Ned Kelly Awards 2018 Shortlist

The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the shortlists for this year’s Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime writing.

The shortlisted works in each category are:

Best crime fiction

Best true crime

Best first fiction

The winners will be announced on 26 August during the Melbourne Writers Festival.

2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award

It’s never too late to recommend good reads. So there it is for this year’s important literary award in Australia.

This year Miles Franlin longlist has listed these authors for their wonderful works

Peter Carey – A Long Way From Home

SYNOPSIS: Irene Bobs loves fast driving. Her husband is the best car salesman in western Victoria. Together they enter the Redex Trial, a brutal race around the ancient continent over roads no car will ever quite survive. Continue reading

Librarians’ Choice – April 2018

The top 10 April 2018 release books as voted for by library staff around Australia is here. There are a nice mix of books, mainly fiction, a very interesting non fiction and a title (Amelia Westlake) described as “a queer yA rom-com”. Click on a title to reserve a copy now.

The Lace WeaverLauren Chater (Librarians’ Choice Favourite)

A breathtaking debut about love and war, and the battle to save a precious legacy.
Each lace shawl begins and ends the same way – with a circle. Everything is connected with a thread as fine as gossamer, each life affected by what has come before it and what will come after. 1941, Estonia. As Stalin’s brutal Red Army crushes everything in its path, Katarina and her family survive only because their precious farm produce is needed to feed the occupying forces. Fiercely partisan, Katarina battles to protect her grandmother’s precious legacy – the weaving of gossamer lace shawls stitched with intricate patterns that tell the stories passed down through generations.

While Katarina struggles to survive the daily oppression, another young woman is suffocating in her prison of privilege in Moscow. Yearning for freedom and to discover her beloved mother’s Baltic heritage, Lydia escapes to Estonia. Facing the threat of invasion by Hitler’s encroaching Third Reich, Katarina and Lydia and two idealistic young soldiers, insurgents in the battle for their homeland, find themselves in a fight for life, liberty and love.

The Paris Seamstress – Natasha Lester
Sunburn – Laura Lippman
Amelia Westlake – Erin Gough
The Death Of Noah Glass – Gail Jones
Circe – Madeline Miller
Every Note Played – Lisa Genova
Dear Mrs Bird – AJ Pearce
The Colour Of Bee Larkham’s Murder – Sarah J Harris
Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia – Anita Heiss (ed)