Queensland Reviewers Collective

Miles Franklin Literary Award 2025

Miles Franklin Award 2025 The longlist for the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. Longlisted titles for the $60,000 prize are: Chinese Postman (Brian Castro, Giramondo) The Burrow (Melanie Cheng, Text) Theory & Practice (Michelle de Kretser, Text) Dirt Poor Islanders (Winnie Dunn, Hachette) Compassion (Julie Janson, Magabala) Politica (Yumna Kassab, Ultimo) Ghost Cities (Siang Lu, UQP) * Highway 13 (Fiona

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May 18, 2025 No Comments
Non-Fiction

The Baggy Green by Michael Fahey and Mike Coward

Reviewed by Richard Tutin I have enjoyed watching cricket in its various forms for most of my life. It’s enjoyable to watch closely contested five-day test matches with scarce wickets and runs. In the games where Australia participates, the baggy green cap is frequently seen. Of course, not all players are wearing it throughout the

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May 18, 2025 No Comments
History

The Southern Frontier by Rohan Howitt

Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Most of us have grown up with the idea that the Antarctic is a relatively untouched land of ice, mountains and penguins.  It seems unthinkable that we should exploit it for mining or oil or whales. Yet through the 19th and most of the 20th centuries, Australia saw Antarctica as a

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May 14, 2025 No Comments
Children

Ming and Maria Explore the Universe by Jackie French

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The author of this children’s book is Jacqueline Anne French AM, known professionally as Jackie French. She is an Australian author who has written across several genres for both adults and children. Her most notable works, among the 200 she has written, include Rain Stones, Diary of a Wombat, The Girl

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May 14, 2025 No Comments
Historical Fiction

33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen

Reviewed by Colleen McLennan Alice Austen is an American writer, playwright, screenwriter and producer.  She was a student at the University of Oregon and was a member of the women’s track team.  She studied at Harvard Law School and was the co-founder of the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and studied creative writing under Seamus Heaney. 

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May 11, 2025 No Comments

The Age Book of the Year Awards

The Age Book of the Year 2025 The winners of the 2025 Age Book of the Year awards have been announced. Rodney Hall won the fiction award for his novel Vortex (Picador) and Lech Blaine won the nonfiction prize for Australian Gospel: A Family Saga (Black Inc.). The winners, chosen from shortlists announced earlier this month, were announced at the opening night of the Melbourne Writers

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May 10, 2025 No Comments

ABIA Awards 2025

THE 2025 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED Books+Publishing, in partnership with the Australian Publishers Association, are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs).  The highly anticipated winners, including the prestigious Book of the Year were revealed at a glittering gala event hosted by Myf Warhurst in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday 7 May. Celebrating 25

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May 8, 2025 No Comments
General Fiction

Saturation by William Lane

Reviewed by Rod McLary Dystopian novels – and there are many of them from Brave New World to The Road to The Handmaid’s Tale – all attempt to anticipate the future and of course we have no way of telling whether they are or will be accurate.  Some assume huge scientific advances, others a cataclysmic

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May 6, 2025 No Comments
Historical Fiction

My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende

Reviewed by Clare Brook My Name is Emilia Del Valle is the latest historical-fiction novel by Isabel Allende set in nineteenth century Chile.  Written in the first person, it reads like a memoir.  However, Emilia del Valle is a fictional character who is determined to overcome her impoverished background and the societal conventions of the

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May 6, 2025 No Comments
History

Charles Todd’s Magnificent Obsession by David Dufty

Reviewed by Richard Tutin When someone wishes to pursue a momentous project at all costs they are often regarded as being obsessive. If they manage to complete it well, they are then called visionary. Such is the situation with Charles Todd whose greatest achievement was the completion of the Overland Telegraph in 1872. David Dufty

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May 6, 2025 No Comments

The Age Book of the Year Awards 2025

The Age Book of the Year Awards 2025 Twelve books have made the shortlists for this year’s entries in The Age Book of The Year awards. The six books on the fiction shortlist have been described as particularly exciting in “eclecticism and range” by the judges, author and critic Bram Presser, and The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Canberra bureau

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May 1, 2025 No Comments

NSW Literary Awards 2025

NSW Literary Awards 2025  The NSW Literary Awards are held annually. They are the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia and cover all genres of writing. The Awards provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of literacy and to encourage everyone to enjoy and learn from the work of our writers. These

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April 30, 2025 No Comments
Literary Fiction

I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena

Reviewed by Rod McLary Psychologists say that a white lie is a small, socially acceptable untruth told – among other reasons – to avoid embarrassment.  It can also be a lie of omission; that is, when something incorrect is said and there is no attempt made to correct the error.  But as with so much

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April 30, 2025 No Comments
General Fiction

Weathering the Storm by Mandy Magro

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Weathering the Storm is the latest book by Queensland writer Mandy Magro who has been producing books in the romance genre since 2011.  She writes with authority using insights from her own previous adventures.  As a passionate woman and a romantic at heart, Mandy loves writing about soul-deep love, the Australian

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April 30, 2025 No Comments
Crime/Mystery

Burning Mountain by Darcy Tindale

Reviewed by Rod McLary There is something about rural noir which immediately engages the hearts and minds of Australian readers.  Whether it is the immersion in the landscape, the laconic dialogue of the characters, or the familiarity of those characters, the novels in this genre – think Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, Jack Heath and others

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April 29, 2025 No Comments
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