Zach Jones’s debut novel Growing Up in Flames is as gritty as bushfire ash. Written for a doctorate in creative writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast, the novel’s provenance is evident in Jones’s masterly use of the extended metaphor of fire to explore the relationship between intergenerational trauma and adolescent identity formation. In…

Two titles published by Walker Books Australia jointly won the children’s book category of the prestigious and valuable Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in 2021: middle-grade graphic novel Fly on the Wall (Remy Lai) and picture book How to Make a Bird (Meg McKinlay, illus by Matt Ottley). Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text) took…

From horror to fantasy with some wit and mystery along the way, Australian YA shows its range in several recent deals. Two recent acquisitions by Australian publishers present a similar premise: What We All Saw (Mike Lucas, Penguin) is ‘an upmarket horror tale between four friends, four truths and one nightmare which brings them all…

Tomorrow is a Brand-New Day is an ode to making a mistake and then making things right. It follows two children—friends with different styles—who come into conflict with each other and those around them. The wrongdoings range from small (spilling a bowl of cereal) to large (ripping up a book) and the rhyming text insightfully…

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…

Publisher Rachel Bin Salleh introduces Australia’s leading First Nations press Magabala Books. How and why did Magabala’s children’s division begin its life? Magabala has been publishing children’s pictures books since our beginnings in the 80s. Our children’s poetry book Do Not Go Around the Edges by Daisy Utemorrah was first published in 1991 and is…

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…

Children’s publisher Tash Besliev intoduces Melbourne independent Affirm Press. How and why did the Affirm Press children’s division begin its life? After successfully publishing across many other categories, Affirm Press began publishing books for children in 2017 as a way of continuing to grow the business and its list of books that ‘influence by delight’…