Another Year Around the Sun by Katrina Germein, ill. Alice Lindstrom

Another Year Around the Sun by Katrina Germein, illustrated by Alice Lindstrom Affirm Press, Simon & Schuster Another Year Around the Sun – Creators’ Inspiration Katrina Germein In thinking about the inspiration for Another Year Around the Sun, I can’t pinpoint one moment; even revisiting my drafts doesn’t help. It’s just there. A story about […]

Run by Sarah Armstrong

Run by Sarah Armstrong Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing When I was a kid, I used to dream of heading off into the wilderness and surviving by my wits. Sadly, the closest I ever came to that was building a treehouse up the back of our 13-acre block on the Central Coast of New South Wales […]

No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir by Mandy Sayer

No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir by Mandy Sayer Published by Transit Lounge, 2025 An edited extract: Mandy Sayer on the enduring legacy of her father’s humour Dad was forever joking, even in the most inappropriate settings. Once, on the way to radiotherapy, he leaned heavily against the lift’s handrail, winked at me and […]

Godaku Tjukurpa

Godaku Tjukurpa Tjitji Tjutangku Nyakula Kulintjaku Various contributors Interview about Godaku Tjukurpa with Louise Sherman, head of the Australian Languages Team (ALT), Bible Society Australia Thanks to speaking to ‘Joy in Books’ at Paperbark Words blog about Godaku Tjukurpa, Louise. Congratulations on the publication of this beautiful and important children’s book and for its shortlisting […]

TO and FRO by Anton Clifford-Motopi

TO and FRO by Anton Clifford-Motopi Allen & Unwin To and Fro by Anton Clifford-Motopi is shortlisted for the 2025 CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers. Congratulations on To and Fro being shortlisted by the CBCA, Anton. I was laughing out loud most of the way through. It also has important themes that you share aptly and originally. […]

Ava Spark by Alex Field

Ava Spark: Hello, I’m Here! by Alex Field, illustrated by Joanna Bartel New Frontier Publishing Guest author post by New Frontier Director Sophia Whitfield, who writes as Alex Field about Ava Spark and the life of her much-loved son Luke for ‘Joy in Books’ at Paperbark Words Ava Spark is largely inspired by my son’s life, […]

We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold

We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold Thames & Hudson “We live in a bus and we stop whenever we like.” (We Live in a Bus) We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold is a 2025 CBCA shortlisted Picture Book of the Year. Congratulations on your warm, joyous book and its CBCA shortlisting, […]

A Farm by the Sea by Jillian Packer

A Farm by the Sea by Jillian Packer Published by Berbay Books Jillian Packer writes about her tender, timeless picture book, A Farm by the Sea, to describe how childhood, and the place where you live, grows you into the person you become. Many of her illustrations artfully pay homage to ‘millefleur’ – design style […]

Spirit of the Crocodile by Aaron Fa’Aoso and Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White

Spirit of the Crocodile by Aaron Fa’Aoso and Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White Allen & Unwin ‘What do you think it wants?’ Ezra was talking about the crocodile. It was the only thing they’d been talking about for the past little while. Because it had come back. Not lying around on the boat ramp […]

Higher Ground by Tull Suwannakit

Higher Ground by Tull Suwannakit Author/illustrator Interview at PaperbarkWords “There was no one. Just us. ‘Never lose hope,’ Grandma said. ‘Life can be meaningful even in the darkest of days.’ “ (Higher Ground) New Frontier Publishing Thank you for speaking to ‘Joy in Books’ at PaperbarkWords, Tull. You must be thrilled with the final […]