Miles Franklin–winning author Shankari Chandran turns her focus to Australia’s inhumane practice of mandatory detention in her fourth novel, Safe Haven. As in Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, a focal part of the unfolding story is Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war that left hundreds of thousands displaced and dead. Tamil asylum seeker Fina survives a… Read more
From Miles Franklin–shortlisted author Catherine McKinnon (Storyland), To Sing of War confronts the interconnectedness that binds humanity. Against the backdrop of WWII, we find ourselves immersed in the jungles of New Guinea, where a young Australian nurse, Lotte Wyld, encounters her first love, Virgil. Simultaneously, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, young physicists Miriam Carver and… Read more
How to Avoid a Happy Life is a lively memoir by Julia Lawrinson (Losing It), the author of over 15 books for young people. This memoir takes readers through a lifetime of sad and unusual experiences that inspired Lawrinson's books, such as Bye, Beautiful and Skating the Edge. She details her childhood and school years, time spent in mental health inpatient services, travels, young… Read more
The nine essays in this collection, Peripathetic by Melbourne-based Cher Tan, use the form’s digressive capacity well. In elastic prose informed by wide reading, Tan heads down wordy, winding rabbit holes, exploring such issues as the ubiquity of English in the internet age, the wonders and perils of identity creation, or how Shanzhai might just… Read more
What Stars Are For is the first picture book by sewing pattern and soft toy designer Margeaux Davis. The emerging children’s book illustrator’s love for the natural world is informed by her background in environmental education, working as a National Parks ranger. Fans of Down the Road, Little Bee by Sarah Jane Lightfoot will enjoy… Read more
The title of multi-awarded Gunai poet Kirli Saunders’s picture book The Land Recalls You honours the Stolen Generations and their descendants, as well as others who have been taken from Country, in a story of remembering and returning. The book, illustrated by Bundjalung siblings David and Noni Cragg, begins: ‘Do not cry for earth who birthed you, for river as she calls… Read more
When Cora’s family moves to Tasmania to renovate a decrepit theatre, Cora, 12, is thrilled at the opportunity to reinvent herself as Cora 2.0: more confident, admired, and interesting. But her insecurities have accompanied her interstate, along with some brewing tension between her parents, and her new life feels just as hard as her old… Read more
Bren MacDibble has become well-known for her unique and heartfelt adventure novels for middle-grade readers, including How to Bee, The Dog Runner and Across the Risen Sea, as well as The Raven’s Song, her CBCA Award Honour Book co-written with Zana Fraillon. MacDibble’s latest solo creation, The Apprentice Witnesser, is no exception to this lineup of high-quality children’s… Read more
Gold Inky award-winning author Gabrielle Tozer’s fifth YA novel, The Unexpected Mess of it All, displays her trademark empathy, humour and cheekiness. Jamila’s life is an unexpected mess. Since their house burned down, her family has been living in a caravan on the property of her ex-best friend, Billy Radcliffe. The only people who understand… Read more
When Australia entered World War II, new possibilities emerged for women to enter the services, work in munitions or uniform factories, or join the Land Army to fill the workforce shortfalls. Pamela Rushby’s young adult novel Those Girls paints an indelible picture of the lives of some women in the Queensland Land Army, describing how exploitation, poor… Read more
To and Fro by debut author Anton Clifford-Motopi is a heartfelt and humorous exploration of the complexities of growing up mixed-race in Australia. This delightful offering for readers aged 8–12 tells an engaging story that seamlessly weaves in discussions of race and identity—a welcome addition to the Australian middle-grade landscape, which has a dearth of… Read more
Some People Want to Shoot Me is the straight-talking biography of Wayne Bergmann, an Indigenous land rights advocate and native title lawyer who famously took on a multinational company and won. In the early 2010s, the Nyikina man led the fraught negotiations (on behalf of Traditional Owners) on the infamous James Price Point gas hub… Read more
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