Books+Publishing magazine’s first issue for 2017 is out now!

Reviews: It’s a strong start to the year for reviews, with four adult books scoring 4.5 stars in this issue. Among them are Eva Hornung’s novel The Last Garden (Text, May), which reviewer Hilary Simmons calls ‘vivid, visceral and disconcerting’; and Briohny Doyle’s examination of adulthood, Adult Fantasy (Scribe, June), which reviewer Jo Case describes as ‘smart, insightful, and a pleasure to read, seamlessly combining serious analysis with wry asides’.

Also earning 4.5 stars were Karen Andrews’ poetry collection On the Many Shapes Bodies Will Take (Miscellaneous Press, April) and Bernadette Brennan’s biography A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work (Text, April).

Numerous books also scored four stars, including: Sarah Schmidt’s See What I Have Done (Hachette, April); Katherine Scholes’ Congo Dawn (Viking, April); Jessica Friedmann’s essay collection Things That Helped (Scribe, April); and Catherine Fox’s Stop Fixing Women: Why Building Fairer Workplaces is Everybody’s Business (NewSouth, April).

Features: Danielle Binks explores the state of genre fiction in Australia; three specialist booksellers weigh in on the romance, crime, and sci-fi and fantasy bestsellers of 2016; Jo Case examines the increasingly crowded landscape of Australian literary festivals; and Vicki Stegink goes behind the scenes at the new La Trobe University imprint.

Also in this issue, Alexandra Payne joins Books+Publishing as our regular columnist for 2017; Andrea Hanke asks three awards organisers how they are bringing down the costs for publishers; Mudgee Readers’ Festival general manager Portia Lindsay reflects on her move into regional arts development; Dymocks Adelaide manager Mandy Macky shares her bookseller’s diary; and Alan Vaarwerk asks Elizabeth Tan about her debut novel Rubik.

Junior Term 1

Reviews: Several books scored four stars in this issue of Junior. Among them are Dianna Wolfer and Heather Potter’s ‘heart-warming story … about family togetherness’ Nanna’s Button Tin (Walker Books, June); John Canty’s ‘educational’ and ‘fun’ picture book Heads and Tails (Berbay Publishing, May); The Blue Cat (A&U, April), Ursula Dubosarsky’s novel for readers aged 10 and up; Steph Bowe’s ‘sweet and hopeful queer love story’ Night Swimming (Text, April); Melissa Keil’s third YA novel The Secret Science of Magic (HGE, April); and Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology, edited by Danielle Binks (HarperCollins, May).

Features: Jordi Kerr examines diversity in children’s books three years on from the ‘We Need Diverse Books’ campaign; Jackie Tang finds out why comedians are turning to children’s publishing; and Bec Kavanagh interviews ‘Zac Power’ author Alex Miles about Mammoth Mistake, the first book in her new series.

Don’t miss all our regular features: retailing, editor’s picks, shelf talk, book bites and Gladys’ gossip column.