Touch Grass (Mary Colussi, Penguin)
Fiction
Released June 2026, reviewed by Danielle Bagnato.
Mary Colussi’s debut novel, Touch Grass, is the sharp and inventive winner of the 2025 Penguin Literary Prize. This work of speculative...
Where the Heart Is (Shirley Marr, illus Michael Speechley, Walker)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2026, reviewed by Joy Lawn.
In Where the Heart Is, Shirley Marr (Countdown to Yesterday) (with illustrations by Michael Speechley) crafts a wistful picture book...
What’s That Splat? (Johanna Bell, illus Amelia Luscombe, Thames & Hudson)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2026, reviewed by Thuy On.
What’s That Splat? is the picture-book equivalent of the famous Rorschach test – the psychological assessment that analyses a person’s...
Detention (Ralph Jackman, A&U)
Nonfiction
Released June 2026, reviewed by Gabby Spina.
Detention is a powerful memoir about Australia’s youth detention system, told from the perspective of a rookie teacher and his...
The Palace of Lost Virtue (Anthea Hodgson, Penguin)
Fiction
Released June 2026, reviewed by Katy Briggs.
In The Palace of Lost Virtue, Anthea Hodgson follows her bestselling novel The War Nurses with a stirring work of...
Song of the Shadow of a Seed (Luisa Mitchell, Fremantle)
Poetry
Released June 2026, reviewed by A Yang.
For Whadjuk Nyungar writer Luisa Mitchell, seeds represent the longevity of the past and sustainability of the future. From seeds...
Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would Be King (Heroes in the Ancient World #1) (Jackie French, Angus & Robertson)
Younger readers
Released June 2026, reviewed by Kathryn Wheaton Grierson.
Bestselling author and historian Jackie French (Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger) tackles the question of what the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra...
Over to You (Georgie Tunny, A&U)
Fiction
Released June 2026, reviewed by Lisandra Linde.
In her emotionally turbulent debut, Over to You, Georgie Tunny captures the highs and lows of working in television news....
Deprivation (Roy V Marshan, New Dawn)
Fiction
Released June 2026, reviewed by Stefen Brazulaitis.
In Deprivation, Roy V Marshan explores cannibalism as a feature of late-stage capitalism. In the 1973 film Soylent Green, cannibalism...
Geigi the Stubborn Boy (Elliot Passi & Michael Passi, illus Elliot Passi, ILF)
Children’s picture book
Released June 2026, reviewed by Thuy On.
In Geigi the Stubborn Boy, Torres Strait Islander authors Elliot and Michael Passi (with illustrations by Elliot Passi) draw on...
Kid (Peter Carnavas, UQP)
Younger readers
Released June 2026, reviewed by Lian Hingee.
Award-winning author Peter Carnavas is something of a master of timeless children’s novels full of heart and gentle lessons about...
Possible Springs (Samantha Ross, Penguin)
Fiction
Released June 2026, reviewed by Tara Lee.
In Possible Springs, Samantha Ross blends magical realism with rural noir in Australia across the late 1980s and 1990s. The...
How to Raise Rich Kids: Build Lasting Wealth for Your Children (Sarah Megginson, Pantera)
Nonfiction
Released June 2026, reviewed by Andrea Kress.
Sarah Megginson’s How to Raise Rich Kids is a practical and reassuring guide for parents who want to give their...
The Wild Unknown (Emily Gale, Text)
Younger readers
Released May 2026, reviewed by Erin Wamala.
In The Wild Unknown by Emily Gale (Outlaw Girls), the year is 2045, and Eddie’s world is completely run by...
A Single Witness (Christine Balint, Spinifex)
Fiction
Released May 2026, reviewed by Katy Briggs.
Christine Balint's gripping historical fiction, A Single Witness, is based on the true story of Anna Maria Bonon, a girl...
The Clueless Guide to Solving a Mystery (Clueless #1) (Samera Kamaleddine, illus Hykie Breeze, HarperCollins)
Younger readers
Released May 2026, reviewed by M H Alessandrino.
In The Clueless Guide to Solving a Mystery, the first instalment in the Clueless series, Samera Kamaleddine (The Sideways Orbit...
The Secrets of Strangers (Jess Kitching, S&S)
Fiction
Released May 2026, reviewed by Kate Frawley.
Despite brimming with suspects, lies and a cast of clichéd small-town characters, The Secrets of Strangers by Jess Kitching (The...
The Attention Recovery Plan: How to Win the Battle for Focus in a World Built to Break It (David Gillespie, Macmillan)
Nonfiction
Released May 2026, reviewed by Jess Lomas.
David Gillespie (Sweet Poison, Toxic at Work) has built a reputation for distilling complex research into clear, useful guidance. His latest...
You’re Welcome!: A Baking Celebration with a Southeast Asian Twist (Raymond Tan & Audrey Payne, Murdoch)
Nonfiction
Released May 2026, reviewed by Jess Lomas.
Raymond Tan and Audrey Payne’s You’re Welcome!: A Baking Celebration with a Southeast Asian Twist is a joyful, generous cookbook...
My Wonderful Disgrace (Angourie Rice & Kate Rice, Walker)
Young adult
Released May 2026, reviewed by Abbey Taylor.
My Wonderful Disgrace by Angourie Rice and Kate Rice (Stuck Up & Stupid) is a darkly comic tale of misjudgements...
