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The Long Weekend (Fiona Palmer, Hachette)
Released December 2021
Four strangers meet for a weekend writing retreat in an idyllic location south of Perth. While this might sound like a familiar premise for a work of commercial fiction, the individuality of the characters, and the... Read more
My First Book of Aussie Birds (Gordon Winch, illus by Stephen Pym, Catch a Star)
Released December 2021
Bright and colourful, lively and engaging, lift-the-flap board book My First Book of Aussie Birds contains a magical menagerie of unique native birds waiting to be discovered by little hands. Much-loved author Gordon Winch,... Read more
Cold Coast (Robyn Mundy, Ultimo)
Released November 2021
It's 1932. Ivanna ‘Wanny’ Woldstad longs to enter the male-dominated world of hunting and trapping. An independently minded woman, she runs her own taxi in Tromsø, in Northern Norway. A... Read more
The Freedom of Birds (Stephanie Parkyn, A&U)
Released December 2021
For the charming, self-absorbed Rémi Victoire and his faithful companion, Pascal, the life of itinerant storytellers allows them to forget the staggering betrayal that first caused them to flee Paris.... Read more
The Last Woman in the World (Inga Simpson, Hachette)
Released November 2021
Inga Simpson’s fourth novel asks who we would choose to become in a catastrophic near-future Australia. Ray, short for Rachel, is a glass artist who sequesters herself deep in the... Read more
The Midnight Girls (Alicia Jasinska, Penguin)
Released December 2021
Alicia Jasinska’s The Midnight Girls will be eagerly devoured by fans of her dark fantasy YA debut The Dark Tide. In Lechija, a kingdom much like 18th-century Poland, three witches rely on their... Read more
Killernova (Omar Musa, Penguin)
Released December 2021
The latest collection from slam poet champion Omar Musa is a raw and muscular combination of poetry and woodcut art that uses the visual and literary capacities of each form... Read more
Wiradjuri Country (Larry Brandy, NLA Publishing)
Released November 2021
In Wiradjuri Country, Wiradjuri author Larry Brandy (along with several Indigenous artists, and with many photographs), offers a wealth of detailed information about flora, fauna, habitat, history, culture and storytelling in the... Read more
Doing Politics: Writing on public life (Judith Brett, Text)
Released November 2021
The state of the humanities in Australia today fills Judith Brett with despair. If she had a child considering a liberal arts degree now, and she had the money, she... Read more
Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief (Katrina Nannestad, ABC Books)
Released November 2021
Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief is a historical novel for middle-grade readers set during WWII. Young Sasha lies in a hospital in Berlin, recovering after the end of the war. His... Read more
Caught in the Act (Shane Jenek aka Courtney Act, Pantera Press)
Released November 2021
Shane Jenek’s drag queen alter ego Courtney Act has been in the public eye for almost 20 years, beginning with her groundbreaking appearance on the first series of Australian Idol. As... Read more
Devotion (Hannah Kent, Picador)
Released November 2021
When Hanne meets Thea, her life suddenly makes sense. They live in Kay, a tight-knit community of devout Lutherans who have been shunned for their beliefs. Both girls, on the... Read more
Stellarphant (James Foley, Fremantle Press)
Released November 2021
One of the best things about picture books is that anything is possible; there are no restrictions on imagination. Author–illustrator James Foley’s latest book plays with a totally outlandish concept:... Read more
The Boy and the Elephant (Freya Blackwood, HarperCollins)
Released November 2021
After almost 20 years of her books on our shelves, a new Freya Blackwood is always cause for delight. The Boy and the Elephant—Blackwood’s first wordless picture book—allows her quiet... Read more
Big Love (Megan Jacobson, illus by Beck Feiner, Walker Studio)
Released November 2021
This sweet picture book debut draws an immediate comparison with children’s bookshelf classic Guess How Much I Love You. As the borders of Big Love’s world unspool, from house to entire universe, the lyrical... Read more
Danged Black Thing (Eugen Bacon, Transit Lounge)
Released November 2021
Lyrical, rich, oftentimes dark and sometimes hopeful, Danged Black Thing is a speculative fiction collection that takes the reader on a journey from Africa to Australia. The cities and villages the stories are set... Read more
Skimming Stones (Maria Papas, Fremantle Press)
Released November 2021
Thrombolites—living rocks made from microbes—exist in only a few places on Earth, including Lake Clifton, south of Perth. Here, the thrombolites are thousands of years old and incredibly fragile. This... Read more
Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales (ed by Poppy Nwosu, Wakefield Press)
Released November 2021
To the library of #LoveOzYA anthologies (Begin, End, Begin; Meet Me at the Intersection; Underdog; Kindred) comes Hometown Haunts, a new collection featuring 12 short stories and two graphic novels united... Read more
The Younger Wife (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan)
Released November 2021
Readers won’t be shocked to learn that Sally Hepworth’s new novel The Younger Wife features a May–December romance between a younger woman and an older man, and the effects the relationship has... Read more
The One That Got Away: Travelling in the time of Covid (Ken Haley, Transit Lounge)
Released November 2021
The One That Got Away documents journalist and travel writer Ken Haley’s year evading the pandemic. While many of us were kept in captivity as Covid-19 raged across the world,... Read more
