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.
PB 320 | 153 x 234 | ISBN: 9781925227581
$32.99 | Fiction | Also available as ebook
MidnightSun Publishing | November 2019
Distributed by NewSouth Books
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→
PB 224 | 198 x 128 | ISBN: 9781925227536
$17.99 | Middle grade fiction | Also available as ebook
MidnightSun Publishing | October 2019
Distributed by NewSouth Books
Rafferty Kaminski is a 13-year-old who believes in facts. Not like his Cryptozoologist father, who searches for creatures not proven to exist.
Beverley McWilliamsBeverley 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).
HB 32 | 282 x 245 | ISBN: 9781925227567 | $29.99
Picture book | August 2019
MidnightSun Publishing
Distributed by NewSouth Books
Born in 1889 on a farm in rural South Australia, Harry Butler was determined to fly. Follow Harry’s remarkable journey from studying the flight of his chickens to becoming one of Australia’s most significant pioneer aviators. Continue reading Born to Fly→
I started writing River Stone in 2015 because, as I talked about at the launch, it helped me re-find joy in writing. I had been living in Melbourne since 2009 but I had lost track of myself as a writer. Writing had slipped into that region of the tedious, the thing I was supposed to do, not what I wanted to do. I’d got caught up in judging everything I wrote against possible publication prospects, rather than enjoying the process itself.
What a book birthday! This year, I have launched The Day We Built the Bridge in no less than 5 cities! Now that the dust has settled, and the second shipment of the book has arrived (gosh – 4500 copies sold in 3 days – and in reprint already!) I thought I’d share the joy and gratitude that ‘the bridge book’ (The Day We Built the Bridge, written by Samantha Tidy, illustrated by Fiona Burrows) has brought into our lives. Continue reading Launching The Day We Built the Bridge→
HB 32 | 260 x 280 | ISBN: 9781925227529
$29.99 | Picture book
MidnightSun Publishing | June 2019
Distributed by NewSouth Books
What would you do if you could pluck the moon from the sky? Would you scoop it up in an ice cream cone, or ride it like a snail shell across the night sky? I Would Dangle the Moon is an imaginative and playful story about all the wonderful things a mother would do with the moon for her child if she could do anything in the world. Continue reading I Would Dangle the Moon→
Amber MoffatAmber Moffat is a writer and visual artist based in Western Australia. She believes that being able to share stories is the most magnificent thing about being human. Amber is originally from New Zealand and still has strong ties to her hometown of Dunedin. She is an experienced teacher and a fierce advocate for arts education.
At the end of 2015 Amber was awarded an Emerging Writers’ Mentorship by the Australian Society of Authors. The judges said of her work, “This picture book text was absolutely wonderful – lyrical, evocative, poetic, and quite unusual. It had a really unique voice, and the imagery was very striking.”
Amber was the recipient of a Paper Bird Fellowship in 2018, and she completed the final artwork for her debut picture book, I Would Dangle the Moon, during her residency at Fremantle’s Paper Bird Books and Arts.
PB 368 | 198 x 129 | ISBN: 9781925227499
$19.99 | YA Fiction | Also available as ebook
MidnightSun Publishing | May 2019
Distributed by NewSouth Books
Pandora, of the River People, wants more than her village can provide. When disaster comes to her people, Pan has the opportunity to become their saviour and escape her inevitable pairing with life-long friend Matthew. She wants to make her own choices. Deep in her soul, she believes there is something more out there, beyond the boundaries, especially since she encountered the hunter of the Mountain People.
A story of confused love, difficult friendships and clumsy attempts at heroism, Pan’s fight for her village will bring her into contact with a whole new world, where the truth about the past will have terrifying reverberations for her people’s future survival. Continue reading River Stone→
Rachel HennessyRachel Hennessy is the award-winning author of five novels of contemporary fiction: The Quakers (Wakefield Press, 2008), The Heaven I Swallowed (Wakefield Press, 2013)), and the three books in The Burning Days trilogy: River Stone (MidnightSun, 2019), Mountain Arrow (MidnightSun, 2020) and now City Knife.
Her first novel, about a group of obsessive teenagers, was described by John Birmingham as ‘un-put-down-able’ and was the winner of the Adelaide Festival’s Best Unpublished Manuscript Award. Her second novel was Runner Up in the Australian/Vogel Award, long-listed for the Nita B Kibble Award and described by Australian Aboriginal Studies as ‘an important book’. Rachel lives in Melbourne with her partner and their two young daughters.
The year is planned out for MidnightSun and it’s full of exciting titles including a book for 8-12 year olds called Cryptosight. It’s written by Nean McKenzie and it’s her first book so we are extra excited to see it come to life. The cover design by Jenna Vincent is stunning and we are sure that it’ll capture the imagination of lots of kids around Australia.
Cryptosight
It’s fabulous to have so many wonderful books coming up this year! Keep an eye here on the website and on our Facebook page for more info as the months pass.