Sophie Cunningham on ‘This Devastating Fever’
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’
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’
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’
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’
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...
Sue Whiting on ‘Pearly and Pig and the Great Hairy Beast’
11 January 2022
Expert worrier Pearly Woe and her pet Pig are a remarkable pair. Representatives of the Adventurologists Guild, they travel Antarctica searching for Pearly’s missing parents, in a new book for...
Josh Pyke & Ronojoy Ghosh on ‘Family Tree’
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...
Shankari Chandran on ‘Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens’
20 October 2021
Shankari Chandran's third novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens (Ultimo, January) centres on the Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home and the community fostered by the Tamil family who run it. Set...
Freya Blackwood on ‘The Boy and the Elephant’
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...
Monica McInerney on ‘Marcie Gill and the Caravan Park Cat’
8 September 2021
Marcie Gill and the Caravan Park Cat (Puffin, November) is Monica McInerney's first book for children. Set in South Australia, it follows Marcie Gill as she tackles family troubles with...
Chelsea Watego on ‘Another Day in the Colony’
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...
Corey Tutt on ‘The First Scientists’
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...
Cat Rabbit on ‘How to Make Friends: A Bear’s Guide’
4 August 2021
Cat Rabbit is a textile artist and designer based in Melbourne. In her latest picture book, How to Make Friends: A Bear's Guide (Berbay, October), Rabbit explores the struggles of...
Diana Reid on ‘Love & Virtue’
28 July 2021
Diana Reid's debut novel Love & Virtue (Ultimo, October) explores feminism, power and sex through the lives of two young women at an Australian university. Reviewer Georgia Brough calls Love &...
Annie Raser-Rowland on ‘Let’s Eat Weeds!’
20 July 2021
Annie Raser-Rowland is a Melbourne-based horticulturalist and artist. She is the co-author (with Adam Grubb) of Let's Eat Weeds (Scribble, September), a guidebook for young readers on which weeds are...
Max Easton on ‘The Magpie Wing’
14 July 2021
The Magpie Wing (Giramondo, September) is Max Easton's first book of fiction. Set in western Sydney, the novel follows the relationships between three young adults as they explore subcultures and identities. Reviewer...
Poppy Nwosu on ‘Road Tripping with Pearl Nash’
7 July 2021
Road Tripping with Pearl Nash (Wakefield, September) is Poppy Nwosu's third romantic novel for young adults. It follows protagonist Pearl Nash on a road trip during the summer holidays before...
Annie Smithers on ‘Recipe for a Kinder Life’
22 June 2021
Chef, cookbook author and writer Annie Smithers's Recipe for a Kinder Life (Thames & Hudson, August) blends memoir, philosophy and practical tips on sustainability based on the author's experience running...
Malla Nunn on ‘Sugar Town Queens’
9 June 2021
Malla Nunn's Sugar Town Queens (A&U, August) is a young adult novel set in Sugar Town, South Africa. This coming-of-age story follows 15-year-old Amandla as she uncovers her family history and...
Zoe Deleuil on ‘The Night Village’
2 June 2021
In Zoe Deleuil's debut novel The Night Village (Fremantle Press, August), a brief relationship and an unexpected pregnancy see Australian expat Simone suddenly living with a new baby in her...
Amani Haydar on ‘The Mother Wound’
25 May 2021
Artist, writer and lawyer Amani Haydar's father murdered her mother in 2015, while Haydar was pregnant with her first child. The Mother Wound (Macmillan, July), Haydar's debut memoir, is an...
Andrew Paterson on ‘Rainfish’
11 May 2021
Andrew Paterson's debut middle-grade novel Rainfish (Text, July) won the 2020 Text Prize. Set in Far North Queensland, the book follows narrator Aaron, who breaks the law to impress an...
Sophie Overett on ‘The Rabbits’
5 May 2021
Sophie Overett's debut novel The Rabbits (Vintage, July), winner the 2020 Penguin Literary Prize, is a magic realist family saga centred around Delia Rabbit, a mother dealing with trauma from her...
Cameron Nunn on ‘Echo in the Memory’
28 April 2021
The historical YA novel Echo in the Memory (Walker, June) took author Cameron Nunn 10 years and a PhD in the history of child convicts to write. The book features...
Lisa Emanuel on ‘The Covered Wife’
20 April 2021
Lisa Emanuel's 2019 Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award–shortlisted debut The Covered Wife (Pantera, June) centres on Sarah, a lawyer whose new relationship leads to involvement with an oppressive and...
Alice Pung on ‘One Hundred Days’
7 April 2021
One Hundred Days (Black Inc., June), Alice Pung's first novel for adults, is described as a fractured fairytale about 16-year-old Karuna, who is locked in her family's housing commission flat...
Shirley Marr on ‘A Glasshouse of Stars’
31 March 2021
Perth author Shirley Marr's fourth children's book, A Glasshouse of Stars (Puffin, May), is a semi-autobiographical middle-grade novel inspired by Marr's experiences growing up as a first-generation Chinese–Australian migrant. Reviewer...
Anita Heiss on ‘Bila Yarrudangga-langdhuray’
23 March 2021
Anita Heiss's new historical novel Bila Yarrudanggalangdhuray (S&S, May), the first Australian commercial fiction release to feature the title on the cover solely in an Aboriginal language, follows protagonist Wagadhaany,...
Jacqueline Bublitz on ‘Before You Knew My Name’
16 March 2021
Jacqueline Bublitz's debut novel Before You Knew My Name (A&U, May) takes the crime fiction trope of a jogger discovering a dead body and turns it on its head. Bublitz's novel...
Krissy Kneen on ‘The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen’
10 March 2021
In Krissy Kneen's new memoir The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen (Text, May), the death of her beloved grandmother is the catalyst for the excavation of long-buried family history, taking Kneen—and the...
