Life, Bound

2 April, 2020 Editor-in-Chief 1 Comment

by Marian Matta

Marian Matta’s Life, Bound moves through time and place, following characters who struggle to escape the past and strive to shape the future.

Free agents or captives of our past? In Life, Bound, characters find themselves caught in situations not of their own making, or trapped by ingrained habits, walking in grooves carved out by past events.

An artist’s progress is pleasingly channelled Continue reading Life, Bound →

Appearances

Interview with S. J. Morgan

5 February, 2020 Editor-in-Chief

Here is a fabulous interview with S. J. Morgan about her menacing crime thriller Hide. It will be available as an audio book this year and we are so proud!

https://www.sistersincrime.org.au/you-can-run-but-can-you-hide-qa-with-s-j-morgan/

Author

Hannah Sommerville

2 February, 2020 Editor-in-Chief

Hannah Sommerville is an award-winning picture book illustrator from the South Coast of NSW. With over a decade of experience in illustration, Hannah has now illustrated more than a dozen picture books.
In 2022 her book Jetty Jumping, written by Andrea Rowe, published by Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, was awarded the CBCA Book of the Year — Early Childhood. Her illustrations, which include watercolour, gouache, coloured pencil and digital mediums, are inspired by the playfulness and tenderness of family life and are drawn from her own memories of childhood and experiences as a mother.

Author

Mike Dumbleton

2 February, 2020 Editor-in-Chief

Mike Dumbleton is an award-winning picture book writer with 10 ‘Notable Books’ selected by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. His book, Muddled-up Farm, was the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year, 2004, and Cat was a CBCA Honour Book, 2008.

Additionally, Anisa’s Alphabet gained international recognition as a White Ravens reading recommendation (2021 Munich). Mike has also received a Federal Minister’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Improving Literacy for his work as an educator and a writer over an extended period of time.

In his spare time, Mike enjoys reading, travelling, trying to keep fit, listening to jazz and watching sport.

Title

Anisa’s Alphabet

2 February, 2020 Editor-in-Chief

Written by Mike Dumbleton, illustrated by Hannah Sommerville

HB 32 | 280 x 240
ISBN: 9781922858269 | $17.99
Picture book | March 2020
MidnightSun Publishing
Distributed by NewSouth Books

For many refugees the alphabet represents the start of a new language and a new future, but Anisa’s Alphabet is different.

A poignant and highly imaginative telling of one girl’s story which will appeal to children and adults alike … Come with Anisa, and see things through her eyes. Continue reading Anisa’s Alphabet →

Author

Dominic Carew

2 February, 2020 Editor-in-Chief 2 Comments

Dominic Carew is a lawyer and writer from Sydney. He has practised law in Sydney, London, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands in leading global law firms and financial institutions. He has an MA in Creative Writing from UTS, for which he received an Outstanding Student Award. Dominic has won or been shortlisted for many major short story awards, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

No Neat Endings is Dominic’s first collection of stories.

Title

No Neat Endings

2 February, 2020 Editor-in-Chief 3 Comments

by Dominic Carew

A young man can’t make love. A pedantic father spots a blemish in his new shorts and returns to the shop to demand their exchange. A girl rocks up to a Tinder date wearing a helmet.

In nineteen short stories, No Neat Endings pits its characters against the challenges of modern life, sex, love, work and the world. Continue reading No Neat Endings →

Reviews

Carmel Bird Reviews No Neat Endings

31 January, 2020 Editor-in-Chief

Fabulous to see four collections reviewed by the wonderful Carmel Bird in the Sydney Morning Herald, one of them being Dominic Carew’s No Neat Endings. Yay!

See the review here.

Reviews

NZbooklovers Reviews Hide

2 December, 2019 Editor-in-Chief

The great reviews of S.J. Morgan‘s Hide keep coming. Thank you NZbooklovers for this one. Hide will make a perfect Christmas gift for anyone who likes books with suspense and that special just-one-more-chapter-quality.

https://www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/post/hide-by-s-j-morgan

Uncategorized

What is Cryptozoology?

25 November, 2019 Editor-in-Chief

Nean McKenzie, author of Cryptosight, shares some of her experiences of the publication of her first book, an adventure story for 8-14 year-olds.

Staring into thick bush, full of shadows and tangled plants, I’m always aware there COULD be something in there that I don’t know about. It’s probably something I’ve heard of before. But what if it’s something hidden, something unknown? And once I started thinking about this, Cryptosight began. Cryptozoology is a little zone between fantasy and reality. I have spoken to two quite normal people since Cryptosight has been published, who both claim to have seen a ‘black cat’ (the puma that is frequently sighted but never confirmed, all over Victoria). I find this quite fascinating. How do so many people see these things? Do they exist? And if they don’t, why do people think they do?

When I was growing up Continue reading What is Cryptozoology? →

Appearances

Born to Fly at Edinburgh Airshow

10 November, 2019 Editor-in-Chief

What a huge weekend Beverley McWilliams and Timothy Ide had at the Edinburgh Airshow where they signed copies of Born to Fly, Tim showed off his talent as an artist and they both talked all things Harry Butler with aviation fans. The book really is a perfect Christmas present for inquisitive youngsters.

Appearances

NSW Premier’s History Awards

3 October, 2019 Editor-in-Chief

We are thrilled that Message in a Sock has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Awards. Congratulations to author Kaye Baillie and illustrator Narelda Joy.

Narelda attended the awards ceremony and had a splendid time. Continue reading NSW Premier’s History Awards →

Title

Hide

24 September, 2019 Editor-in-Chief

by S.J. Morgan

It’s 1983 in Thatcher’s Britain. Alec Johnston has left his comfortable family home in Cardiff and taken a flat with bikers Minto, Stobes and Black. There he meets Sindy, Minto’s strange and vulnerable young girlfriend. When she starts to view Alec as a possible saviour from her abusive relationship, it earns Alec a big target on his back. Continue reading Hide →

Title

Cryptosight

22 September, 2019 Editor-in-Chief 1 Comment

by Nean McKenzie

Rafferty Kaminski is a 13-year-old who believes in facts. Not like his Cryptozoologist father, who searches for creatures not proven to exist.

When their father disappears in the Flinders Ranges, strange things start happening. Continue reading Cryptosight →

Author

Beverley McWilliams

20 September, 2019 Editor-in-Chief

Beverley McWilliams is a children’s author from South Australia with a passion for historical fiction. Her debut picture book Born to Fly published by MidnightSun Publishing was a CBCA notable book. Beverley has published two middle-grade historical novels with Pantera Press: The Reindeer and the Submarine (2022) and Spies in the Sky (2023). Beverley is the event coordinator for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (South Australia).

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