ve read this year is The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood (Text, 2024). It’s everything I’d want in a romcom – addictive, delightful, and featuring New York. I was also lucky enough to get a sneak preview of Amy Matthews’ (Someone Else’s Bucket List, S&S, 2024) new uplifting romance, Best, First and Last (S&S, 2025). It’s set in Peru, and is a beautifully vivid, adventurous, and messy story about love in all its forms. I’m also looking forward to being whisked away to Venice in Jenna Lo Bianco’s new Italian romp, Venetian Lessons in Love (Macmillan, 2024). Notice my very on-brand travel theme here!
Pictured (left–right): Jackie French and Siang Lu.
Category: Think Australian feature
