This afternoon, the 2020 ABIAs (Australian Book Industry Awards) were live streamed into the homes of book lovers across Australia. Winners were toasted, writers celebrated, and history was made, in more ways than one. Thanks to COVID-19 2020 saw the Award’s Gala held virtually for the first time in the event’s history. 2020 also marks the…
Read More
South of Tasmania sits The Wheel. It is the largest mountain in the world, almost triple the height of Everest. Accompanied by a small island, complete with its own formidable peak, The Wheel has been conquered by only one man – American billionaire climber Walter Richman. It’s been more than fifty years since Richman stood…
Read More
It’s been thirteen years since WA writer, Donna Mazza, won the prestigious City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford award for her novel, The Albanian. But her second book, Fauna, out earlier this year through Allen and Unwin was certainly worth the wait. Set in 2037, in an Australia which shows only subtle differences from our own,…
Read More
The shortlist for the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) has been unveiled today. The awards are a key fixture in the Australian literary scene, and are designed to celebrate the very best in homegrown literature and publishing. Usually a red carpet affair, this year the awards gala will be heading online, with the winners…
Read More
The shortlist for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced overnight during a special online event (Covid-19 strikes again!). Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the prize was previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and until recently was the Bailey’s Prize for Fiction. It is awarded annually to the best work of…
Read More
Tasmanian writer K. M. Kruimink has been awarded this year’s The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award. Set in the 1800s, A Treacherous Country follows newly arrived migrant Gabriel Fox. Intent on finding a woman named Maryanne Maginn, Kruimink’s manscript sends Fox through the Tasmanian wilderness, accompanied by a guide who is not all he seems. The award…
Read More
“The world is in crisis but our artists are expressing themselves as powerfully and eloquently as ever…” That’s the message from the judging panel tasked with the unenviable duty of selecting the winner of the 2020 Stella Prize. This year, journalist Jess Hill took home the $50,000 prize for See What You Made Me Do,…
Read More
It was announced late last month that the inaugural Yarra Valley Writers Festival would be an online-only event. Today, organisers have revealed a jam-packed livestream line-up for the May 9th celebration. Programmed by playwright Hannie Rayson, the festival will extend its reach beyond a single Saturday, with book clubs and author chats running into late…
Read More
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since Helen Scheuerer wrapped up The Oremere Chronicles with the action-packed War of Mist. But Scheuerer isn’t about to let fans struggle through isolation without the company of Bleak, Henri, and the gang. Hitting bookshelves on April 16th, Dawn of Mist takes place before the events…
Read More
The Yarra Valley Writers Festival isn’t letting a pandemic get in the way of its inaugural celebrations! Instead, the team have today announced a switch to a digital format, with a series of events streaming live on Saturday 9th May. Festival programmer and playwright Hannie Rayson (Hotel Sorento, Inheritance) said: ‘’The way audiences experience art,…
Read More
Event organisers have confirmed the cancellation of the 2020 Byron Writers Festival. Due to take place in August, tickets had not yet gone on sale. In a statement released today, the festival said: “Regrettably and with a heavy heart we have made the decision to cancel Byron Writers Festival 2020, which was scheduled to run…
Read More
Soon readers will once more be able to explore the realm of Ellest, in Helen Scheuerer’s prequel collection Dawn of Mist. The anthology reveals more about key characters in The Oremere Chronicles, bringing together sixteen short stories in one volume. Ahead of the book’s release on April 16th, we caught up with Helen to chat…
Read More
In the 1950s, a young woman meets Barry Humphries on a ship. Two women text about their difficult, isolated mother. A newly elected hard right politician unleashes upon the press. And as the world burns, a wife from the “better suburbs” begs for a place in an exclusive gated community. These are just a few…
Read More
With Covid-19 causing mass disruption to everyday lives, including the cancellation of the Leading Edge Books Conference, the winners of 2020 Indie Book Awards have been announced online. This is the first time the Indie book Awards have been announced online. The big winner for 2020 was Favel Parrett, who takes home The Indie Awards…
Read More
Hester Why has her share of secrets. Travelling under a false name, on the run from something that – for the time being – remains a mystery, she’s on her way to Morvoren House, an isolated manor on the Cornish coast. Tasked with nursing Morvoren’s aging owner, Miss Louise Pinecroft, Hester joins a household in…
Read More
A key fixture of Australia’s literary scene, the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) celebrates the very best in homegrown literature and publishing. This year, as we collectively navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the ABIAs team have made the decision to forego their usual awards ceremony. Instead, they’ll be livestreaming the event, turning it from a 500 guest…
Read More
Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher. He makes his living travelling from town to town, hunting down the monsters that stalk the land. After a particularly nasty encounter with a striga, he recovers in a secluded temple. While there, he reflects on past assignments and an uncertain future. First published in the early 90s and…
Read More
The bestselling and much beloved author and LGBT activist, Armistead Maupin is returning to Australia in July. Tales Of The City with Armistead Maupin will see the author recount his favourite stories from the past five decades, and offer his observations on contemporary society. Armistead Maupin has been a part of US popular culture since…
Read More
The longlist for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced at midnight GMT on March 3rd, with many avid UK booklovers staying up in anticipation of the announcement. Now in its 25th year, the prize was previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and until recently was the Bailey’s Prize for Fiction. It…
Read More
The line between short stories and poetry is thin in Mandy Beaumont’s debut collection, Wild Fearless Chests, which was published earlier in the year by Hachette, off the back of a shortlisting in both the Richell Prize and the Dorothy Hewett Award run by UWA Publishing. The collection readers were promised was a catalogue of…
Read More
Fetch Phillips’ world is just like ours. Well except for the magic, and all that comes with that: chimera, wizards, elves, vampires and more. But, the magic has gone out, leaving the world irrevocably changed. And, our erstwhile “hero” Fetch might have more to do with it than we imagine. The Last Smile in Sunder…
Read More
According to the end matter in her debut novel, The Secrets We Kept, author Lara Prescott was named for the heroine of Boris Pasternak‘s Nobel Prize winning novel, Doctor Zhivago. It was not until the CIA declassified 99 documents pertaining to the real story behind the publication of the Russian classic, however, that her interest…
Read More
Gwyn is in a bad way. Imprisoned in the dungeons of the Clockwork City, visits from interrogators and torturers are becoming routine. But, then a wizard walks in with something she’d thought long lost. A memento from a life left behind. And suddenly the words start coming. Ascepis and his caravan. Lucian, the shapeshifter. Her…
Read More
Iris, Babs, and the boy without a name. One from the earth, one made of fire, and one who isn’t quite sure what he’s made of just yet. For this trio, navigating school and family life should have been enough. But there’s trouble brewing. Iris, who counts the faeries and dryads amongst their friends, is…
Read More
Ada is dying. Watched over by her new nurse, Jay, Ada is preparing for the end. Ada has lived all over the world. Sydney, Bali, San Francisco. And the Old World she doesn’t remember, save for the boat journey as a child when she first met Leyla. But, Jay has no interest in Leyla, because…
Read More
Akin is Emma Donoghue’s tenth novel for adults, but only her second set in the modern day. Known by most readers for her 2010 novel, Room, Donoghue has published countless novels which examine little known pockets of history, such as 2014’s Frog Music and 2016’s The Wonder. At first glance, Akin is something entirely different to Donoghue’s back catalogue, including…
Read More
There’s just a few weeks to go until the release of The Ninth Sorceress, the debut novel from author Bonnie Wynne. We were lucky enough to grab five minutes with her in the (very busy) run up to release day! First of all, can you tell us what The Ninth Sorceress is all about? (No…
Read More
Sisonke Msimang, the new curator for Perth Festival’s Literature and Ideas festival, delivered her full program for the late February event on Thursday night to an enthusiastic crowd at the Octagon Theatre. Her program, designed around the concepts of ‘Land, Money, Power, and Sex’ has been curated with a goal of inviting a new intake…
Read More
It is not often that we see science threaded into popular fiction plots. Even less common is to have this domain accompanied with an exploration of art. But that’s what we find in Dr. Amanda Niehaus’ debut novel, The Breeding Season, and it’s like a breath of fresh air. Niehaus is a scientist by trade. She leans…
Read More
The latest book from Gary Janetti, Do You Mind If I Cancel? might be a small one, but it contains some big laughs. This collection of essays recalls Janetti’s time as a twenty-something year old living in New York City. It is a book that will appeal to fans of David Sedaris and his colourful and…
Read More
