Character concerns: Ashley Hay on ‘The Railwayman’s Wife’
Ashley Hay’s second novel, after The Body in the Clouds, follows the lives of several characters in a NSW coastal town, including a doctor returned from the horrors of the...
‘A dark love letter to Iceland’: Hannah Kent on ‘Burial Rites’
Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites (Picador, May) plunges the reader into the remotest corner of 19th-century Iceland in her story of the last woman to be beheaded in that country. Andrea...
Writing for Fun: Andy Griffiths on ‘Once Upon a Slime’
In his new book Once Upon a Slime: 45 Fun Ways to Get Writing … Fast! (Pan Macmillan, April) Andy Griffiths gives advice to inspire young writers. The author spoke...
Telling Tales: Julie Hunt on ‘Song for a Scarlet Runner’
Julie Hunt has created a thrilling tale of life on the run in Song for a Scarlet Runner (A&U, April). The author spoke to Jarrah Moore. You can read Moore’s review...
Life, continued: Anna Goldsworthy on ‘Welcome to Your New Life’
In her second memoir, Anna Goldsworthy explores her experience of motherhood, including an irrational fear of losing her newborn down a composting toilet. Joanne Shiells spoke to the author. What...
Murder they wrote: Marion Roberts and Kim Kane on ‘Cry Blue Murder’
Marion Roberts and Kim Kane collaborated on the YA thriller Cry Blue Murder (UQP, May). They spoke to Meredith Lewin. Cry Blue Murder is a contemporary YA thriller that comes...
A year in children’s books: publishers’ top junior picks for 2013
From a Pride and Prejudice-inspired picture book set in an Australian farmyard to a YA thriller that explores the dangers of online communication, publishers tell us their top children’s and...
Diversity in fantasy: Kylie Chan on ‘Dark Serpent’
Dark Serpent (HarperVoyager, May) is the first book in Kylie Chan’s ‘Celestial Battle’ trilogy, which combines martial arts and magic, and the seventh book in an ongoing story that began...
A survival story: Children’s Bookshop in Christchurch
After its premises and all of its stock were destroyed in the February 2011 earthquake, the Children’s Bookshop in Christchurch has rebuilt outside of the city centre, and flourished. Owner...
Finding the man: Cory Taylor on ‘My Beautiful Enemy’
In her second novel, Cory Taylor worked hard to capture the voice of her protagonist, a young soldier infatuated with a Japanese youth in an internment camp in regional Victoria...
Anne Beilby: The rights direction
Anne Beilby has been rights manager at Text Publishing since the days when pitch letters were sent by fax. She shares her career journey. I studied anthropology, literature and languages...
Your store: Notions Unlimited promotes on YouTube
Notions Unlimited Bookshop in the beachside suburb of Chelsea, Victoria, has recently created three YouTube videos to promote its store and reach out to members of its local community. One...