We were hugely proud to see Tara Winkler tackle her fears of public speaking to deliver a powerful speech at TEDxSydney, on the trouble with orphanages and voluntourism, to over 5000 people at the Sydney Opera House (and even more viewers worldwide)!… Read the rest
Both Gretchen Shirm, with Where the Light Falls, and Sam Carmody, with The Windy Season, were shortlisted entrants for the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award in 2014, and now we’re delighted to be sharing their debut novels with the world in July & August this year.… Read the rest
First it started with our staff, obviously, then came the critics and early readers’ reviews, and it hasn’t stopped – with more and more people raving about, debating and dissecting Charlotte Wood’s remarkable and important novel The Natural Way of Things.… Read the rest
With a bit of a focus online about Men Reading Women (following on from #WritingWhileFemale – read how that started), I rounded up some of my fellow menfolk in the office to see what their faves of the year were, with a few of 2015 to look out for amongst their selections too.… Read the rest
This weekend sees the start of the wonderful Melbourne Writers Festival, ten days of bookish chat from hundreds of authors. The list can be somewhat overwhelming however, so we’ve picked out four authors well worth hearing from (plus a handful of others), as they’re bound to give you much to think and talk about.… Read the rest
Tonight at last, we can announce the 2014 winner of The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, Christine Piper with her debut novel After Darkness.
Here at our offices in Crows Nest, a crowd from across the literary world were in attendance waiting with bated breath for Eleanor Catton to announce our winner.… Read the rest
We’re rather proud of our Australian heritage here at A&U, as well as our place in the Australian literary landscape, and what better time to showcase it than Australia Day and as part of the blog hop organised by Book’d Out.… Read the rest
According to the UK’s Daily Telegraph: ‘Scientists find secret to writing a best-selling novel’.
Computer scientists have developed an algorithm which can predict with 84 per cent accuracy whether a book will be a commercial success – and the secret is to avoid cliches and excessive use of verbs
Thanks Scientists.… Read the rest
What happens when you throw together a stellar line up of characters from across mythology and literature (think Medusa, mermaids, satyrs, harpies, trolls and many more), along with some typical teenage troubles such as parents, bullies, love, self-image and that question of what on earth do I want to do with life?… Read the rest
Yesterday morning brought the highly exciting (understatement) early morning news that Eleanor Catton’s magnificent novel The Luminaries had won The Man Booker Prize for Fiction!
So this afternoon we celebrated with a selection of New Zealand food and drink, raising a glass to Eleanor and our friends Granta.… Read the rest
