What Snail Knows, by Kathryn Apel, illustrated by Mandy Foot
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
At school, I usually try to find a place away from other kids. It’s better by                                myself. Lucy can’t take her house with her wherever she goes, like her friend Snail – but she does take Snail with her. And she moves a lot, with her dad not keen to stay anywhere for very long. Always being the new girl makes school a challenge for Lucy but at her latest school she has a nice teacher and even a new friend. If only  she could convince Dad to stay here for longer. What Snail Knows is a d ..read more
Visit website
Guest Post: From aged care to publishing contract in 10 months
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
It’s always wonderful to hear about authors’ paths to publications, so it is a pleasure to welcome today Karen Herbert, author of The River Mouth to share her story. Over to you, Karen.  This time two years ago, I was an aged care executive. I didn’t know that soon I would be made redundant and spend the winter writing two novels that would be accepted for publication the following year. Today, as the federal government releases the report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, I’ve been reflecting on the last two years and wondering what I can learn from them. Aged ca ..read more
Visit website
Guest Post: Why Comics? by Aśka
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
It’s been a while since we had a guest post here, but today I am delighted to welcome my friend, and the very talented illustrator  Aśka, here to talk about comics to celebrate the release of an important and wonderful new book, Stars in Their Eyes . Over to you  Aśka Why Comics? by Aśka I’m a visual person. In fact, that’s an understatement. There is always a movie playing in my head visualising how something feels, or scrutinising an image painted by a cliché, or ‘seeing’ music I enjoy. It never stops. This may be why I was immediately drawn to comics when I started ..read more
Visit website
Guest Blogger: How an architectural icon became the perfect setting for a thriller with Zoe Deleuil
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
Today we introduce The Night Village. When Australian expat Simone moves to London to start a career, getting pregnant is not on her agenda. But she’s excited to start a new life with her baby and determined to be a good mother, even though her boyfriend Paul’s cold and grey apartment in the Barbican Estate seems completely ill-suited for a baby. In this blog piece author Zoe Deleuil shares how brutalist architecture informed her new novel.  Over to you, Zoe A landmark of brutalist architecture, The Baribcan estate is an estate of some 2,000 apartments, in the heart of ..read more
Visit website
Guest Blog: Meg McKinlay says The delight is in the detail
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
Meg McKinlay is a children’s writer and poet whose work ranges from picture books through to young adult fiction. Her publications include the Prime Minister’s Literary Award-winning A Single Stone, and CBCA-shortlisted No Bears and Duck for a Day, among many others. In this guest blog post she gets to grips with some common questions. Over to you Meg.  What’s the story about? Where did you get the idea? Can you give a plot summary? What are the main themes? When a new book comes out, authors answer these questions over and over again. And for good reason – they’re excellent, important qu ..read more
Visit website
Guest Blog – Katie Stewart author and illustrator of Where Do the Stars Go?
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
Born in the north of England, Katie Stewart came to Australia at the age of nine. She started her working life as an archaeologist and ethnohistorian, then went on to teaching and to being a mother. She later worked in a school library, but her lifelong dream was to be what she is now. She is married to a farmer, has three children, writes and illustrates books, and lives north of Northam with lots of pets. Sounds idyllic, right? In this blog post, Katie talks about the highs and lows of being a regional writer. I always wanted to live on a farm. I’d lived in the country most of my life, but n ..read more
Visit website
Guest blogger: David Allan-Petale and the harvest that inspired the writing of Locust Summer
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
Locust Summer, which was shortlisted for the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, is the story of a young man called back to the family farm for one final harvest. Readers get a ‘harvest of suspense’ according to Carmel Bird and, according to Toni Jordan, ‘insights into pasts and futures, nostalgia and grief.’ In this guest post, David talks us through his very first harvest and how it spawned a novel. ‘A sandgroper, eh? You can teach us all how to grow wheat then!’ That’s the greeting I was given on my first day of working with the harvest crew on my mate’s farm in New South Wales. Lucky they d ..read more
Visit website
Guest blogger: Mel Hall on making up a religion to deal with pain
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
Making up a religion to cope with chronic pain led to Mel Hall’s debut novel, The Little Boat on Trusting Lane. Today she has dropped in to share her story. Welcome Mel.  The Little Boat on Trusting Lane by Mel Hall is a feel-good novel about a small spiritual community that hangs out on a boat in a scrapyard in Fremantle. An affectionate satire, the novel provides a funny yet critical commentary on belief, self-help, magical thinking and the mind/body connection. In this guest post, Mel describes how the novel, which was longlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award, came into being out of e ..read more
Visit website
Guest Blog – Michael Burrows author of Where the Line Breaks
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
Ryan O’Neill calls Michael Burrows’ debut novel, which was shortlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award, ‘an engrossing war story and a captivating tale of love and obsesssion’.  In this post Michael shares where his inspiration came from. The idea to write Where the Line Breaks came to me at 4 or 5 am, Anzac Day 2013, sitting in Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli coast in Turkey after a long night of readings, stories, music, remembrance and moving testimony. The moment came when someone approached the microphone and recited a few lines of war poetry. I can’t remember which poem exactly, but it w ..read more
Visit website
Guest blogger: Brigid Lowry on using reading and journaling to create a meaningful life
Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books
by Sally Murphy
2y ago
It is a delight to welcome Brigid Lowry to Aussiereviews.   If you’re struggling to maintain grace and good humour amidst daily potholes and pitfalls, Brigid  may be just the warm, wise and witty companion you need. Her new book is called A Year of Loving Kindness to Myself and other essays. Greetings. My name is Brigid Lowry. I didn’t start out wanting to be a writer. I tried being a librarian, a schoolteacher, a waitress, a cook and a laboratory assistant, and had various other unmentionable jobs, then lived in a Buddhist community for many years, helping to raise childre ..read more
Visit website

Follow Aussie Reviews | Reviews of great Australian books on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR