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Monster Island (George Ivanoff, Puffin)
Released June 2023
When Bernie’s mother gets a top-secret new job, it seems too good to be true. So instead of staying behind with his aunt, Bernie decides instead to sneak along—and it’s... Read more
Where I Slept (Libby Angel, Text)
Released June 2023
Where I Slept, by award-winning poet and author Libby Angel, is a sharp and sobering piece of autofiction that follows a struggling, unnamed poet/artist living on the margins in 1990s... Read more
Media Monsters (Sally Young, NewSouth)
Released June 2023
After breaking through to the mainstream with her 2019 Stella Prize-longlisted book Paper Emperors, academic Sally Young continues to expose the dark interplay between Australian media and politics with Media... Read more
Mizuto and the Wind (Kaye Baillie, illus by Luisa Gioffre-Suzuki, MidnightSun)
Released June 2023
When Mizuto’s father disappears after a tsunami, Mizuto and his mother are both lost in lonely grief, until Mizuto hears about the ‘kaze no denwa’ (‘wind phone’): connected to nothing... Read more
Anam (André Dao, Hamish Hamilton)
Released May 2023
Winner of the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, Anam is a remarkable debut novel exploring memory, family, colonialism and displacement. The narrator, a young Vietnamese-Australian man... Read more
Desert Jungle (Jeannie Baker, Walker)
Released May 2023
Nearly seven years since her last picture storybook, Jeannie Baker returns in top form with Desert Jungle, a breath of fresh air in children’s books, offering a humble and vital... Read more
Stay for Dinner (Sandhya Parappukkaran, illus Michelle Pereira, Bright Light)
Released May 2023
If ever Australian publishers needed inspiration to produce more diverse picture books written by own voices authors, Sandhya Parappukkaran’s Stay for Dinner is a perfect example. It is an entertaining... Read more
Isles of the Gods (Amie Kaufman, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2023
With Isles of the Gods, Amie Kaufman once again reminds us why she is one of the best young adult authors writing today. Her first solo YA after numerous collaborations,... Read more
Reckless (Marele Day, Ultimo)
Released May 2023
Accomplished crime writer Marele Day’s memoir Reckless opens in coastal NSW, where the author learns of the death of her French friend Jean. Day had met the charismatic Jean in... Read more
Orphia and Eurydicius (Elyse John, HarperCollins)
Released May 2023
Set against the backdrop of ancient Greece in a time of myth and heroism, Orphia and Eurydicius is a tale of love, courage, feminine power and the strength of stories... Read more
The Albatross (Nina Wan, Macmillan)
Released May 2023
It’s widely known that an albatross is a very rare bird. In golf, it’s a move that’s even rarer—one that’s considered lucky, executed with the utmost finesse. And golf is... Read more
Echo Lake (Joan Sauers, A&U)
Released May 2023
Set in the brooding wilderness of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Echo Lake is the compelling debut thriller by author and screenwriter Joan Sauers. Sitting on the cosier... Read more
We Could Be Something (Will Kostakis, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2023
Will Kostakis’s first novel Loathing Lola was published when he was 19 years old. This uncommon experience inspires his latest book, a semi-autobiographical YA novel for readers aged 14–17. We... Read more
Who’s Afraid of the Light? (Anna McGregor, Scribble)
Released May 2023
Two seagulls bob on top of a flat ocean on a sunny day. ‘Oh, hi!’ says one. ‘The story starts down there,’ says the other, dipping its head beneath the... Read more
My Little Barlaagany Sunshine (Melissa Greenwood, ABC Books)
Released May 2023
Teeming with vibrant artworks centred around the healing of intergenerational trauma, My Little Barlaagany Sunshine is a picture book created by artist and author Melissa Greenwood, a Saltwater Country woman... Read more
Eta Draconis (Brendan Ritchie, UWAP)
Released May 2023
Eta Draconis is Brendan Ritchie’s impressive third novel and the winner of the 2022 Dorothy Hewett Award. This road trip story centres around two sisters, Elora and Vivienne, who are... Read more
The Heart is a Star (Megan Rogers, HarperCollins)
Released May 2023
The Heart is a Star is the captivating debut novel by talented writer Megan Rogers. We are introduced to anaesthetist Layla Byrnes, a middle-aged woman struggling to reconcile her career,... Read more
Glimpse (Jane Higgins, Text)
Released May 2023
Jane Higgins’s dystopian YA debut The Bridge was the winner of the 2010 Text Prize, and her latest, Glimpse, has the same qualities that won Higgins the prize. Inspired by... Read more
All About the Heart (Remi Kowalski, illus by Tonia Composto, Berbay)
Released May 2023
All About the Heart by paediatric cardiologist Remi Kowalski and graphic designer Tonia Composto is the first in Berbay’s new nonfiction picture book series for four- to eight-year-olds. Kowalski and... Read more
She and Her Pretty Friend (Danielle Scrimshaw, Ultimo)
Released May 2023
Danielle Scrimshaw’s debut, She and Her Pretty Friend, is a history of queer Australian women. In a light and intriguing tone, Scrimshaw pieces together what little evidence there is—letters, diary entries,... Read more
