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Half Truth (Nadia Mahjouri, Penguin)
Released February 2025
Half Truth follows Zahra, a young Moroccan Australian woman, and her grandmother, Khadija. In alternating narratives, the novel follows the pair as they come of age in their respective timelines. The... Read more
A Good Kind of Trouble (Brooke Blurton & Melanie Saward, HarperCollins)
Released February 2025
Noongar-Yamatji youth advocate Brooke Blurton has teamed up with Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author and academic Melanie Saward (Love Unleashed) for a new YA series, beginning with A Good Kind of... Read more
The Knowing (Madeleine Ryan, Scribe)
Released February 2025
Camille works for a semi-famous florist in Armadale, where she commutes daily from her home in the country. She yearns for a life full of beauty and meaning and can’t... Read more
Outrageous Fortunes (Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex, La Trobe)
Released February 2025
‘Mary Fortune’ might sound like a pseudonym but it’s the name of one of Australia’s most prolific—if often overlooked—woman crime writers. Outrageous Fortunes is a dual biography of Fortune and... Read more
Joan Lindsay: The Hidden Life of the Woman Who Wrote ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ (Brenda Niall, Text)
Released February 2025
Brenda Niall’s portrait of author Joan Lindsay is bookended by her charming recollections of meeting Lindsay in 1984, just months before her death. In the intervening chapters of this concise... Read more
Creature Corridors (Billie Rooney, illus Anke Noack, CSIRO Publishing)
Released February 2025
Billie Rooney’s educational picture book, Creature Corridors, explores how human infrastructure impacts animal habitats and highlights the role of wildlife corridors in helping animals travel and live safely. The book... Read more
Harry and Gran Bake a Cake (Fiona McIntosh, illus Sara Acton, Puffin)
Released March 2025
Fiona McIntosh (The Sugar Palace), the much-celebrated author for grown-ups, makes her debut in picture books with the simply delicious Harry and Gran Bake a Cake. A day in the... Read more
Sunny and Shadow (Helen Milroy, Fremantle)
Released February 2025
Sunny and Shadow is a heartfelt junior fiction novel and intergenerational tale that follows Calla and her descendants, who all have the precious gift of talking with and caring for... Read more
Past & Parallel Lives (Kaya Ortiz, UWA Publishing)
Released February 2025
In their debut poetry collection, Past & Parallel Lives, Kaya Ortiz explores what it means to wrestle with your identity and find belonging. Their poetry strikes a balance between grounded... Read more
Monty and Mandy Take On Camp Spaloonka (Adam Wallace, illus Dave Atze, Larrikin)
Released February 2025
Monty and Mandy Take on Camp Spaloonka is a junior graphic novel that follows the hilarious adventures of Monty and Mandy, two best friends who get very excited about everything... Read more
Creating Schools: Where Students and Teachers Want to Be (Michael Lawrence & Fabio D’Agostin, Melbourne Books)
Released February 2025
Teachers Michael Lawrence (Testing 3, 2, 1) and Fabio D’Agostin (whose PhD was called ‘Task-Related Emotions in Mathematics Education’) have written an informed and considered exploration of the growing crises... Read more
Grave Empire: Book One of The Great Silence (Richard Swan, Orbit)
Released February 2025
In Grave Empire, Richard Swan returns to the world of his Empire of the Wolf fantasy trilogy in a way that’s thrilling and wholly unexpected. Set two hundred years after... Read more
The Body Next Door (Zane Lovitt, Text)
Released March 2025
Nestled in Melbourne’s western suburbs, Carnation Way is a quiet street of identical-looking houses with one distinction: number 37 was the scene of a murder 13 years ago. In the... Read more
Unhallowed Halls (Lili Wilkinson, A&U)
Released February 2025
Lili Wilkinson’s latest young adult novel, Unhallowed Halls, is a dark academia fantasy about finding your inner strength and accepting who you are. After a tragic incident that ended her... Read more
Your Soul Purpose: Manifest a Life You Love (Aubrey Daquinag, Hardie Grant Books)
Released February 2025
Aubrey Daquinag’s Your Soul Purpose: Manifest a Life You Love offers an accessible entry point for readers looking to shift their thinking about life. The book introduces key concepts to... Read more
Gutsy Girls (Josie McSkimming, UQP)
Released February 2025
When Dorothy Porter died in 2008, Australia lost one of its greatest contemporary poets. The author of nine poetry collections and five verse novels, Porter had a lusty, raw and... Read more
Llamas in the Library (James Hinchon, illus Ian Worrall-Dutton, Five Mile)
Released February 2025
James Hinchon’s Llamas in the Library is a rollicking adventure about a group of children who must team up to herd a marauding group of llamas that infiltrates their school... Read more
Brightest Wild (Tania Crampton-Larking, Lothian)
Released February 2025
Brightest Wild, by Mirning woman Tania Crampton-Larking, was a winning manuscript in the 2019 black&write! Fellowships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers. It tells the story of 12-year-old Alex,... Read more
Brave in Every Which Way (Maddy Mara, illus Lauren Degraaf, Affirm)
Released February 2025
Brave in Every Which Way by Maddy Mara (aka Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger, who also produced Itty Bitty Kitty and The Greatest Mistakes That Went Right under this same... Read more
The Grapevine (Kate Kemp, Hachette)
Released February 2025
As summertime scorches Canberra and the 1970s draw to a close, a severed foot is discovered on the mountain behind Warrah Place. When it’s identified as belonging to Antonio Marietti,... Read more
