Funny Fairytales (Tim Harris, illus Christopher Nielsen, Penguin)
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Funny Fairytales by Tim Harris, illustrated by Christopher Nielsen, sees the creator of the Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables series turn his trademark humour to fractured fairytales. He reworks 5 familiar stories...
Rat Daniels (Alex Sawyer, Hachette)
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Rat Daniels, the debut novel by Alex Sawyer and winner of the 2023 Richell Prize, is a coming-of-age story of loyalty and friendship. Jimmy never quite belonged until he moved...
Parramatta: A Dictionary of Place and Memory (Yumna Kassab, Giramondo)
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Written during her time as the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature, Yumna Kassab (Politica, The Lovers) turns her eye to nonfiction with Parramatta: A Dictionary of Place and Memory, though...
Neighbours: Australia and the Pacific (Joanne Wallis & Jack Corbett, La Trobe)
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Neighbours: Australia and the Pacific by Joanne Wallis (Girt by Sea) and Jack Corbett examines Australia’s relationship with the Pacific Islands, a region that may not be front of mind...
Tight Lines (Allee Richards, Summit)
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Set in a small coastal town in regional Victoria, Allee Richards’s Tight Lines is a literary coming-of-age novel steeped in nostalgia and shaped by loss. On the cusp of adulthood,...
My Dad Makes the World Go Around and Around (Maddy Mara, illus Andrew Joyner, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
My Dad Makes the World Go Around and Around by Maddy Mara – the pen name for Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger – is an uplifting story celebrating all the...
I Wrote My Own Eulogy: The Art of Appreciating Your Own Life (Bradley Dryburgh, S&S)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Bradley Dryburgh has done more than write his own eulogy: he has created a memento mori – a reminder of mortality – despite being one of the last people who...
Joey and the Junjardy (Allison Rocca, illus Brenton E McKenna, UQP)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Wakka Wakka and Kaanju author Allison Rocca’s debut middle-grade novel, Joey and the Junjardy, is a fast-moving, vibrant comedy-drama. Joey is an 11-year-old, well-meaning yet misjudged prankster who has just...
Lovesick (Lillian Telford, HQ Fiction)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Lillian Telford’s debut novel, Lovesick, explores love, obsession, abandonment, addiction and heartbreak, exposing the emotional fractures of characters shaped by trauma. When the lives of two lonely young people collide...
An Ocean and a Day (Hannah Richell, 4th Estate)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Hannah Richell’s profoundly moving memoir, An Ocean and a Day, is both a tender love letter and a study of loss and hope, shaped by a devastating voyage through grief...
The Mortons (Scott Westerfeld & Justine Larbalestier, Penguin)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Justine Larbalestier (My Sister Rosa) and Scott Westerfeld (the Leviathan series) join forces for the crime-family thriller The Mortons, which delivers plenty of grit and dark academia charm. Jessica Morton...
I Made This Just for You (Chris Ames, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Chris Ames’s short story collection, I Made This Just for You, is an astonishing debut and a highly anticipated one after winning the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished...
The Mushroom and the Flower (Sally Soweol Han, T&H)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
In The Mushroom and the Flower, written and illustrated by Sally Soweol Han (The Colours of Home), a small forest community is centred around a striking pink-and-white mushroom who is...
Fish Don’t Hop (JoJo Leslie, Woodslane Press)
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Fish Don’t Hop! by JoJo Leslie is a heartwarming story that takes children on a journey of discovery through nature and the ways animals grow and change. Maeve is excited...
A Short History of Longans (Mirandi Riwoe, UQP)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Mirandi Riwoe’s A Short History of Longans follows 4 members of the same family across 2 centuries, moving backwards through time from a climate-changed Queensland in 2049 to colonial New...
The Rebound (Fiona Harris, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
The Rebound, by award-winning author Fiona Harris (The Embarrassing Confessions of Gracie Sparks), is a topical, reflective middle-grade novel about a basketball-loving boy navigating the pressures of growing up in...
The End of Romance (Maria Takolander, Text)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
In her debut novel, The End of Romance, Maria Takolander presents a dystopian world in which all boys are conscripted to the army at 16, sent on a mission from...
Don’t Forget to Smile (Ariane Beeston, Black Inc.)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Don’t Forget to Smile by Ariane Beeston is a rare Australian young adult novel set in the world of dance, a setting not often seen in local teen fiction. The...
Neighbourhood Watch (Lauren Williams, Affirm)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Lauren Williams’s debut novel, Neighbourhood Watch, is a compulsive crime thriller that opens with a bang and delivers a series of shocking twists, a side of dark humour and a...
Being: Why It’s Harder to Be Human Than a Hamster or a Herring (Rachel E Menzies & Ross G Menzies, A&U)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
In Being: Why It’s Harder to Be Human Than a Hamster or a Herring, daughter–father writing team Rachel E Menzies and Ross G Menzies (Mortals: How the Fear of Death...
The Frumpling (Jo van der Borgh, illus Jo Beasley, Walker)
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
The Frumpling by Jo van der Borgh, illustrated by Jo Beasley, is a playful rhyming picture book about a lonely creature whose life begins to change after one honest conversation...
Good Intentions (Jessy Wu, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Personal and professional integrity face off in Jessy Wu’s highly engaging debut, Good Intentions – a fast-paced millennial romance set in the worlds of investigative journalism and futures trading. Nadia...
One Word (Melissa-Jane Fogarty, Lothian)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Melissa-Jane Fogarty’s One Word is a gentle yet powerful First Nations story about a young girl, Myra, who loves to stay with Pop. When she overhears him speaking to his...
Without a Trace (Susannah Glenn, Pantera)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Susannah Glenn’s second novel, Without a Trace, follows Charlotte Clarke, a once confident pilot and the daughter of a scenic flight company owner. While Charlotte is grieving the loss of...
Worlds Within a World (ed Casey Mulder, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
In Worlds Within a World, Carol Foley, Deborah Green, Barb Hostalek, Lois May and Valerie Swift – 5 First Nations women – reflect on the experiences and relationships that have...
Worry Doll (Laura McPhee-Browne, Scribe)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Worry Doll is the immersive and introspective third novel by Laura McPhee-Browne (Cherry Beach, Little Plum). It follows two women: Heloise, a 36-year-old Melburnian living with her partner, a man,...
Goose on the Loose (Catherine Meatheringham, illus Annabelle Hale, Affirm Kids)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Goose on the Loose by Catherine Meatheringham, illustrated by Annabelle Hale, is a lively picture book that follows one determined goose as she races away from the farm, creating a...
Seen Again: Light on Matrescence (Benita Bensch, The Kind Press)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Following her 2019 infertility memoir, The Art of Trying, clarity coach Benita Bensch’s second book, Seen Again: Light on Matrescence, blends memoir and self-help to guide readers through the chaos...
LIT (Anna Woods, Echo)
Tuesday, 28 April 2026
Auckland-based writer Anna Woods’ debut novel, LIT, is a psychological thriller set in the same city, centring on 3 emotionally and professionally entangled architects: Virginia Ishak (Gin), Clarissa Taylor (Clary)...
Later, Only Love Remains (Leah Swann, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 28 April 2026
In Later, Only Love Remains, Leah Swann (Sheerwater) returns with another literary thriller, following Jack Wolfe in the aftermath of a car crash that killed his wife while he was...
