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Where the Trees Were (Inga Simpson, Hachette)
Released April 2016
Queensland writer Inga Simpson’s third novel is a moving meditation on the bonds of childhood friendship and the moral complications of atonement. The summer before they start high school, Jay... Read more
After Before Time (Robbi Neal, HarperCollins)
Released April 2016
When Robbi Neal and her family moved from Geelong to the remote Lockhart River Aboriginal community in Cape York to manage the local art centre, their plan was to stay... Read more
The Art of Reading (Damon Young, MUP)
Released April 2016
What’s the difference between a writer and a reader? In an ideal world, you would be both. After all, they say everyone has a story to tell. Damon Young’s story... Read more
Everywhere I Look (Helen Garner, Text)
Released April 2016
I’d probably give Helen Garner five stars for her shopping list; I’ve loved her work since Monkey Grip was published in 1977, the year I began selling books. I’m sure... Read more
The Fighter: A True Story (Arnold Zable, Text)
Released May 2016
Henry Nissen was a champion boxer in the 1970s. Still fit at the age of 67, he now works as a labourer on the docks and helps out as a... Read more
From the Outer: Footy Like You’ve Never Heard It (ed by Alicia Sometimes & Nicole Hayes, Black Inc.)
Released April 2016
For a pastime beloved by so many Australians, the loudest voices in the world of AFL are invariably straight, white and male. From the Outer provides a valuable contribution to... Read more
Our Man Elsewhere: In Search of Alan Moorehead (Thornton McCamish, Black Inc.)
Released April 2016
Journalist, war correspondent, minor novelist and major popular historian Alan Moorehead was one of the best-known expatriate Australians in the Western world. How is it that he is now almost... Read more
Archie: No Ordinary Sloth (Heath McKenzie, Five Mile Press)
Released March 2016
The word ‘sloth’ is unlikely to be paired with the adjective ‘energetic’, but that’s exactly what author—illustrator Heath McKenzie does in his latest picture book. McKenzie, who’s had success with... Read more
Dance, Bilby, Dance (Tricia Oktober, Ford Street)
Released March 2016
Dance, Bilby, Dance by author-illustrator and environmentalist Tricia Oktober is an energetic tale for pre-schoolers about a resourceful bilby who is determined to find his groove. At first a stumbling... Read more
William Bligh: A Stormy Story of Tempestuous Times (Michael Sedunary, illus by Bern Emmerichs, Berbay)
Released February 2016
Both author and illustrator have brought the tempestuous story of William Bligh to life in this superb history book, which informs, intrigues and involves the reader by asking questions and... Read more
Bro (Helen Chebatte, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released February 2016
Romeo Makhlouf knows he should be playing by the rules but the problem is the rules of being a bro aren’t the same as the rules laid down by his... Read more
The Way We Roll (Scot Gardner, A&U)
Released March 2016
Will has a new job collecting trolleys at a dingy suburban shopping centre. His work partner, rough, tattooed Westie Julian, realises something is up: Will says he lives in a... Read more
The Yearbook Committee (Sarah Ayoub, HarperCollins)
Released March 2016
Five very different Year 12 students find themselves on the Yearbook Committee for their prestigious private school. Some are loners and some are popular, but all are facing their own... Read more
Yellow (Megan Jacobson, Penguin)
Released February 2016
Yellow is a surprising and engaging story from debut author Megan Jacobsen. Fourteen-year-old Kirra has a rocky home life: her father has left the family for another woman and her... Read more
Something Wonderful (Raewyn Caisley & Karen Blair, Viking)
Released March 2016
Raewyn Caisley’s first book with illustrator Karen Blair, Hello from Nowhere, took readers to the Australian Nullarbor to reveal the benefits of living in the middle of a desert. In... Read more
Magrit (Lee Battersby, Walker Books)
Released March 2016
Magrit is nearly 10 and lives in an abandoned cemetery with her skeletal mentor Master Puppet. One day her simple life is disrupted forever by the arrival of a tiny... Read more
Squishy Taylor and the Bonus Sisters: Squishy Taylor Book One (Ailsa Wild, illus by Ben Wood, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released February 2016
The first book in this new series by Ailsa Wood throws you straight into the action, when Squishy (real name Sita) discovers a boy hiding out in the carpark of... Read more
Waiting (Philip Salom, Puncher & Wattmann)
Released March 2016
Award-winning poet Philip Salom’s third novel, set in inner-city Melbourne, is an absurdist fiction following the haphazard lives of oddball couple Big and Little. Big is a large, Rabelaisian, somewhat... Read more
Whisperings in the Blood (Shelley Davidow, UQP)
Released March 2016
Shelley Davidow’s family memoir Whisperings in the Blood is a book about destiny and the way lives are shaped by inheritances passed down by previous generations. A haunting and beautiful... Read more
Talking to My Country (Stan Grant, HarperCollins)
Released March 2016
The politics of Aboriginal identity cut to the bone of veteran journalist Stan Grant’s hybrid memoir/social commentary Talking to My Country. Through sharing the stories of his ancestors, Grant shows... Read more
