Ahead of this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, running 21–24 March, we are thrilled to share the latest children’s and YA titles from Australian publishers in this issue of Think Australian, which is being distributed by Publishers Weekly and BookBrunch. After two years away from in-person fairs, Australian rights managers are keen to meet up…

With a dozen adult novels under her belt, Monica McInerney is now turning her hand to children’s fiction and her first foray into middle-grade territory is just as full of heart and laughter as her previous books. Imagine 45 & 47 Stella Street receiving a visit from Salem, Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s familiar and you will have the premise of Marcie Gill…

Publisher Anouska Jones introduces health and wellbeing press Exisle Publishing’s children’s imprint EK Books. How and why did Exisle’s children’s imprint EK begin its life? Exisle Publishing began 30 years ago as an independently owned nonfiction publishing company. Over the years, we’ve developed a very strong self-help/health and wellbeing list, and in 2013 we launched…

From a nonfiction book about how trees talk to a slam poetry adaptation, Australian publishers are pitching some picture books with a difference at Bologna this year. Jordan Collins’ debut picture book Where?, illustrated by Phil Lesnie, started as a slam poem Collins wrote and performed when they were 14. ‘It challenges racism, is both…

If you’re on the ground in Bologna for this year’s fair, pop by the Australian stand, Hall 25, Stand B78. The Australian Publishers Association stand will be managed by Rome-based Australian freelance editor, English-language consultant and former bookseller and publisher Kabita Dhara, and will this year feature 15 Australian publishers. Books from Bologna Prize nominee…

Unlimited Futures is a YA anthology of sci-fi and speculative fiction edited by Rafeif Ismail and Ellen van Neerven. What makes it so different from other collections like it is the anthology’s centring of Blak and Black lives in an Australian context. Unlimited Futures contains a mix of genres including poetry, which is rare in…

Acclaimed Australian children’s writer Peter Carnavas has followed up his wonderful first novel The Elephant with another book equally full of heart. An ode to sibling relationships, growing up and the natural world, My Brother Ben tells the story of 10-year-old Luke, whose love for birds and birdwatching is eclipsed only by his adoration for his older brother, Ben….

Australian publishers will be pitching several new series at Bologna—from some well established names, as well as emerging authors. In middle-grade, Penguin Random House Australia has a ‘charming’ new series from Jacqueline Harvey, whose previous series have sold widely: ‘Kensy and Max’ to North America; the Clementine Rose series to the UK, Brazil and Sri…