Book Babble

Filip Vukašin’s debut novel Modern Marriage is an absorbing contemporary Australian drama. Here, Fil reflects on his path to publication in the time of COVID.

Debut author Amelia Mellor’s The Grandest Bookshop in the World and Nicki Greenberg’s middle-grade mystery novel The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel have both been longlisted for the prestigious ARA Historical Novel Prize in the Children and YA literature category. Our heartfelt congratulations to Amelia and Nicki!

From the glorious new pairing of Jane Godwin and Gabriel Evans comes Little One, a timeless story that reminds us nothing is ever truly lost. Here, Jane shares her inspiration for the book.

Samone Amba makes her middle-grade debut with a new series for budding activists: The Good Times of Pelican Rise. Read on for a Q&A with Samone about Save the Joeys -- the timely, original and laugh-out-loud first instalment.

John Byron’s debut novel The Tribute is a subversive take on toxic masculinity and misogyny, told through an irresistible crime narrative. Read on for a Q&A with John about this outstanding thriller.

Affirm Press is looking for a gun editor to join its expanding general publishing editorial team.

Before Pip Williams became the bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words, she quit her career and travelled to Italy with her family as ‘WWOOFers’ (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). In this extract from her memoir One Italian Summer, Pip charts the highs and lows of the search for la dolce vita.

Nicki Greenberg’s thrilling new middle-grade novel The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel takes place on the RMS Aquitania, a real-life ocean liner that sailed between Southampton, England and New York in the glamorous 1920s. Here, Nicki shares what drew her to Aquitania and why it was the perfect setting for a mystery novel.

Christy Collins makes her assured debut with The Price of Two Sparrows, a thought-provoking and hopeful novel for our politically polarised times. Read on for a Q&A with Christy about the inspiration behind the book.

Read an excerpt from Ash Mountain, the unforgettable Australian disaster thriller from Helen FitzGerald, author of The Cry.

Sam Jockel is the founder and CEO of ParentTV, a mum to three kids, and co-editor of the new book Parents, this is the one thing you need to know. Here, Sam shares some of the lessons she’s learned from parenting in these strange and uncertain times.

Melbourne-based author-illustrator Nash brings new light to the Australian immigrant experience in his hilarious and insightful debut book, What to Expect When You’re Immigrating. Here, Nash shares how he learned that comedy can help make even the most difficult topics more approachable.

We're looking for a gun managing editor to join our busy and expanding editorial team.

In a year that has brought challenges to many, Suzanne Stevenson embarked on a personal project of photographing neighbourhood dogs on their front steps during lockdown. Here, we meet some of the furry friends who feature in her new beautiful book Dogs on Doorsteps.

From picture book dream team Jane Godwin and Alison Lester, Sing Me the Summer is a love letter to the seasons and a celebration of the time spent with family in the great outdoors. Here, Jane shares some of her favourite childhood memories of summer.

In her new book My Suburban Farm, Ainslee Costa shares her tips and tricks for how to create your very own country-inspired sanctuary. In this edited extract, read about which veggies to plant and pick in summer, and try your hand at Ainslee’s homegrown tomato bruschetta.

Cheers (and maybe a few happy sobs) could be heard across Melbourne this week as our wonderful bookshops reopened their doors. Here, the Affirm Press team shares what we’ve missed the most about these magical places.

In an extract from her candid and compelling memoir Unseen: The Secret World of Chronic Illness, Jacinta Parsons writes about a life-changing moment: the first time she met her partner AJ.

Amelia Mellor’s debut novel The Grandest Bookshop in the World is an enchanting adventure set in the real-life Cole’s Book Arcade in Melbourne in 1893. Here, Amelia shares what makes all bookshops magical.

Here we are – almost at the end, we hope, of Melbourne’s stage four lockdown, in a tough, tough year. Spring is shimmering in the air and the daily virus numbers are dropping, and we ask ourselves – can we allow hope, are we almost ‘there’ – wherever there is?

Fiona Hardy’s funny and heartfelt new novel How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life is a celebration of music, creativity, and listening to the world around us. Here, Fiona shares some of the music that has shaped her life.

Melbourne-based artist and illustrator Evie Barrow brings a moving story to life in I Saw Pete and Pete Saw Me, the new picture book written by Maggie Hutchings. We asked Evie more about her work.

Anna Downes’s exhilarating debut The Safe Place is one of this year’s most hotly anticipated novels. Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at how this suspenseful and atmospheric thriller came together.

Rachael Mead shares how she crafted her debut novel to dig beneath the grit and gore and reveal the humanity of paramedics and their patients.

We’re delighted to introduce Tash Besliev in the newly appointed role of Kids Publisher. Let’s find out what makes this new Affirm Presser tick.

Author Maura Finn and illustrator Cate James both came from overseas to make Australia their home – and now they’ve joined forces to create a uniquely Australian picture book, By the Billabong. We wanted to know more about how it came to be.

Japanese-British-Australian author Katherine Tamiko Arguile shares her own memories to reflect on the important role of food in Japanese culture, and in her exquisite debut novel The Things She Owned.

Multi-disciplinary artist Nash reflects on the impact of coronavirus on Australia’s temporary migrant workers in this column and original artwork.

Greek-Australian author Olympia Panagiotopoulos shares stories of family, food and love in her new memoir Beneath the Fig Leaves. Read an extract and try your hand at her recipe for Fig Leaf and Vanilla Cream.

Pip Williams, author of the exquisite historical novel The Dictionary of Lost Words, recognises the work of women in compiling the Oxford English Dictionary.

We’re pleased as punch that Paul Byrnes’s The Lost Boys has been named Illustrated Non-Fiction Book of the Year in the ABA’s Indie Book Awards. We asked Paul to share what it was like for him in putting together The Lost Boys.

When we had the idea earlier this week to blog about the books we would read while social distancing, it was somewhat hypothetical. But things have changed rapidly; now we find ourselves working from home and our weekend plans are out the window. Luckily our bookshelves are prepared and stacked with Affirm Press favourites to keep our minds off the news. But we also put together a list of the books from other publishers we’ve got lined up – we can assure you none of these include the words COVID-19.

Read the introduction to Angela Williams’s powerful new memoir Snakes and Ladders, revealing the dark truth of Australia’s justice system through the eyes of a woman sent to prison twice for the same crime.

The most effective way to lessen your wardrobe’s environmental impact is to love the clothes you already have and make them last as long as possible. And that means mending and maintenance.

Award-winning writer Wayne Macauley did us the honour of launching Wayne Marshall’s debut collection, Shirl, at Melbourne’s Hill of Content last night and gave a speech so delightful and heartfelt that we wanted to share it here.

Here are some of our favourite holiday reads from other publishers.

Michael Sexton, author of Border’s Battlers, shares his experiences from Asia’s largest sports literature festival.

Author Vikki Conley remembers cherished childhood Christmases that shaped Christmas Wonder, her charming new picture book illustrated by Cheryl Orsini that captures the magic of an Australian family Christmas.

New profit-for-purpose book We Are Here, edited by former Big Issue deputy editor Meg Mundell, is a vibrant and moving collection of true stories showcases the creative talents of people who have known homelessness.

The idea for The Lost Boys started in Belgium in summer 2017, with a gravestone and a pint of Belgian beer. Paul Byrnes had been researching in the battlefields, when he noticed a gravestone that mentioned an under-age soldier. Here, Paul shares how his this discovery turned into a book.

To commemorate the fifty years since Peter Brock first got behind the wheel at the iconic Bathurst racing circuit, his long-term partner Bev Brock joins teammates, racing rivals and friends to relive every Bathurst race of his legendary life in Brock at Bathurst.

Susan White’s day job as a clinical geneticist sees her hunting for answers to undiagnosed conditions in children. In her writing, Susan aims to take readers inside the medical world (without the boring bits) and her first book, the exceptional YA novel Take the Shot, does just that.

Affirm Press has pledged to support worker participation in the global climate strike on Friday 20 September, three days before the UN Climate Action Summit.

Christian White, author of The Nowhere Child, returns on 24 September with his highly anticipated follow-up, The Wife and the Widow, Find out how Australia’s booksellers reacted to The Wife and the Widow, and check out Christian’s tour dates for an author visit near you.

For much of my life, fear has been invisibly woven into the fabric of my existence, regularly whispering helpful pearls in my ear such as ‘Life is dangerous,’ and ‘You’re crap at this’. So perhaps I wasn’t the most obvious person to end up walking 3,000km solo from one end of New Zealand to the other – but in the end, this journey chose me.

The theme of this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival is ‘When we talk about love’ and it all kicks off this Friday 30 August. Inspired by the event Love Letter to a Book, the Affirm Press team shares a heartfelt note to a book from our past, thanking it for the way it shaped and moved us.

Fiona Hardy’s brilliant debut novel How to Make a Movie in 12 Days is, in part, an homage to her long-held love of all things film. (If you couldn’t tell by the title, just check out the 20-page school holidays movie guide at the back of the book.) Here, Fiona shares five films that kick-started her movie madness.

Father’s Day is this Sunday 1 September, but don’t panic if you haven’t gotten a gift for Dad yet: Affirm Press may have just the ticket.

Mad Dogs and Thunderbolts is the fourth book in Ben Pobjie’s uproarious appraisal of Australian history. But what is it about the past that fascinates Australia’s most irreverent historian so much?

Dave Glasheen has lived alone on Restoration Island for more than 20 years, since he lost his fortune in the stock market crash of 1987 and opted out of the rat-race for good. But what does it take to find happiness on a deserted island? Dave shares the five things he always keeps stock of on Resto.

Justin Heazlewood’s memoir Get Up Mum is partly built around tape cassette recordings Justin made of his family when he was 12, including recordings of his mum who lives with schizophrenia. ABC Radio National’s Life Matters adapted Get Up Mum for a special podcast series, with plenty of original recordings woven in.

Author–illustrator dream team Nick Falk and Tony Flowers have joined forces again for a hilarious new junior fiction book, Vognox the Viking and the Island of Skeletons. This rollicking adventure story entices struggling readers through visual storytelling techniques. Catch Tony Flowers at the Byron Writers Festival on Friday 2 August.

So She Did celebrates the life of May Wirth, who was born in Bundaberg in 1894 and went on to become an internationally famous circus performer. May was renowned for being the first woman in the world to perform the back across – an incredibly risky trick that involved somersaulting from one cantering horse to another. That she did it at a time when girls and women weren’t encouraged to be daring makes it all the more impressive.

At 24, Georgie Dent had the world at her feet – but within a year she was suffering such crippling anxiety that she admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital. Georgie shares what this difficult time was like, and how she relived it when writing her memoir Breaking Badly.

On my five-year anniversary with Affirm Press, Keiran and Martin decided that I’d proofed enough proofs and talked enough authors back from the brink to earn some kind of reward. I thought the idea of a long-service award was lovely, but I’ll admit, when they first brought it up I expected maybe a nice pen – certainly not the chance to spend a working week anywhere in the world for a professional development experience.

Author Maggie Hutchings and illustrator Cheryl Orsini, who teamed up for the much-loved Unicorn!, join forces again in Mermaid!, a magical new story about friendship and the wonders of the sea. Maggie shares how her day-to-day work with children as a family counsellor feeds into her work as an author.

Affirm Press editor Coco McGrath teamed up with award-winning illustrator Sarah Firth to create Badass Mums: 30 Boundary Breaking Women Getting Sh*t Done. Illustrator Sarah Firth shares why her own mum, Dianne Firth OAM, is the definition of badass.

Award-winning creator Jess Racklyeft shares the inspiration behind her heartwarming new book as author–illustrator, There’s Only One Mum Like You, celebrating the big and small ways that mothers show their love every day.

In the spirit of the ‘Desert Island Books’ series at Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Affirm Press team shares which single book they’d want to take with them if they were castaways on a desert island.

Professor Susan Hurley shares the scientific approach she applied to the plot of her brilliant debut thriller, Eight Lives.

We’re lucky to be hosting Freya Horton Andrews, a fabulous intern courtesy of the Publishing Industry Internship Program run by our friends at the Australian Publishers Association.

Angela Wales left behind her Australian bush childhood to embark on an archaeological adventure in Greece.

Alice Robinson reflects on four stories that capture the bold – and often uncomfortable – truths of motherhood.

Affirm Press is delighted to announce that our Mentorship Award with Varuna Writer’s House in 2019 will focus exclusively on Young Adult and Middle Fiction submissions for the first time.

When award-winning author Richard Newsome tried his hand at a writing experiment, he never expected it would turn into a three-book deal – but perhaps the bigger surprise was the way that his new character, Stella McNaught, took on a life of her own.

In Imperfect, Lee Kofman explores what it’s like to live in a body that deviates from the norm. Here, she shares some of the lessons learnt while researching and writing her fascinating new book.

Bad Yogi traces the two years I spent training to become a yoga teacher while seeking treatment for an eating disorder. We in the yoga community can get our heads stuck up our asanas sometimes and I wanted something that would acknowledge the pain, but also make me laugh.

Affirm Press is delighted to join forces with the Western Sydney literacy movement Sweatshop to establish a mentorship which will enable two Western Sydney writers from culturally diverse backgrounds to develop their debut novels.

Greg French is best known as a master fly fisher, and he shares many of his wondrous fishing stories in his book Water Colour. But what many readers may not realise is that he has plenty of encounters with creatures much furrier, and bigger, than fish: bears. He shares here some incredible stories and photos from over the years.

We recently celebrated the launch of John Tesarsch’s brilliant third novel, Dinner with the Dissidents, where Lee Kofman shared some of her insights into this literary thriller, set in the tumultuous times of 1970s Moscow.