100 REMARKABLE FEATS OF XANDER MAZE by Clayton Zane Comber (HarperCollins) The 2022 Prime Minister’s Literary awards shortlisted books were announced this week. As a judge in prior years I appreciate how much work and expertise is required by the judges, and work and liaison by coordinators and those submitting books for awards. Congratulations to […]
Read More 100 Remarkable Feats of Xander MazeGuest Post about The Edge of Limits by Susanne Gervay for PaperbarkWords blog Susanne Gervay writes important, ground-breaking books. Her new YA novel The Edge of Limits is hard-hitting and enlightening about a number of issues, particularly that of consent. Timely indeed. The Edge of Limits cements Susanne’s position as one of our leading agitators […]
Read More The Edge of Limits by SJ GervayTHE SUN WALKS DOWN by Fiona McFarlane (Allen & Unwin) Literary fiction review I was privileged to write an advance review about The Sun Walks Down for Books + Publishing (content now unlocked). Here is my additional review for PaperbarkWords blog, with a focus on sun gods, colonisation and art. The Sun Walks Down by […]
Read More THE SUN WALKS DOWNBrilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed Our World by Shannon Meyerkort Illustrator: Amy Blackwell Publisher: Affirm Press Shannon Meyerkort talks to ‘Joy in Books’ at PaperbarkWords about the background to her important book Brilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed Our World. My youngest daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia a few years ago, just […]
Read More Brilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed Our WorldThe Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold (published by Bloomsbury) Author interview with A.F. Harrold ‘As the day had gone by he’d been a bottle caught in the river current, bobbing and vanishing and twirling this way and that, yes and no, peace and anger, forgiveness and revenge.’ (The Worlds […]
Read More The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold & Levi PinfoldThe Museum of Broken Things by Lauren Draper “Gideon crosses his arms behind his head. He looks tired again, I realise. And softer, somehow. Lifeguard Gideon is all hard edges and shrewd lines. Party Gideon is a little looser, his smile a little wider. I hesitate before I settle down beside him at last, gazing […]
Read More The Museum of Broken Things Lauren DraperA Walk in the Dark by Jane Godwin A Walk in the Dark by Jane Godwin (Lothian Children’s Books) is my favourite of Jane’s excellent novels. It is genuinely exciting and high stakes, in a realistic way. It is also layered and meaningful as the group of Year Nine students tackle the ‘dropping’, a prepared […]
Read More A Walk in the Dark Jane GodwinWhalesong by Kate Gordon (published by Riveted Press) Author interview with Kate Gordon “Threads. All the way through the ages. Binding us together. Threads made of blood and history and bearing hearts. And hope. That is what we are, Aberdeen. We are hope. Young people, young women, like you and me. We are hope. You […]
Read More Kate Gordon WhalesongTHE WINTRISH GIRL by Melanie La’Brooy Melanie La’Brooy writes about The Wintrish Girl, her debut novel for young readers for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog. The Wintrish Girl explores high fantasy archetypes of identity, light and dark and the quest. It has moments of unexpected humour and layers of meaning that are perfectly integrated […]
Read More THE WINTRISH GIRL by Melanie La’BrooyByron Writers Festival 2022: Epiphany Byron Writers Festival returned in 2022 to great celebration on the lands of the Arakwal Bumberbin and Minjungbal peoples of the Bundjalung Nation. Artistic director Zoe Pollock and author Emily Brugman (whose novel The Islands has one of the best openings and setting you will be privileged to read) created […]
Read More Epiphany: Byron Writers Festival 2022
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