Paddle Steamer Pearl (Neridah McMullin, illustrated by Jessica Corkran, NLA Publishing)
Children’s picture book
Released November 2026, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg.
Paddle Steamer Pearl, by Neridah McMullin with illustrations by Jessica Corkran, brings to vibrant, colourful life a story about a...
Inlet Bridge (SD Hinton, Transit Lounge)
Fiction
Released November 2026, reviewed by Fiona Hardy.
SD Hinton’s Inlet Bridge opens with a gripping mystery. One autumn evening in Wilsons Cove, while walking along a narrow...
Finding Justice: From Courtroom to Country (Larissa Behrendt, University of Queensland Press)
Nonfiction
Released November 2026, reviewed by Angela Meyer.
Finding Justice is a powerful work from Euahlayi author, lawyer, academic and filmmaker Larissa Behrendt (After Story) which explores questions...
Blunderbore (Sofie Laguna, illustrated by Marc McBride, Penguin)
Graphic novel
Released October 2026, reviewed by Sophie Helfgott .
Blunderbore is an immersive graphic-novel reimagining of the classic tale “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Sofie Laguna (The Underworld, When You’re...
The Life We Choose (Anthony LaPaglia, HarperCollins)
Nonfiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Anthony Morris.
Anthony LaPaglia is one of Australia’s greatest actors. With credits ranging from Lantana and Looking for Alibrandi to the lead...
The German Ward (Pip Williams, Affirm Press)
Fiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Lisandra Linde.
Pip Williams’s latest novel, The German Ward, vividly imagines life in a military hospital in Étaples during World War I....
When Sullivan Met Lola (Monica McInerney, Penguin)
Fiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Joanne Shiells.
Monica McInerney’s first adult novel in 5 years, When Sullivan Met Lola, will feel like a warm reunion for her...
Askew (Andy Jackson, Giramondo)
Poetry
Released October 2026, reviewed by George Banach-Salas.
Askew by Andy Jackson (Among the Regulars, Human Looking) is a collection of poems exploring the relationship between the disabled...
Emily: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, the Artist Who Changed Australia (Andrew Bailey, Allen & Unwin)
Nonfiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Heidi Maier.
When she died in 1996 at the age of 86, Emily Kame Kngwarreye had created almost 3,000 paintings. A senior...
Lights Out: Saving the Night Sky (Marnie Ogg, CSIRO Publishing)
Younger readers
Released October 2026, reviewed by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg.
Marnie Ogg’s Lights Out: Saving the Night Sky introduces upper-primary students to the scientific systems behind natural and artificial light,...
Under a Different Sky: Stories of Migration and Diaspora (edited by Laura Norris & RA Stephens, Rhiza Edge)
Young adult
Released October 2026, reviewed by Chloe Cook.
Under a Different Sky: Stories of Migration and Diaspora, edited by Laura Norris and RA Stephens, is a collection of...
Amazing Astro Animals (James Foley, Fremantle Press)
Younger readers
Released October 2026, reviewed by Anneliese Gates.
Amazing Astro Animals by James Foley is a middle-grade picture book that tells the true story of 60 animals that...
Hometown (Shaun Tan, Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Graphic novel
Released October 2026, reviewed by Ilona Urquhart.
The illustrious award-winning artist, writer and filmmaker Shaun Tan returns to the graphic novel form for the first time in...
The Book of the After (Rebecca Higgie, Fremantle Press)
Fiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Samantha Mylan.
The Book of the After, the second novel from Fogarty Literary Award–winning author Rebecca Higgie (The History of Mischief), is...
Simple Pleasures: Recipes to Fall in Love with Every Day (Julia Busuttil Nishimura, Plum)
Nonfiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Jess Lomas.
What does “good” home cooking look like? In Simple Pleasures: Recipes to Fall in Love with Every Day, Julia Busuttil...
My Old Man and Me: A Story of Escape, Sacrifice and Survival (Kim Huynh, ABC Books)
Nonfiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Steph Beck.
In My Old Man and Me, ABC presenter Kim Huynh reflects on caring for his father, Thiet, after a stroke...
No One’s Looking (Brooke Davis, Hachette)
Fiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Michelle Atkins.
No One’s Looking is the long-awaited new novel from Brooke Davis, author of the award-winning Lost & Found. The novel examines identity,...
Ravensbourne (Amy Coomer, Bakers Lane Books)
Young adult
Released October 2026, reviewed by Erin Wamala.
Amy Coomer’s Ravensbourne opens with the apparent promise of a murder mystery, but beneath its compelling premise is a story...
The Sky Is Concave (Majeda Awawdeh, University of Queensland Press)
Nonfiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Eman Mourad.
Majeda Awawdeh’s The Sky Is Concave is one of those books best devoured in a single sitting. Its unflinching honesty...
The Cruise (Naïma Brown, Allen & Unwin)
Fiction
Released October 2026, reviewed by Emma Nield.
Naïma Brown (The Shot, Mother Tongue) serves up sweet revenge in The Cruise, proving it’s best dished out on a...
