Sara Haghdoosti on ‘Sunburnt Veils’
23 February 2021
Sara Haghdoosti's debut YA novel Sunburnt Veils (Wakefield, April) follows protagonist Tara as she navigates relationships, racism and political activism during her first year of university. Reviewer Mischa Parkee said...
Drawn to writing: Rove McManus on ‘Disgusting McGrossface’
18 September 2019
Aussie television personality Rove McManus makes his foray into children’s books with picture book Disgusting McGrossface (Scholastic, September) and younger readers novel Rocky Lobstar (Scholastic, October). Kelsey Oldham spoke to...
Scaling new heights: H M Waugh on ‘The Lost Stone of SkyCity’
5 September 2019
H M Waugh’s middle-grade fantasy The Lost Stone of SkyCity (Fremantle Press, October) is set in the mountainous worlds of the Dirt and the Ice. Reviewer Catherine Moller spoke to...
Following the impulse: Anna Krien on ‘Act of Grace’
29 August 2019
Almost a decade in the making, Anna Krien’s debut novel, Act of Grace (Black Inc., October), is described by reviewer Brad Jefferies as ‘an ambitious and compelling study of trauma’....
Story you can hold: Tyson Yunkaporta on ‘Sand Talk’
21 August 2019
In Sand Talk (Text, September), researcher and arts critic Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from an Indigenous perspective. Reviewer Karen Wyld said the book ‘offers fuel for timely discussions...
A writer’s life for me: Andrew Daddo on ‘Atticus Van Tasticus’
4 July 2019
Atticus Van Tasticus, Andrew Daddo and Stephen Michael King’s illustrated middle-grade adventure (Puffin, September), follows a 10-year-old whose grandma gifts him a pirate ship. Kelsey Oldham spoke with Daddo about...
Change maker: Sally Rugg on ‘How Powerful We Are’
19 June 2019
LGBTIQ rights activist Sally Rugg led the GetUp campaign for marriage equality for five years and is now executive director at change.org. Rugg’s first book, How Powerful We Are (Hachette,...
Meryl Halls: Creating better bookshops
19 June 2019
Meryl Halls recently became managing director of the UK Booksellers Association (BA). In June she’s in Australia to give the keynote address at the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) conference. She...
Nervous laughter: Nina Kenwood on ‘It Sounded Better in My Head’
6 June 2019
Nina Kenwood won the 2018 Text Prize for her YA debut It Sounded Better in My Head (Text, August), which follows neurotic 18-year-old Natalie as she navigates first love during...
Sharing the truth: Stephanie Wood on ‘Fake’
30 May 2019
Fake (Vintage, July) is journalist Stephanie Wood’s account of her relationship with a man who turned out to be not who he said he was, interweaved with expert opinion and...
Unlikely heroes: R W R McDonald on ‘The Nancys’
19 March 2019
R W R McDonald’s debut novel The Nancys (A&U in June) was highly commended in the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards unpublished manuscript prize. Reviewer Fiona Hardy spoke to the author...
Generational exchange: Melanie Cheng on ‘Room for a Stranger’
19 March 2019
Melanie Cheng’s debut novel Room for a Stranger (Text, May) follows the unlikely friendship between an elderly Australian woman and an international student from Hong Kong. Reviewer Carody Culver spoke...
No place like home: Kelly and Kennedy on ‘Wilam: A Birrarung Story’
19 March 2019
Aunty Joy Murphy, Andrew Kelly and Lisa Kennedy’s picture book Wilam: A Birrarung Story (Black Dog, April) follows Bunjil (wedge-tailed eagle) as he travels along Birrarung (Yarra River) to the...
How it feels to write: Helena Fox on ‘How it Feels to Float’
19 March 2019
Helena Fox’s YA debut How it Feels to Float (Pan, May) is a ‘perfect, surreal exploration of mental illness and grief’, writes reviewer Bec Kavanagh. She spoke to the author....
Written in the stars: Minnie Darke on ‘Star-crossed’
30 October 2018
Minnie Darke’s Star-crossed (Michael Joseph, March) follows an aspiring journalist who begins to tinker with her paper’s astrology section after learning that her crush consults his horoscope whenever he’s faced with making...
Bound together: Kate Richards on ‘Fusion’
30 October 2018
Kate Richards’ Fusion (Hamish Hamilton, February 2019) tells the story of conjoined twins, their carer, and an injured stranger who is brought into their isolated bush home. Reviewer Jacqui Davies described...
Gift of the Blab: An interview with Aaron Blabey
30 October 2018
Aaron Blabey is the creator of the ‘Pig the Pug’ and ‘The Bad Guys’ series. Kelsey Oldham asks the author about his success. You’re known for your prolific output, which...
A right royal romance: Emma Grey on ‘Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess’
30 October 2018
Emma Grey’s Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess (HarperCollins, December) follows an 18-year-old aspiring writer who wins a six-week internship at a top London PR firm, and somehow gets wrapped...
Stretching the truth: Jack Heath on ‘The Truth App’
30 August 2018
The Truth App (Scholastic, September) is the first book in YA author Jack Heath’s five-book junior-fiction series 'Liars', described by reviewer Heath Graham as a ‘non-stop action-adventure ride’ for readers who want ‘techno-thrillers...
Telling tales: Moreno Giovannoni on ‘The Fireflies of Autumn’
31 May 2018
Moreno Giovannoni’s The Fireflies of Autumn (Black Inc., July) is a collection of loosely connected short stories, describing life in the Tuscan village of San Ginese. ‘[It] reads like top-notch...
World class: Jeremy Lachlan on ‘Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds’
31 May 2018
Jeremy Lachlan’s middle-grade adventure Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds (Hardie Grant Egmont, August) is ‘a thrilling story set in a universe made up of multiple worlds’ that features...
Kaleidoscopic views: Emily Gale on ‘I Am Out with Lanterns’
31 May 2018
Emily Gale’s I Am Out with Lanterns (Random House, August) intertwines the points of view of several teenagers to create a story that is ‘nuanced, complex and thoroughly devourable’, writes Jordi...
In somebody else’s shoes: Australian Children’s Laureate Morris Gleitzman’s plans for his term
19 April 2018
Prolific children’s author Morris Gleitzman has been chosen as the Australian Children’s Laureate. He spoke with Sarah Farquharson about his plans for his two-year term as laureate. What are you...
Memory trick: Margot McGovern on ‘Neverland’
13 April 2018
Debut author Margot McGovern was inspired by her favourite childhood reads to create Neverland (Random House, April), ‘a dark and compelling examination of memory, self-determination and the dangers of romanticising...
Clued up: Jacqueline Harvey on ‘Breaking News: Kensy and Max Book One’
1 March 2018
‘Alice-Miranda’ and ‘Clementine Rose’ author Jacqueline Harvey assembles a world of espionage and mystery in Breaking News: Kensy and Max Book One (Random House, March), which reviewer Natalie Crawford says...
Flight of fantasy: Tracy Sorensen on ‘The Lucky Galah’
23 October 2017
Tracy Sorensen’s The Lucky Galah (Picador, March) recounts the lives of ordinary Australians from the 1960s until the 2000s, as narrated by a galah called Lucky. The conceit is handled...
From the heart: Shivaun Plozza on ‘Tin Heart’
23 October 2017
In her second YA novel Tin Heart (Penguin, March), Shivaun Plozza tells the story of a teenage girl who undergoes an organ transplant. The book ‘cements Plozza as a writer with...
Off-course navigation: Claire Christian on ‘Beautiful Mess’
5 July 2017
Claire Christian’s 2016 Text Prize winner Beautiful Mess (Text, September) is about two misfits who help each other through the raw pain of adolescence. Reviewer Angela Crocombe spoke to the...
The Fictional Dimension: Bram Presser on ‘The Book of Dirt’
29 June 2017
Bram Presser’s The Book of Dirt (Text, September) is ‘a remarkable tale of Holocaust survival, love and genealogical sleuthing by a grandson intent on finding the truth about his grandparents’...
Quiet Magic: Emily Rodda on ‘The Shop at Hoopers Bend’
11 May 2017
Emily Rodda’s latest novel The Shop at Hoopers Bend is a return to the author’s earlier books, where the magic is ‘about following your instincts’ rather than fantasy realms. Fay...
