With Christmas less than a week away, at the AU we’ve got to the task of agonising and arguing over our end of year lists – best albums, best films, best games, and of course best books. The Books team have taken a look over the year’s releases and compiled a list of some of…
Read MoreThe Heartstopper franchise is the perfect way to expose young people to diversity, inclusivity, and what it is like to grow up, experience first times, and all the awkwardness that comes with it. At the beginning of the book, one of the main characters, Charlie Spring, turns sixteen. After a year of Nick Nelson and…
Read MoreEveryone on This Train is a Suspect is Benjamin Stevenson‘s second whodunit murder mystery novel told in the first person by his endearingly human narrator and main character, Ernest Cunningham. The fourth wall breaking of this book, much like the first – Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone – makes it a little confusing…
Read MoreTwice Cursed is the second anthology from editors Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane on the theme of the curse. Authors such as Neil Gaiman, Angela Slatter, Laura Purcell, and A. C. Wise have each contributed short stories of dark and urban fantasy and fairy tale to explore the concept of a curse: of being cursed,…
Read MoreBest-selling rural fiction author Fleur McDonald takes us to the South Australian outback with her latest novel Voices in the Dark. A family drama at heart, the book is an authentic exploration of grief, family estrangement, and life on the land. Upon receiving the news that the grandmother who raised her is dying, Sassi Stapleton…
Read MoreOthers Were Emeralds by Lang Leav is a coming-of-age tale that explores the complications of friendships, relationships, and the experiences of immigration during the 1980s and 1990s when anti-Asian sentiment flooded Australia. Ai, her family, and her close-knit group of high school friends live in the diverse fictional town of Whitlam, based on Sydney’s Cabramatta, where…
Read MoreBeginning with the tale of Arthurian villainess Morgan le Fay, Sophie Keetch‘s Morgan Is My Name marks the start of an exciting new historical fantasy. Following Morgan from the death of her loving father and his replacement in the form of the brutish Uther Pendragon, to her eventual escape to the court of her young…
Read MoreHidden behind a wall of poisonous ivy, safe from the giant water-ants hunting anything that moves out on the lake, and the dangerous wyann trees with their spear-like roots, the people of Sala’s village eke out a quiet existence, doing what they can to survive. But Sala knows Itta is dying, and without change, time…
Read MoreBlending memoir with cultural criticism, Me, Her, Us is the debut non-fiction release from Yen-Rong Wong, exploring the intersection between sex, relationships, and race. Raised by religious Malaysian Chinese parents in Brisbane, she bristled against the idealised version of who she was supposed to be and how her life was supposed to play out. Me,…
Read MoreYou’re All Talk is a book about just what it sounds like – talking, language and its ties to our identities. Sociolinguist Rob Drummond takes us through how we perceive others (and ourselves) through the way we talk, offering a fascinating dive into the world of accents, slang and code-switching. It may seem like a…
Read MoreRoseghetto, the debut novel from author Kristy Jagger, takes a hard look at trauma and low-socioeconomic hardships. The novel begins with the main character, Shayla, at just three-years-old and follows her right through to when she is an eighteen-year-old. Throughout the book, readers get a glimpse into what it is like living and growing up…
Read MoreRyūnosuke Akutagawa inspired Murakami and Kurosawa, but what’s it like reading his work today? The Akutagawa Prize is one of Japan’s most prestigious literary prizes. Kurosawa’s beloved 1950 film Rashomon, was inspired by Akutagawa stories, and Haruki Murakami counts him as a favourite. But what would today’s readers think? And what about translating it? Ryan…
Read MoreFor many writers, their second novel is often less remarkable than their debut. Not so the case of Kate Mildenhall, whose sophomore book, The Mother Fault, cemented its author’s status as a writer to watch in Australian literature. Mildenhall’s third novel, The Hummingbird Effect continues her trajectory as a writer who is not afraid to push boundaries…
Read MoreMiles Franklin Award nominated author Briohny Doyle earlier this year released, Why We Are Here, a touching new novel about love, loss, dogs and golf courses. Frankly any book that starts with discussions of dogs’ scrotums and golf course mishaps has succeeded in piquing my interest. The novel follows the story of a girl –…
Read MoreRunning from Wednesday November 1st to Sunday November 5th, BAD Sydney is back and bigger than ever! It all kicks off in just a few days, with an infamous Literary Death Match at the State Library of NSW’s Metcalfe Auditorium. Writers Tim Ayliffe, Anne Buist, Candice Fox, and Rob McDonald will duke it out in…
Read MoreBroadcaster Mikey Robins has entertained many audiences over the years with his sharp tongue and trademark wit. The comedian has now written his third book, this time setting his sights on discussing some of history’s finest dolts. Idiots, Follies & Misadventures is another fun romp through the past with Robins as our guide, telling us…
Read MoreEmma Young’s second novel, The Disorganisation of Celia Stone, is so much more than an updated homage to Bridget Jones’s Diary. Though it may start off with a number of similarities – chief among them, the diary format, and witty, self-deprecating tone, the book goes beyond the ground covered by that beloved 90s classic, exploring…
Read MoreThe Other Side of Never, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane, is a collection of spec-fic tales with contributions from a variety of sci-fi, horror and fantasy writers. In this particular anthology, each story is inspired by J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan tales, whilst focusing on different characters and putting new spins on the…
Read MoreQuietly Hostile is Samantha Irby‘s fourth collection of hilarious, off-the-wall personal essays. Almost blog-style in its randomness, each chapter takes us on a journey through a variety of Irby’s loves, hates, flights of fancy, reimagined TV episodes, lists of food, embarrassing anecdotes, and misadventures in bodily functions that will give you whiplash as they switch…
Read MoreI’m not entirely sure how it’s the second week of October. But, here we are! We’re edging ever closer to Christmas and right into the busiest weeks in the publishing and bookselling (and book buying) calendar. Expect a glut of gift books, celebrity memoirs and celebrity penned fiction hitting the shelves any day now. With…
Read MoreThe Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff is a historical fiction novel set in the early days of North America’s colonisation. This third person narrative explores a servant girl’s escape from a settlement, her battle for survival, the discovery of a new alien environment, and her belief in God. At the beginning of the book, readers…
Read MoreLowbridge, by Lucy Campbell, is a rural mystery set in the fictional New South Wales town of Lowbridge. In the present day, Katherine and her husband Jamie have moved from Sydney to Lowbridge, Jamie’s hometown, to try and heal from a devastating loss. In alternating chapters, also in Lowbridge but back in 1986, the town…
Read MoreEarlier this year, author Sophie Keetch released her debut novel Morgan Is My Name. A stunning retelling of Arthurian villainess Morgan Le Fay, Morgan Is My Name follows her as she fights for independence against the machinations of men, kings, and sorcerers. We sat down with Sophie to find out a little more about the…
Read MoreIn Other Words, OzAsia Festival‘s writing and ideas program, has today revealed its three day line-up, with more than 60 Asian writers and thinkers heading up an exciting array of panels and special events. Running from Friday 3rd November to Sunday 5th November at Adelaide Festival Centre, In Other Words is the perfect way to…
Read MoreIt seems that the Australian publishing industry’s hunger for anti-rom-coms (or as I like to call them, Sad Girl Lit) is showing no signs of abating. The perfect successor to the Cecelia Ahern and Marian Keyes heyday of the last decade, today’s heroine is stressed out and has major FOMO. Prue, the heroine of Jessica…
Read MoreRachel Louise Snyder’s most recent memoir – Woman We Buried, Woman We Burned – is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed book No Visible Bruises. The book is an account of Synder’s journey from teenage runaway to award-winning journalist. The often heartbreaking account begins with the death of the author’s mother, when Snyder was eight years…
Read MoreLaurie Steed‘s second book, Love, Dad, came out just in time for Father’s Day. It was not, as you might expect, a treatise on how to be a good father. Instead it’s a memoir of one man’s experience of fatherhood, along with a collection of musings on how to be a good father, a good man, and…
Read MoreGrace, recently married and heavily pregnant, heads to Tasmania to visit her new husband’s terminally ill father. King has spoken little about his family, and wants nothing more than to say goodbye and leave. But once they reach Blackwater, King’s crumbling childhood home, things are far from right. There’s a darkness here that Grace can’t…
Read MoreBrendan Ritchie’s Eta Draconis is a grounded and heartfelt exploration of searching for a future in a world that feels like it has none. Elora has just finished high school in her hometown of Esperance, Western Australia. Her older sister Vivienne, already attending university in the city, has been home for the summer holidays and…
Read MoreThe highly anticipated sequel to Vanessa Len’s hit debut Only a Monster, Never a Hero is another wild ride through time and morality as Joan is forced to face the consequences of her actions and take on a new and powerful foe. Joan is still reeling from her decision to unmake the hero. Riddled with…
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