Winner of the Indie Book of the Year – Craig Silvey Our congratulations to Craig Silvey for his winning the Indie Book of the Year – and the Children’s Book of the Year category – with Runt. Craig Silvey says of his win: ‘Thirteen years after Jasper Jones was awarded Book Of The Year, it bears reiterating
Indie Book Award Winners Thirteen years after Jasper Jones was awarded Book Of The Year (in 2009), Australian independent booksellers are thrilled to announce RUNT by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin) as their favourite book from last year, and the winner of The Indie Book Awards 2023 Book of the Year. This is Craig’s second
Reviewed by Richard Tutin I don’t think Australian cricket lovers have really come to grips with the depth and diversity of the modern form of the game. Though they are familiar with the traditional cycle of tests, one day internationals and now T20, they may not be aware of how many countries field teams and
Reviewed by Rod McLary Sebastian Barry is one of our finest writers. His previous novels have twice won the Costa Book of the Year [in 2008 and 2017], the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and two have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Days Without End and A Thousand Moons, his two most recent novels,
TUESDAY 30th MAY | INSTORE EVENT 6.00pm for 6.30pm start | 60 mins Join Avid Reader for a conversation with Tom Rob Smith about his book Cold People What if the only hope for survival becomes the greatest threat? From the brilliant, bestselling author of Child 44 comes a suspenseful and fast-paced novel about a
Reviewed by Rod McLary Readers will come to this new book by Eleanor Catton with memories of her winning the Booker Prize in 2013 with her novel The Luminaries. Aged just 28, she was the youngest-ever winner; and The Luminaries was a complex and lengthy historical mystery. Ten years later, Birnam Wood is a different
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Juan Gómez-Jurado is a new writer to my stable. I was impressed. The publisher has made a feature of the fact that the writer is new and exciting, a practice that makes me look askance at the claims for the merits of the book. In this case, however, the inflated descriptions
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Inner Song is the life in print of a woman most Australians will never have heard of. This does not make her less worthy of the plaudits that are finally beginning to be attached to her name, but simply describes what happens to those whose head stretches above the pack, if
Reviewed by Rod McLary The great late crime novelist P. D. James once said ‘all fiction is largely autobiographical’ and this observation is borne out by Josh Silver’s debut novel HappyHead. The author says [in ‘Josh Silver – in his own words’ at the conclusion of the novel] that, like his protagonist Seb Seaton, he
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Wow! The Iron Widow is a wild Young Adult read. Xiran Jay Zhao expands on concepts drawn from a range of pop culture and Chinese mythology to deliver an imaginative Sc Fi retelling of the only female emperor in Chinese history – Wu Zetian. In this, Zhao powerfully forwards the idea
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Few educated Australians could immediately speak with authority when prompted by the name Barron Field. This Colonial administrator and law maker was born into wealth and admitted to the bar in 1814. Although law was his career, his passion was literature. This was the time of the Romantic movement when Field
Reviewed by Richard Tutin Australians love their sport. Television and streaming networks pay big money to get the rights to broadcast all forms of sport from cricket and football through to car racing and the summer and winter Olympics. Some networks specialise their focus on one or two different formats. Others such as the Seven
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Dominic Smith has the gift of transporting a reader to an unfamiliar world, but brings it to life with writing that is carefully chosen, beautiful and haunting. In the Last Painting of Sara De Vos, it was the era of the great Dutch Masters. In his latest novel, Return to Valetto,
The longlist for the $60,000 Stella Prize for women and non-binary writers has been announced. The longlisted books are: The Furies by Mandy Beaumont (Hachette) Every Version of You by Grace Chan (Affirm) We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo) big beautiful female theory by Eloise Grills (Affirm) The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt (UQP) Hydra by Adriane Howell (Transit
The shortlists for the 2023 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. Changes to the awards this year include the $30,000 Indigenous Writers’ Prize now being offered annually; the prize money for the Multicultural NSW Award being increased from $20,000 to $30,000; and the people’s choice award now including $5000 prize money. The shortlisted