Cirrus@Austlit

'Disillusioned with her life in New York, Ruth returns to a lake town in Guatemala where she had been happy a decade earlier. There, in Panajachel, she meets two very different women: the calm and practical Emilie, and the turbulent and intoxicating Carmen. Deciding to stay and build a life at the lake, Ruth finds work first as a nanny to a wealthy local family, then as an English teacher at a village school. Meanwhile she becomes increasingly infatuated by her friendship with Carmen, pushing away the stability of her connection with Emilie. As Carmen’s fragile relationship with the world splinters, the difference between being a visitor and truly belonging becomes clear, and Ruth is forced to act.'  (Publication summary)

'A poignant middle-grade verse novel about family estrangement and reconciliation from Prime Minister’s Literary Award-winning author Sherryl Clark.' (Publication summary)

'Since the accident, eleven-year-old Bones spends her time drawing animal skeletons and scavenging for dead things to add to her collection. She’s drifted away from her friends and doesn’t want to make new ones, especially not with her chatty new neighbour, Tenny

'One night, under a full moon, Bones accidentally resurrects the skeleton of a baby bird. Bird wants to return to his natural (dead) state, so Bones agrees to reverse the curse – not that she knows how. As she and Bird work out the secrets of the magic, Bones remembers what it’s like to have a friend. How can she let Bird go when she doesn’t want to say goodbye?

'With gorgeous greyscale illustrations of Bones’s collected items scattered throughout, this book is perfect for big-hearted readers of Karen Foxlee and Zana Fraillon'  (Publication summary)

'While the ‘ nerdy white man’ stereotype of Autism dominates in media and popular culture, other Autistic people miss out on seeing themselves, their unique experiences, their hardships and their triumphs. In Someone Like Me, edited by Clem Bastow and Jo Case, twenty-five Autistic gender-diverse and women writers explore their experiences—and explode stereotypes. This groundbreaking anthology ranges from sex, living room dance parties and the natural world to eating disorders, all-encompassing passions and religion. Autistic people of all kinds are invited to find company in this book—and maybe even see themselves, too. Contributors include Fiona Wright, Sara Kian-Judge, CB Mako, Jess Ho, Kay Kerr, Khadija Gbla, Adele Dumont, Erin Riley, Shadia Hancock, Amanda Tink, Tash Agafonoff, Kai Ash, Anna Whateley and Kate Gordon.' (Publication summary)

'In this darkly ironic novel, a dead man walks back through four generations of family estrangements to recover his lost identity.

'The journey will be long and difficult, one thousand miles. Try not to be too obvious. Stick to the backroads. You'll know you've arrived when you get there.

'Stephen Bolin leaves a bizarre note by his deathbed, asking his sisters to take his body back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. When they ignore his request, Stephen's corpse makes the nocturnal pilgrimage alone. But what is compelling him and what will he find there?

'His journey, as a kind of jiangshi, takes him back through his turbulent family history- from his Chinese great-grandfather's life on the goldfields in 1860s Queensland, to his Scottish grandparents' migration to Australia as ten-pound Poms, and to his own coming of age and coming out in Brisbane and London.

'Original and satirical, First Name Second Name follows four generations of one family through a reckoning with racial, familial and sexual identity.'  (Publication summary)

'From award-winning poet Eileen Chong comes a dazzling book-length poem, comprising 101 interconnected fragments that can be read in any order, inviting the reader to construct multiple interpretations.

'We Speak of Flowers, Eileen Chong's sixth collection, is a wondrous extended elegy dedicated to her ancestors. Its 101 pieces are a spacious, meditative record of an attempt to make sense of grief in the face of great pain. Chong's interweaving of memory, history and possibility showcases her mastery of poetic form and craft, all the while displaying her signature light touch in exploring the pathos of things. This is poetry that thrums with feeling, of deep connections to place and ancestral roots, and of the search for meaning in a broken world.'

'A unique behind-the-scenes story of love, sisterhood and the trail-blazing Australian poet Dorothy Porter

'Dorothy Porter was one of Australia's most charismatic and courageous literary figures. Achieving broader fame through her bestselling queer crime verse novel, The Monkey's Mask, and its film adaptation, she took poetry and performance to new heights.

'Her younger sister, Josie McSkimming, watched Dot become an award-winning poet, but it was a family of complex dynamics. Born to renowned barrister Chester Porter, Dot, Josie and their sister, Mary, grew up in an unpredictable family home on Sydney's northern beaches. Each forged her own impressive career, but Josie and Dot sought very different escapes from their formidable father. Josie fell into (and out of) evangelical Christianity and psychotherapy while Dot found 'the Arts' and sex.

'With unprecedented access to Porter's personal diaries and letters, Gutsy Girls is an intimate story of sisterhood, finding creative power and blazing your own trail.'  (Publication summary)

'A remarkable and impressive debut collection of poems that speak to the complexity of family, identity and the proud legacy of Māori language and culture.'

'A blockbuster memoir from one of Australia's most powerful voices, Long Yarn Short is the incredible story of a young woman's journey - from being stolen from her family as a child to becoming a top advocate for First Nations young people.

'At just ten years old, Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts was forcibly removed - stolen - from her family, community and kinship systems. After eight years in various out-of-home care placements, Vanessa fled the system, reconnected with kin and returned to country for the very first time. Only then did she begin to heal.

'In this book, Vanessa embarks on an extraordinary work of truth-telling, exposing the ongoing violence visited on Black children, their families and their communities by the systems that claim to protect them. As a survivor of out-of-home care, a practising lawyer fighting for the freedom of others and now also a mother herself, she takes an unflinching look at the heartache and trauma caused by racist family policing, the shameful rates of child removals and the steady pipeline of First Nations children into the criminal justice system.

'Long Yarn Short is a story of struggle, grief and love; a call to action from one of the most powerful voices of her generation. As a leading expert in children's and young people's rights, Vanessa invites readers to imagine solutions for a better world - a world of support and empowerment, not punishment - and demands that they listen when she says, 'We are still here.''  (Publication summary)

'An exquisite celebration of First Nations languages from a selection of Australia's finest Indigenous writers, all wrapped up in a handsome hardback that's perfect for Christmas gift giving.

'Words to Sing the World Alive celebrates First Nations languages from across the continent. Forty First Nation writers and thinkers, journalists and lawyers, artists and astronomers come together to reveal their favourite and significant words. Words that evoke the power of childhood and the wonder of Country; that explore the essence of mother, of fire, of time. Words that are imbued with family and belonging, and that surprise with their connections.

'Join contributors including Kim Scott, Tara June Winch, Daniel Browning, Terri Janke, Jeanine Leane, Nardi Simpson, Dan Bourchier, Ellen van Neerven, Alice Skye, Bruce Pascoe, Anita Heiss, Thomas Mayo, Evelyn Araluen, Claire G Coleman and Mykaela Saunders as they share their words to sing the world alive.' (Publication summary)

'Shapeshifting, co-edited by Jeanine Leane and Ellen van Neerven, is a wide-ranging collection of nonfiction by First Nations writers that breaks new ground. These lyric essays push the boundaries of nonfiction beyond the biographical or the academic, with pieces that experiment with form and embark on carefully crafting and re-crafting interventions that both challenge and expand existing genre structures. Shapeshifting brings to the fore a whole new genre waiting to take shape, to be formed, informed and re-formed by First Nations Australian writers. Contributors include Charmaine Papertalk Green, Jim Everett, Jenni Martiniello, Natalie Harkin, Mykaela Saunders, Daniel Browning, Evelyn Araluen, Alison Whittaker, Rhianna Patrick, Melanie Saward, Timmah Ball and Hugo Comisari..' (Publication summary)

'A funny, moving middle-grade novel about change and friendship from the award-winning author of Meet Me at the Moon Tree

'When Sid sets off on her annual summer holiday to the Shipwreck Coast, she's desperate for some familiarity after a year of unwanted change. Two weeks with best friend Lou, who she only gets to see when they go camping every year, is exactly what Sid needs. Mostly, she can't wait to continue their search for the millions of dollars' worth of riches that disappeared in a tragic shipwreck over a hundred years ago.

'But Lou has brought along popular new school friend Hailey, who's more interested in boys than treasure hunting. So while Lou is busy chasing Hailey's approval, Sid is left scrambling to catch up, wondering when everything changed. Can Sid protect her heart from getting shipwrecked too?'  (Publication summary)

'The enthralling sequel to the multi-award-winning fantasy epic The Wintrish Girl - perfect for fans of Nevermoor and Discworld

'After rescuing Princess Seraphine from the evil Malevolents, Penn thought her fate had finally changed. But Seraphine is ignoring her again and now Penn has to undergo a terrifying interrogation. The ruthless Inquisitor has been summoned to uncover the truth behind the return of Malevolence to Arylia and fingers are pointing at Penn.

'Her only hope is to find The Lost History, a book that might be the key to unlocking both the Inquisitor's and her own mysterious past. But Penn and her loyal friends aren't the only ones searching for it. Someone else is hunting The Lost History - to destroy it.

'Even as she races to retrieve the book, Penn knows that if she digs up her past, she might not like what she finds. Because Malevolence has started calling to her and she's finding it strangely hard to resist...

'Another thrilling adventure, this time featuring at least six impossibly daring escapes, important life lessons about truth and spare socks, a sinister game of Twenty Questions and a cursed family tree. And some very dangerous cheese.'  (Publication summary)

'A beguilling collection of poetry from the 2023 winner of the Thomas Shapcott Prize for Poetry

'I was thinking of wild things and what we make of them.

'Portraits of Drowning is lyric poetry at its best. In these rich and varied poems, Madeleine Dale reveals water as the lifeblood of our ecosystems but also our imaginations, energising romance and tragedy, troubling history and myth. Sustaining eye and ear, heart and mind, this is a debut of exquisite skill.'  (Publication summary)

'A dazzling and impressive follow-up to Money's highly acclaimed debut, how to make a basket.

'We gather marks. Our bodies, our stories, our histories and our world are made of an infinite amount of visible and invisible moments. We make marks to record, to remember, to honour, to protest. We mark time, for no matter how many times the sun sets, always it rises in a new dawn.

'Jazz Money returns with her much anticipated new poetry collection to ask about all the ways we rise to a moment. mark the dawn is a celebration of community and gathering, while negotiating the legacies of intersecting histories as a queer First Nations person. These poems sing out with love declaring that, despite everything that has come before, we remain glorious, abundant, sexy, joyous and determined.' (Publication summary)

'What world record would you like to break? The biggest slice of cake eaten in one go? The highest trampoline bounce? The most socks put on one foot? This hilarious middle-grade novel from the author of How to Be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five is perfect for fans of Nat Amoore and Tim Harris.

'Sam is a kind and thoughtful eleven-year-old, but he's not particularly great at anything. His sister, Ava, is a soccer star, and his best friend, Vihaan, is an award-winning artist. The one thing Sam is good at is knowing all about the extraordinary feats in the Big Book of Records.

'When Sam is set a class project about a moment he's proud of, he can't think of anything and takes inspiration from his favourite book. He knows he'll be proud of himself if he can break a world record!

'But breaking a world record isn't easy. And things get even harder when someone close to Sam needs his help and he must decide- will he be good? Or be the best?' (Publication summary)

'A warm and engaging memoir about freedom, adventure, and fathers and sons, set against the sumptuous backdrop of Corfu.

'At the age of eighteen, Kari Gislason arrives on the island of Corfu after a life-altering encounter with his father in Iceland. Looking for adventure, he decides to stay after meeting 'the Pirate', a mysterious Greek stranger who offers him work - only to find himself eventually fleeing the island, leaving behind a debt he promises to repay.

'Three decades later, as a father of two teenage sons, he returns to Corfu with his family. As he revisits his memories of the island, he begins to understand that this place has shaped the adult he has become, and that the inevitable letting go of his own children lies ahead.

'Full of the colour and vitality of the Greek islands, Running with Pirates traverses the joys and challenges of parenthood, the fearlessness of youth, the debts of our past, and the stories we tell ourselves and our children.' (Publication summary)

'From award-winning author Johanna Bell and exciting new illustrator Huni Melissa Bolliger comes a playful story about what's possible when you let your curiosity run wild.

'Digger digs down. Digger digs deep, deep into the ground.

'Join happy-go-lucky Digger as he ditches the boredom of backyard life for an underground adventure. What will he find? What won't he find?

'Packed with colour and hidden treasures, this is the perfect picture book for small children who love dogs, digging and discovery.' (Publication summary)

'From humble beginnings in the remote Pilbara, psychologist and Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman has redefined what’s possible at every turn. Despite neither of her parents progressing past primary school, and never having met a psychologist before attending university, Tracy went on to become the first Aboriginal person in Australia to complete a PhD in Clinical Psychology, rising to become one of the country’s foremost psychologists. Against significant odds, she commenced her own private business to challenge the way the mental health profession responds to cultural difference, and recently established a charitable foundation and scholarship program to mentor Indigenous people from our highest-risk communities to become psychologists.' (Publication summary)