Cirrus@Austlit

'Born in Northern Ireland, Nick Earls was nine years old when he emigrated to Australia. He started his working life as a doctor, but the prestige of that career paled in comparison to the thrill of making a living as a writer. The author of Zigzag Street and Analogue Men, he is now in the process of publishing a series of five novellas called ‘Wisdom Tree’. The third in the series, Vancouver, is out this month. We asked Nick to tell us about the books that formed him into the person he is now.'

'Adelaide writer Stephen Orr, whose book The Hands was longlisted for the 2016 Miles Franklin Award, likes to travel the world inspecting sites of literary interest – when he’s not writing about cattle stations and small towns. Here he recounts a recent journey to the British Isles and Germany on which he visited the homes and haunts of some of the world’s best known authors.'

'The Sound, the second book from novelist Sarah Drummond, is set around Western Australia’s King George Sound. Based on a true story, the novel tells of Wiremu Heke, a Maori man from across the Tasman who sails from Tasmania to WA in 1825 on a mission of vengeance. We asked Sarah to tell us about Wiremu and about The Sound.'

'Mark Smith’s new post-apocalyptic YA novel, The Road to Winter, is being compared to John Marsden’s Tomorrow When the War Began.'