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Happy Hour (Jacquie Byron, A&U)

Released September 2021

Three years after her husband’s death, 65-year-old artist Frances Calderwood has developed a drinking problem and squirrelled herself away from human contact. However, the cocoon built by the quirky, acerbic... Read more

Road Tripping with Pearl Nash (Poppy Nwosu, Wakefield)

Released September 2021

Since her 2018 debut Making Friends with Alice Dyson, shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award and the Readings Young Adult Book Prize, Poppy Nwosu has been creating protagonists that are a... Read more

The Song of Lewis Carmichael (Sofie Laguna, illus by Marc McBride, A&U)

Released September 2021

Lyrical, mesmerising and full of heart, The Song of Lewis Carmichael by Sofie Laguna, complemented by the soft, detailed pencil drawings of Marc McBride, is a beautiful middle-grade adventure story... Read more

how to make a basket (Jazz Money, UQP)

Released September 2021

‘don’t forget this place / where life begins / tell it to the bubs to pass onto theirs / when strangers come / when other trees fall’ Jazz Money writes... Read more

My Friend Fox (Heidi Everett, Ultimo Press) 

Released September 2021

This memoir from mental health recovery advocate Heidi Everett is a thoroughly real and stunningly evocative retelling of her life as a person with diagnosed mental illness. Everett tells the... Read more

Private Prosecution (Lisa Ellery, Fremantle Press) 

Released September 2021

Lawyer-turned-writer Lisa Ellery uses her knowledge and experience in the legal sector to round out detailed judicial proceedings in her debut thriller, building a believable foundation for the tense drama... Read more

Maxine (Bob Graham, Walker Books) 

Released September 2021

A ‘companion book’ for Bob Graham’s beloved Max (which was 20 years old in 2020!), Maxine does stand alone but is not as rich if you haven’t first read Max, as it... Read more

The Magpie Wing (Max Easton, Giramondo) 

Released September 2021

Max Easton’s The Magpie Wing is a moving portrait of a city and region undergoing enormous change, told through the perspectives of three unique, sympathetic and vulnerable characters. The book... Read more

Anything But Fine (Tobias Madden, Penguin) 

Released September 2021

Anything But Fine is the young adult debut of Tobias Madden, who works in publishing and is part of the #LoveOzYA community. Like his main character, Luca, Madden grew up... Read more

Believe in Me (Lucy Neave, UQP)

Released September 2021

Bet is a Sydney-based veterinarian raised in Adelaide by her single mother, Sarah. When Bet starts questioning her gender, identity and place in the world, she begins to put together the... Read more

New Australian Fiction 2021 (ed by Rebecca Starford, Kill Your Darlings)

Released September 2021

Kill Your Darlings’ third annual short fiction anthology, New Australian Fiction 2021, brims with stories—by diverse authors both emerging and established—that traverse a wide array of topics. These stories probe... Read more

Let’s Eat Weeds! (Annie Raser-Rowland & Adam Grubb, illus by Evie Barrow, Scribble)

Released September 2021

I can’t think of anything more anxiety-provoking than helping children decide which weeds are safe to eat. But Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland tackle the task with humour, zeal and... Read more

Treasure in the Lake (Jason Pamment, A&U)

Released September 2021

Friendship, hidden cities and all-round adventure lie at the heart of Jason Pamment’s immersive graphic novel Treasure in the Lake. Sam and Iris have been best friends since they were little, but as the two... Read more

In Moonland (Miles Allinson, Scribe)

Released September 2021

Miles Allinson’s accomplished second novel—the follow-up to his moving and deeply personal 2015 debut Fever of Animals—is an ambitious and gripping story of parenthood, utopias and environmental collapse, told across several interconnected narratives. The narrator of... Read more

The Curlew’s Eye (Karen Manton, A&U) 

Released September 2021

A poisoned dam, a crumbling abandoned homestead, encounters with a mysterious girl and the pull of a haunting landscape are all woven together in this literary Australian Gothic debut from Karen Manton.... Read more

I Shot The Devil (Ruth McIver, Hachette)

Released September 2021

Richell Prize-winner Ruth McIver’s debut crime thriller is a powder-keg with a slow burning fuse that has you racing to figure out which of the shadowy, unreliable suspects ‘did it’—and... Read more

The Things We See in the Light (Amal Awad, Pantera Press)

Released September 2021

This book opens with Sahar arriving on her best friend Lara’s doorstep in Newtown, and it’s apparent Sahar has changed a lot since Lara last saw her. Once a shy,... Read more

A Trip to the Hospital (Freda Chiu, A&U Children)

Released September 2021

Freda Chiu’s first picture book, aimed at children aged three to seven, provides a friendly introduction to the idea of hospitals and what might happen in them. Largely informational rather... Read more

The School for Talking Pets (Kelli Anne Hawkins, illus by Beth Harvey, HarperCollins)

Released September 2021

With her debut middle grade novel, The School for Talking Pets, Kelli Anne Hawkins brings us a delightful tale that is reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Mysterious Benedict Society. Rusty Mulligan is... Read more

Sold Down the River (Scott Hamilton & Stuart Kells, Text)

Released September 2021

Once upon a time, Australian farmers traded thousands of megalitres of water for something as simple as a slab of beer. Then the economic mood changed. The 1980s brought political leaders... Read more