Author: joylawn

Book advocate. Joy Lawn is a freelance book reviewer and book judge specialising in literary fiction and children's and YA literature. She has recently judged the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Qld Literary Awards - Fiction & Non-Fiction Book Award (chair), IBBY Australia Honour Books for Writing & Illustration, and has judged the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Russell Prize for Humour Writing, CBCA, Davitt Women's Crime Book awards & Aurealis Awards. Joy loves moderating sessions at Writers’ Festivals, including Brisbane, Byron, Sydney & Central Coast, reviews theatre & books for ArtsHub, books for Books + Publishing & writes the editorial and feature articles for Magpies magazine. Joy promotes Australian literature here and overseas. 'A great book compels you to reread your own soul.' — Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Scar Town & Tristan Bancks

Gymnastica Fantastica! by Briony Stewart

Gymnastica Fantastica! by Briony Stewart (Lothian Children’s Books, Hachette Australia) Gymnastica Fantastica! by Briony Stewart is the popular WINNER of the CBCA 2024 Book of the Year: Early Childhood category. “See, I’m okay! It’s my own special way, That’s how I do it – I do it all day!” (Gymnastica Fantastica!) Author/Illustrator Interview: Briony Stewart Congratulations on Gymnastica Fantastica! being […]

Grace Notes by Karen Comer

Grace Notes by Karen Comer (Lothian Children’s Books, Hachette Australia) Grace Notes by Karen Comer is the outstanding WINNER of the CBCA 2024 Book of the Year: Older Readers category. “This song has a grace note, a tiny note that’s there for embellishment but can easily be ignored, not played. Tonight, I add it in […]

Bear and Duck are Friends by Sue deGennaro

Bear and Duck are Friends by Sue deGennaro (Published by Little Hare an imprint of Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing) Inside the CBCA Shortlist Inside the 2024 CBCA Shortlist Inside the 2024 Notable Books Bear and Duck are Friends is an HONOUR BOOK in the CBCA 2024 Book of the Year Early Childhood category. “Duck loved trying […]

Borderlands: Riding the Slipstream

Borderlands: Riding the Slipstream edited by Paul Collins Ford St Publishing Borderlands: Riding the Slipstream is the successor to Ford Street’s popular and well-regarded anthology Rich & Rare. Both are books of short stories, poems and more. They share distinctive, otherworldly covers by Shaun Tan. Australian fantasy writer Isobelle Carmody has written a fascinating foreword […]

Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson

Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson Published by Magabala Books Guest Author post about Always Was, Always Will Be by Sue Lawson for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog Always Was, Always Will Be has been a long time coming. Aunty Fay and I first started writing the […]

Rock Dogs by Sally Barns & Anil Tortop

Rock Dogs by Sally Barns & Anil Tortop Published by Affirm Press Guest author post about Rock Dogs by Sally Barns for Joy in Books at Paperbark Words blog As much as I would love to be able to tell you that the idea for this story came from somewhere meaningful, I can’t. It wasn’t inspired by a personal story of […]

Digger Digs Down by Johanna Bell, illustrated by Huni Melissa Bolliger

Digger Digs Down by Johanna Bell, illustrated by Huni Melissa Bolliger (Published by University of Queensland Press) “Digger digs deep, deep into the ground. Down down down goes Digger until …” (Digger Digs Down) Digger Digs Down is an exceptional picture book. Both the deceptively simple written text and the sumptuous illustrations work together to […]

Imagine a Time by Penny Harrison & Jennifer Goldsmith

Imagine a Time by Penny Harrison & Jennifer Goldsmith “Imagine a time when all the world STOPS, when all of the clocks no longer TICK-TOCK. And all of the maps are starting to fade, as the need to be somewhere drifts far away.” (Imagine a Time) (Imagine a Time is published by New Frontier Publishing) […]

The Discipline of Suffering by Dr Katherine Thompson

The Discipline of Suffering:Redeeming Our Stories of Pain by Dr Katherine Thompson The Discipline of Suffering is published by Acorn Press and is shortlisted for the 2024 Sparklit Awards. “The best outcome is found in facing the challenges in front of us one at a time. In doing so, we gain purpose and clarity about […]