Bramble a literary journal for and by disabled creatives

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Bramble a literary journal for and by disabled creatives

31 October 2022

Bramble is a newly launched quarterly literary journal for, and by, disabled creatives. Founded by Spencer Barberis, and Scout Lee Robinson, past University of Wollongong arts students, Bramble only publishes creative work by disabled writers and artists based in Australia.

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Australian literature, writing

Australian genre fiction authors look overseas for publishers

22 October 2022

If you’re an Australian author, don’t bother submitting manuscripts for anything other than literary fiction to local publishers. Nothing else will be accepted. That seems to be the message from a number of prominent Australian writers, including Stephanie Laurens and Shelley Parker-Chan, who say they had to find overseas publishers for their works of genre fiction.

The local publishing landscape is dominated by trade houses that concentrate on contemporary or literary fiction: books that are often character-driven, serious and contemplative. But these novels are not the most popular. A 2021 survey of Australian readers found crime and mystery was their favourite genre, followed by science fiction and fantasy, then contemporary and literary fiction.

But according to Jo MacKay, the head of local publishing at HQ Books, a division of HarperCollins, the Australian book market is saturated by the likes of fantasy fiction. It may be popular, but no one is buying it, if that makes any sense. And while Australian authors undoubtedly greatly benefit from exposure to markets such as those in America, there are strings attached.

For instance, Laurens reported having to be content with a cover design her publisher thought would be conducive to sales, rather than an option she would have preferred.

Tom Keneally, Katrina Nannestad win 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize

22 October 2022

Sydney based Australian author Tom Keneally has won the adult category of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize with his novel Corporal Hitler’s Pistol. Katrina Nannestad meanwhile, who resides in central Victoria, was named winner of the children and young adult category with Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief.

Keneally has graciously shared his prize money with this year’s other award longlisted authors. Keneally was forthright in his decision. Speaking as an eighty-seven year old he said, he’d rather see other writers benefit from the prize money instead of him spending it on incontinence pads.

Why aren’t Australian books being nominated for the Booker Prize?

19 October 2022

It’s been six years since the work of an Australian author was nominated for the Booker Prize. Tasmanian writer Richard Flanagan was the last recipient in 2014, with his book The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Since then only South African born Australian author J.M. Coetzee has made the cut, being named on the longlist for the 2016 Prize with The Schooldays of Jesus.

But 2014 was also the year changes were made to the Prize’s eligibility requirements, allowing any English language title to be nominated, essentially opening up the award to American writers. Since then it seems Australian books have struggled to gain traction.

The Booker was once confined to authors from the Commonwealth, Ireland and Zimbabwe — an empire rule that looked increasingly silly, leading to a change in 2014 to allow all novels written in English, so long as they were published by UK and Irish publishing houses. Much fuss was made about the decision to let Americans in (including by Carey), but it is undeniable that since then, they have made up roughly a quarter of every longlist and won three times; at this year’s prize, which was won by Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka on Monday, six of the 13 nominees were American. These authors are most often living, working and published in the US — seemingly an easier path into the UK than the long road from Australia.

The 2022 Richell Prize shortlist for unpublished writers

13 October 2022

The 2022 Richell Prize shortlist — which is open to unpublished Australian writers of adult fiction and adult narrative non-fiction — was announced on Tuesday 10 October 2022. This year six writers were selected from a field of some seven hundred aspirants.

Zainab’s Not Home, by Hajer Al-awsi
When Trees Fall Without Warning, by Susannah Begbie
Wake, by Kate Harris
Place Setting, by Eva Lomski
The Little Ones, by Anne Myers
The Medusa, by Lisa Nan Joo

In addition to a cash prize, the winner — who will be named on Thursday 3 November 2022 — will receive twelve months mentoring with a publisher at Hachette Australia, and may possibly see their manuscript published.

Psalms For The End Of The World by Cole Haddon

10 October 2022

Psalms For The End Of The World, written by Australian-American author Cole Haddon, and published by Hachette Australia, is a novel aptly titled for the times. For more than one reason.

The first, and most obvious, is the end-of-days gloom permeating global affairs presently. The other, of all things, relates to the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize for physics. That’s because for the overt references to the end of the world, Psalms For The End Of The World also includes — among other things — physics and quantum entanglement in the mix:

It’s 1962 and physics student Grace Pulansky believes she has met the man of her dreams, Robert Jones, while serving up slices of pecan pie at the local diner. But then the FBI shows up, with their fedoras and off-the-rack business suits, and accuses him of being a bomb-planting mass-murderer.

Finding herself on the run with Jones across America’s Southwest, the discoveries awaiting Gracie will undermine everything she knows about the universe. Her story will reveal how scores of lives — an identity-swapping rock star, a mourning lover in ancient China, Nazi hunters in pursuit of a terrible secret, a crazed artist in pre-revolutionary France, an astronaut struggling with a turbulent interplanetary future, and many more — are interconnected across space and time by love, grief, and quantum entanglement.

With a timeline spanning centuries, and incorporating the stories of multiple characters, Psalms For The End Of The World seems to have something for everyone, be they fans of crime, science fiction, fantasy, or historical fiction.

The Small Press Network Book of the Year Award 2022 shortlist

7 October 2022

The Book of the Year Award 2022 shortlist was announced on Tuesday 4 October 2022, and features seven titles this year:

No Document by Anwen Crawford
Friends & Dark Shapes by Kavita Bedford
Hometown Haunts by Poppy Nwosu
Permafrost by SJ Norman
Gravidity and Parity by Eleanor Jackson
Theory of Colours by Bella Li
Sexy Tales of Paleontology by Patrick Lenton

Also known as the the BOTYs, the award is an initiative of the Small Press Network, an organisation representing some two-hundred and fifty small and independent Australian publishers. The winner will be named on Friday 25 November 2022.

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Australian literature, literary awards

Limberlost the new novel by Robbie Arnott

3 October 2022

Limberlost (published by Text Publishing, October 2022), is the new novel from Tasmania based Australian author Robbie Arnott, and follows his 2020 book The Rain Heron, which was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin literary award.

As with The Rain Heron, conflict features in Limberlost, though this time the story is told from the perspective of a boy whose older brothers are away, fighting during the Second World War:

In the heat of a long summer Ned hunts rabbits in a river valley, hoping the pelts will earn him enough money to buy a small boat. His two brothers are away at war, their whereabouts unknown. His father and older sister struggle to hold things together on the family orchard, Limberlost.

Desperate to ignore it all — to avoid the future rushing towards him — Ned dreams of open water. As his story unfolds over the following decades, we see how Ned’s choices that summer come to shape the course of his life, the fate of his family and the future of the valley, with its seasons of death and rebirth.

Early reviews for Limberlost look promising. Kimberley Starr, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, praises Arnott’s magical realism, and lyrical magic, which made The Rain Heron a treat to read:

Any readers unresponsive to the magical realism of Arnott’s previous novels should find something to appreciate here, and people who already value his writing will have the opportunity to see him working his lyrical magic in a more familiar but equally beguiling world.

2022 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award shortlist

30 September 2022

The 2022 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award shortlist was announced on Tuesday 27 September 2022.

Two Afternoons in the Kabul Stadium, by Tim Bonyhady
Signs and Wonders, by Delia Falconer
The Asparagus Wars, by Carol Major
Mafioso, by Colin McLaren
Mortals, by Rachel E. Menzies and Ross G. Menzies
Here Goes Nothing, by Steve Toltz

Held in conjunction with Waverley Council, in Sydney’s east, the Nib Award, which was established in 2002, is the only Australian literary prize of its kind presented by a municipal council.

The winner of the prize, valued at A$20,000, will be named on Wednesday 16 November 2022.

My Sweet Guillotine, by Jayne Tuttle

26 September 2022

My Sweet Guillotine (published by Hardie Grant Books, September 2022), is the second book by Australian author Jayne Tuttle.

Like her debut title, Paris or Die, My Sweet Guillotine is a memoir about her time living and working in Paris. Here though, Tuttle focuses adjusting to life following a freak accident in the French capital that almost killed her.

In the wake of a bizarre, shocking accident in Paris, Jayne finds herself back in the city in a strange limbo. Ignoring the past, she tries to move forward. There is theatre. Love. New friendships. A new neighbourhood. But the accident haunts her, forcing her to confront herself and the experience in ways she could never have predicted.

Sally Pryor, writing for The Canberra Times, describes My Sweet Guillotine as a book for those who enjoy reading about the lives and experiences of others:

Above all, My Sweet Guillotine is also a love letter – an older, wiser love letter to Paris, a place that has a majestic, wonderful indifference to her and her needs, and yet seems able to fulfil them so completely.

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