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Debra Adelaide — Fiction, anthologies of fiction

Motherlove, an anthology of short fiction about mothers and babies, brilliantly edited by Debra from a surprising variety of writers, was published by Random House in 1996, followed by Motherlove II in 1997, and Cutting The Cord in 1998.

Debra’s blackly humorous novel The Hotel Albatross (Random House, 1995; Pan Macmillan 2009) deals with two people who by unhappy chance become the managers of a large country hotel. Filled with scathing vignettes of small town life and unforgettable eccentric characters, it is a novel of great warmth and humour.

Her 1998 novel Serpent Dust is a deeply moving account of the tragedies that followed the white occupation of Australia, and was published by Random House.

Acts of Dog, a collection of short stories edited by Debra, was published in 2003 by Random House. Rights were also sold into Hungary.

Her latest book is the novel Household Guide to Dying. This is a brilliant, original work which charts one woman’s attempts to make provision for her husband and daughters — from writing lists on the fridge to teaching her 8-year-old to make boiled eggs — and to confront a ghost from the past. Delia has made a living writing an acerbic advice column and a series of wildly successful modern household guides. As the book opens, she has only a short time to live. Going about the ordinary routines of daily life, she is consumed by two things: how to make provision for her husband and daughters — and how to make her peace with the past. The two stories interweave, and each section opens with very funny snippets from Delia’s acerbic advice column, and, later, her Household Guide to Dying.

The novel was published by Picador in Australia, HarperCollins in Britain and Putnams in the US. It has been sold into nine countries in translation.

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Judith Armstrong — Historical fiction

‘Like Hilary Mantel in her Booker Prize-winning novel Wolf Hall, Armstrong puts her scholarly imagination to work on a known period and a set of famous figures. At the heart of it is Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy’s best loved heroine, seen from the anguished vision of Tolstoy’s wife Sonya.’ – Brenda Niall

In 1862 Sonya Tolstoy married the greatest author the world has ever known. For forty-eight years they shared their lives in a union that was both passionate and combative. Sixteen years younger than her husband, Sonya bore him thirteen children and worked tirelessly as his copyist and publisher on countless drafts of his famous novels. Both were mercurial personalities and, towards the end, an exhausted Tolstoy deserted her.

In War & Peace and Sonya, Judith Armstrong tells Sonya’s story — exploring the couple’s devotion and ambivalence to one another, and their shared involvement in writing – showing us how real life and fiction expose each other’s secrets.

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Julia Baird

is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald. Scribe released her Media Tarts — How the Australian Press Frames Female Politicians at the Melbourne Writers’ Week in 2004. An insightful, accessible and impeccably researched book, it immediately received outstanding reviews.

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Katrina Beikoff

‘Do they have spaghetti in Shanghai?’ I asked. ‘Do they have olive oil, cereal or nappies?’

In 2008, award-winning journalist Katrina Beikoff accepted a one-year job on the English language newspaper the Shanghai Daily. Katrina, her partner and their young family dived into a bustling Shanghai without a plan or, frankly, a clue as to what to expect. No Chopsticks Required is Katrina’s account of her startling year in contemporary China and her best efforts to forge a life as a foreigner.

In what would prove to be a tumultuous year Katrina witnessed a range of major events: a massive, once-in-a-lifetime snow storm, a devastating earthquake which killed over 80,000 people, the Tibetan uprising, the Beijing Olympics, the melamine-tainted milk scandal, government censorship of the media and the Chinese response to the beginnings of the global financial crisis.

Alongside these international news-making events Katrina describes her attempts to look after her family while overcoming a multitude of quirky and unusual occurrences that made up Shanghai daily life. Katrina’s personal observations of China and its people are as insightful and amusing as they are fascinating.

Katrina Beikoff is a Walkley-award winning journalist, columnist, communications consultant and mother of two. In 2000 she won Australia’s top journalism award for exposing CJ Hunter, America’s world shot-put champion and the husband of disgraced sprint champ Marion Jones, as a drug cheat. She now lives with her family on Queensland’s Gold Coast writing for various publications not owned by the Chinese Communist Party

FINCH PUBLISHING http://www.finch.com.au/

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Scott Bennett — war history

‘A clear, fresh view of an epic battle, presenting conclusions that will challenge many readers.’ — Dr Peter Stanley, author of Men of Mont St Quentin.

In 1916, one million men fought in the first battle of the Somme. Victory hinged on their ability to capture a small village called Pozières, perched on the highest ridge of the battlefield. After five attempts to seize it, the British called in the Anzacs to complete this seemingly impossible task.

At midnight on 23 July 1916, thousands of Australians stormed and took Pozières. Forty-five days later they were relieved, having suffered 23,000 casualties to gain a few miles of barren, lunar landscape. Despite the toll, the capture of Pozières was heralded as a stunning tactical victory. Yet for the exhausted survivors, the war-weary public, and the families of the dead and maimed, victory came at such terrible cost it seemed indistinguishable from defeat.

Scott Bennett’s riveting account tells the stories of those men who fought at Pozières. Drawing on their letters and diaries, it reveals a battlefield drenched in chaos, suffering, and fear. Bennett sheds light on the story behind the official history, showing how commanders struggled with a war conducted on an unprecedented scale and how the survivors witnessed appalling human tragedy to return home as heroes but, too often, shattered men.

While Gallipoli has entered the national mythology, Pozières has received less attention. Scott Bennett’s superb book recreates the experiences of those men who fought in one of the largest and most devastating battles of the Great War.

Rights: World rights held by Scribe at http://www.scribepublications.com.au/

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Alison Booth — Fiction

Back in 1957, nine-year-old Zidra Vincent met Jim Cadwallader for the first time. Fourteen years later, their bond of friendship – forged during a childhood in the beautiful coastal town of Jineera – is still strong. But is friendship all they dream of?

Jim is now a respected war correspondent in Cambodia, though he has plans to come home for good. Because there is something very important he wants to say to Zidra.

Zidra, meanwhile, is an ambitious reporter at the Sydney Morning Chronicle, and the seeds of a major story have just landed in her lap. Life is looking good, if only she could share it with the man who knows her best.

Then, while at work in the newsroom one morning, Zidra catches sight of a wire-service bulletin. A story out of Cambodia.

The body of a Western journalist has been discovered near Phnom Penh.

And her world collapses around her ...

Alison Booth's enchanting Jingera trilogy concludes with a heart-rending story of enduring love and the devastating twists of fate.

“A mythical town and its people are brought beautifully to life .. a really lovely book” The Sunday Telegraph on Stillwater Creek

“A charming, big-hearted tale, told with skill and grace” — Madison on The Indigo Sky

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It is the spring of 1961, and the sleepy little town of Jingera is at its most perfect with its clear blue skies, pounding surf and breathtaking lagoon. Yet all is not so perfect behind closed doors. George Cadwallader — butcher by day and stargazer by night — is loved by everyone, except his wife. He only wants the best for his family, yet it’s all falling apart.

Philip Chapman is a sensitive young boy, a musical prodigy — and a target for bullies. But with his wealthy parents indifferent to his cries for help, his entire future is at risk.

Then there’s Ilona Vincent and her daughter, Zidra, former refugees, now fully-fledged ‘Jingeroids’. When a voice from the past reaches out to them, they’re soon in a race against time to reunite a family that has been cruelly torn apart…

Once again weaving together the enchanting stories of Jingera and its townsfolk, Alison Booth offers up a heart-warming sequel to the acclaimed Stillwater Creek.

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After the death of her husband in 1957, Illona and her young daughter Zidra travel to the remote coastal town of Stillwater Creek. Illona, a piano teacher and a concentration camp survivor, is searching for peace and an opportunity to start anew. But this Australian small town is not quite the utopia it seems.

Seven main characters people this novel. Illona expects little from life for herself, but everything for her daughter Zidra. Zidra responds to taunts about being a “reffo” (refugee) by becoming friends with the local Aboriginal girl, Lorna. These two young girls bond, and Zidra is devastated when Lorna is taken from her family and sent to the Gudgiegalah Girls’ Home because she is a half-caste.

Then there is Bill Bates, the publican, whose wife, Cherry Bates, is conducting a secret liaison with the school mistress Pat Nesbitt. But Bill is not the affable man he seems, and when Cherry discovers his interest in child pornography, she tries to conceal it. The local butcher is George Cadwallader, whose wife treats him with contempt and whose artistry manifests itself in his shop front window and a need to contemplate the stars. His son Jim has hopes of winning a scholarship to a school in the city. His observant views of life are sometimes more adult than those of the people around him. He befriends Zidra and becomes her protector. As their lives entwine, a rich and powerful novel unfolds. Stillwater Creek is ultimately a tale of redemption and hope and will be popular with readers everywhere.

You can find out more about Alison Booth on her website: http://www.alisonbooth.net/

World Rights: Random House Australia
Contact: Nerillee Weir <nweir [ at ] randomhouse.com.au>

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John Bryson — Novels, non-fiction, television

John Bryson achieved international acclaim with Evil Angels, his celebrated book on the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain. It was also released as a major film starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill. Hodder Headline Australia released a new edition of Evil Angels in 2000.
     When John followed the Azaria Chamberlain case through the early eighties, the moment of greatest shock for him came at the conclusion of the trial. Weeks of detailed evidence from the Defence had conclusively demonstrated the profound errors of procedure that the police forensic scientists had committed. However, the jury utterly ignored the facts, and found Lindy Chamberlain guilty of murdering her baby. It was this triumph of prejudice over truth, so nakedly revealed in the jury’s decision, that spurred John on to write the book Evil Angels. It became a turning point in public opinion. Not merely exposing the flaws in the conviction, it above all demonstrated that despite Australians’ belief in their sense of fairness, prejudice can overwhelm us.
     John Bryson’s novel, To the Death, Amic, was published by Viking/Penguin in Australia and the UK in 1994. His Whoring Around was published by Penguin in 1981 and a collection of reportage, Backstage at the Revolution and Twelve Other Reports, was published by Penguin in 1988. He originated the production and wrote the courtroom scenario for the TV special Secrets of the Jury Room for SBSTV 2004.
     John lectures in law, literary journalism, and fiction, acts on advisory panels to government, NGOs, and universities, and on literary judging panels. At the end of the millennium, a Schools of Journalism panel included him in ‘The 100 Journalists of the Century’.

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Helen Caldicott — Non-fiction

Doctor, anti-nuclear activist, and author of three books on nuclear energy and the environment, Helen Caldicott is the founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Her autobiography A Passionate Life was published by Random House in 1996.
     She is writing a new book on the continuing nuclear arms race and the dangers of the anti-ballistic missile system now proposed for the United States. The New Nuclear Danger was published by Simon & Schuster in the United States and Scribe Publications in Australia in 2002.
     Her latest work Nuclear Power is Not the Answer was released by Melbourne University Press in 2006. Martin Sheen says ‘In a world where dark and dangerous forces are threatening our planet, Helen Caldicott shines a powerful light. This much-needed book reverals truths that confirm that we must take positive action now if we are to make a difference.’

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Dany Chouet — Memoir

Périgord-born Dany Chouet brought French cuisine to Australia in the 1970s, starting out at the much-loved restaurant “Upstairs”, before flying solo at “Au Chabrol” and “Cleopatra”. Now, in her first book, So French, Dany shares the fascinating story of her life in food and hospitality as well as more than 60 recipes. These include signature dishes from her restaurants and timeless provincial favourites such as pissaladière, cassoulet, and apricot soufflé tart. Complemented by stunning images taken at her home in the South-West of France, this is truly a book to treasure.

Dany’s memoir/ cookbook begins its journey around Bordeaux in the fifties with a picture of a childhood in provincial France filled with tradition and the memories of a way of life which has largely disappeared. From Bordeaux she travelled to Paris and then on to Australia. Dany started up the first real French bistro in Sydney in 1970 called “Upstairs”. The more chic “Au Chabrol” followed in Darlinghurst, and then “Glenella” in the Blue Mountains, the first guest house praised for its great food. Then came the iconic “Cleopatra”, a guest house hailed not only for its outstanding food but for its beautiful interiors, becoming a pilgrimage site for foodies.

After a highly successful seventeen-year reign at “Cleopatra” Dany then returned to rural France, the gastronomic centre of Europe, to continue her life long love affair with sensational cooking.

Both a cookbook and a memoir (and a work of art), Dany Chouet’s So French is beautifully published by Murdoch books.

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Catherine Cole: Fiction

Catherine Cole’ new novel is titled The Cyclist, and is being considered by publishers.

Catherine Cole is Professor of Creative Writing, Creative Arts, University of Wollongong. She has published the novels The Grave at Thu Le, Skin Deep and Dry Dock, a memoir about A.D. Hope titled The Poet Who Forgot, and the non-fiction book Private Dicks and Feisty Chicks, an interrogation of crime fiction. She also edited The Perfume River: Writing from Vietnam and Fashion in Fiction with Karaminas and McNeil. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in national journals and collections including Best Australian Stories. She has been a member of the Australian Research Ccouncil’s ERA committee for Humanities and Creative Arts, has judged some of Australia’s leading literary awards, and has received international writing residencies in Paris and Hanoi.

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Shady Cosgrove — Fiction/ Non Fiction

She Played Elvis is the story of a trip that Shady, a young American immigrant to Australia, undertakes with her Australian boyfriend to rediscover her homeland — which, after several years in Australia, doesn’t necessarily feel like “home” anymore. As part of the journey, the pair decides to make a pilgrimage across America, travelling on Greyhound buses, to get to Graceland for the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death.

Shady busks, singing Elvis songs, at cities and towns along the way. As they travel across the country, memories of her past begin to surface and Shady realises that while she is coming to understand the meaning of “home”, she is also untangling the knotted threads of her difficult relationship with her estranged, erratic, and often violent father.

Shady Cosgrove graduated from Vassar College in New York State (1996) with honours in Women’s Studies and English before completing her doctorate at the Australian National University in 2002. She has a background in journalism and is currently a lecturer at the University of Wollongong in the School of Journalism and Creative Writing. Her non-fiction manuscript “She Played Elvis” was shortlisted for the 2007 Australian/Vogel Literary Prize and was later published by Allen & Unwin in 2009. She Played Elvis is a fresh and compelling memoir recounting the days when Shady made her way across America to Graceland.

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Eva Cox — Feminism, economics, essays, public speaking

High-profile feminist economist, and very much in demand as a public speaker and commentator. She delivered the ABC Boyer Lectures in 1995 and her book Leading Women - an examination of he place of women in the contemporary political economy of Australia - was published by Random House in 1996.

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Ross Coulthart: The Lost Diggers

“These photographs rank up there with one of the most important discoveries from the First World War.”
Ashley Ekins, Head of Military History, Australian War Memorial, Canberra


“A fascinating and important record of First World War history. There’s an intimacy about these photographs I’ve never seen before… it’s like looking back into time, looking into the eyes of men who’ve just been in battle.”
Australian War Memorial historian and First World War expert Peter Burness

During the First World War, thousands of Aussie diggers and other Allied troops passed through the small French town of Vignacourt, two hours north of Paris. Many of them had their photographs taken by Louis and Antoinette Thuillier as souvenirs while they enjoyed a brief respite from the carnage of the Western Front. For all too many of those soldiers, this was their last moment away from the lines before being sent to their deaths in battles that are now part of the mythology of Australian nationhood — Pozieres, Bullecourt, the mud and blood of the Somme. The weariness and horror of battle is reflected in their eyes, but the photos also capture a sense of camaraderie, high spirits and even a soupçon of romance.

The Lost Diggers is the riveting detective story of the hunt across northern France for a rumoured treasure trove of antique glass photographic plates that led investigative journalist Ross Coulthart to an ancient metal chest in a dusty attic in a small farmhouse. The nearly 4000 glass plates he and his team from Channel 7’s Sunday Night discovered are being hailed by experts as one of the most important First World War historical discoveries ever made.

Part thriller, part family history and part national archive, The Lost Diggers brings together these wonderful images and the amazing stories behind them, such as that of Jim Holland, the grandfather of Aussie actress Val Lehman and Joe Maxwell, awarded both the MC and VC and author of the memoir Hell’s Bells and Mademoiselles.

Publication will coincide with the launch of The Australian War Memorial’s exhibition of the lost diggers’ photo collection, Remember Me: The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt.

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Stephen Daisley — Fiction: Traitor

Stop press: Traitor has won the Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for 2011 and
the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing in the New South Wales Premiers’ Prize for 2011.

Gallipolli 1915: A young New Zealand soldier and a Turkish doctor meet in the chaos of battle. When a shell bursts overhead, David and Mahmoud are taken to the same military hospital. There, an unshakeable bond grows between them: naive shepherd and educated Sufi mystic. A bond such that, when the time comes, David will choose to betray his country for his friend. The savage punishment that follows will break David and make him anew. The compassion he finds within himself will touch the lives of his comrades in the trenches. And later, back in the hill country of New Zealand, it will wrench open the heart of a woman crazed by grief.

Traitor is a story of war, and love how each changes everything, forever. Evoking both brutality and transcendent beauty, Stephen Daisley’s astonishing debut novel will transport the reader heart and soul into another realm.

Stephen Daisley was born in 1955, and grew up in remote parts of the North Island of New Zealand. He served for five years in an infantry battalion of the NZ Army, and has worked on sheep and cattle stations, on oil and gas construction sites and as a truck driver and bartender, among many other jobs. He has university degrees in writing and literature and lives in Western Australia with his wife and five children. Traitor is his first novel.

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Genna de Bont — Fiction

Privacy

Is it better not to know?

Thirty-five-year-old Wren Fox lives with his mother, Bernie, in a run-down house in country Victoria. They’ve always led a simple life, unperturbed by the knowledge that others find them eccentric.

When Wren stumbles across an explicit blog page belonging to his employer’s sister, Madeline Stanley, his straightforward view of life is thrown into turmoil. Wren quickly becomes obsessed with Madeline’s two online journals and, upon discovering that a stalker is involved, finds himself behaving in unexpected ways.

With the knowledge he has covertly gained, he is eventually forced out of his shell and into action in ways he never could have anticipated — ways that will decide his own future and that of the Stanleys.

Published in 2013; world rights: HarperCollins/Fouth Estate
Cover photographs: top: © Tamara Dean; bottom: © Anna Grezelec

The Pepper Gate

For successful artist Mallory Smith, painting has always been an escape — from his lonely childhood, his turbulent relationships with his three wives, and the birth of a daughter with a severe disability. But art is failing him now. As Mallory traces his colourful past, we see him through the eyes of the women in his life. His ex-wife Margaret challenges him to face his future, while his much younger wife Sueyen buries herself in her work to escape their failing marriage. The Pepper Gate is a compelling and unpredictable novel about building relationships and deconstructing the past.

Genna de Bont is a new literary fiction author. She was born in Tasmania. After completing university studies, Genna worked for several years with children with disabilities.

Her particular interest in language learning and literacy were later extended into her work with adults with neurological impairment. She lives in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges with her husband and family, and is currently (2007) working on her second novel.

The Pepper Gate was published by the University of Queensland Press in 2007.
Author photo: Sarah de Bont

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Robert Dessaix — Novels, essays, journalism, literary interviews

For many years Robert was the presenter of the ABC Radio National’s Books and Writing program. His autobiography, A Mother’s Disgrace, was published by HarperCollins in 1994.
     Robert’s best-selling novel Night Letters was published to great success in Australia, U.K. and the U.S.A. as well as being translated into German, French, Italian, Dutch, Finnish and Portuguese. This was followed by Corfu, released by Scribners in the UK in 2001 and in the Netherlands by Muelenhoff.

Twilight of Love followed, which highlighted Robert’s fascination with Russia and in particular Russian writers. He is a fluent Russian speaker and his doctoral thesis was on the author Ivan Turgenev. In Twilight of Love he revisits the Europe he experienced more than twenty years ago and follows the footsteps of Turgenev. Partly inspired by Alice Kaplan’s French Lessons (a memoir about ‘falling in love with a language not one’s own’);  Richard Holmes’ Footsteps; and Alain de Botton’s books about Proust, philosophy and the art of travel, Robert explores these ideas and more as he weaves together Turgenev’s time in the nineteenth century, his own Soviet experience, and Russia as it is today.

Released at the Melbourne Writers’ Week in 2004 by Pan Macmillan, it was also published in the UK by Simon and Schuster and in the US by Shoemaker and Hoard.

Robert’s last book (Pan Macmillan 2008) was Arabesques, based on the Nobel Prize winning author André Gide. Part travel, part memoir, Arabesques explores Robert’s fascination with Gide’s attempt to find a balance between his homosexual desires and an almost puritanical core.

Robert’s new collection of non-fiction is a swirling conversation with the reader on everything from travel to dogs and cats, from sport and swearing to the pleasures of idleness. Punctuated at regular intervals by talks Dessaix has given on a wide range of subjects, as well as by some of his most incisive journalism, the conversation invites the reader to join a leisurely guided tour of his chamber of curiosities, featuring pieces collected from all over the globe from across the centuries. Whether writing home from Vladivostock or Damascus, discussing what makes for good conversation or thinking aloud about the paintings, poems and books he loves, Dessaix always writes with an intimacy and attentiveness that beguile, entertain and make his readers eager for new discoveries.

Praise for Robert Dessaix:

‘Dessaix is one of perhaps three Australian writers whose every appearance in print is a not-to-be-missed event’ — Sydney Morning Herald
‘Dessaix is some kind of national treasure because he represents with a kind of Helpmann-like elegance and virtuosity the side of our sensibilities we publicly repress’ — Peter Craven, Australian Book Review
‘Dessaix writes with great elegance, with passion, compassion and sly wit’ — John Banville

VINTAGE BOOKS ISBN 978–1-74275–307-2
Cover design by Gayna Murphy / Photography by Getty Images / Photo library VINTAGE Australia http://randomhouse.com.au/

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Luke Devenish

It is 44 BC and the rival powers of Rome are driving the Republic to a violent end. A soothsayer foretells that the young Tiberius Nero, if he is wed to his cousin, the darkly beautiful Livia Drusilla, will sire four kings of Rome. Fuelled by ambition, Livia devotes her life to fulfilling the prophecy. No crime is too great when destiny beckons. So begins a murderous saga of sex, corruption and obsession at the dawning of the age of emperors.

Narrated by the 100-year-old slave Iphicles, Den of Wolves brings to life the great women of Imperial Rome — Livia, Julia, Antonia and Agrippina — women who relied on their ambition, instincts and cunning to prosper. In this first book of the dramatic new series Empress of Rome, Luke Devenish superbly recreates these outstanding women who lived in such monstrous times. The second in the series is… Nest of Vipers.

Rome is bathed in blood as the Emperor Tiberius is tormented by drug-fuelled terrors of treason. The innocent are butchered while the guilty do evil in darkness. None is guiltier than the Emperor’s devoted and deluded ‘son’, Sejanus. In this city of poison three beautiful women are locked in a lethal rivalry…
      Agrippina: Driven mad with grief, her obsession with revenge for her murdered husband imperils the lives of her children.
      Apigata: Robbed of her eyes and embittered in her heart, she schemes in the shadows to empower the husband who despises her.
      Livilla: Sensual and sly, she is gripped by lust for a lover as deadly as he is desirable.

Rome is a nest of vipers, and Livia, the one true Empress of Rome, is hell-bent on wreaking her vengeance…
      Nest of Vipers is the second volume in the gripping Empress of Rome series.

Den of Wolves was published in Australia and New Zealand by Random House in 2008, and has also been sold into Turkey, Spain and Russia. It is the first book in a trilogy commissioned by Random House.

Luke Devenish is a writer for television and theatre, and a lecturer in screenwriting. He lives with his partner in central Victoria, Australia. Den of Wolves is his first novel. Visit his website: http://www.lukedevenish.com/

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Michelle Dicinoski

Michelle Dicinoski has found the love of her life — and now she just wants to get married and live happily ever after. The only problem is, she’s in love with an American woman, Heather, and neither Australia nor America recognises same-sex marriage. What to do when pride and prejudice — love and the law — collide? For Michelle, the answer is clear: go to Canada and get hitched there. This is the deep, funny, heartwarming and brave story of that trip. Along the way, Michelle reflects on why anyone would want to get married anyway, on the power of acceptance, and on the startling ghost stories in her family.

She investigates the hidden worlds of people who make lives for themselves outside social norms, sometimes illegally. Michelle doesn’t want to disappear, not from her family and not from society. But living in Australia, will she always be a ghost wife?

Michelle Dicinoski writes non-fiction and poetry. Her second book, «Ghost Wife: A Memoir of Love and Defiance», will be published by Black Inc. in March 2013. Her poetry collection «Electricity for Beginners» was published in 2011. Her poems and essays have appeared in anthologies, newspapers and journals including the «The Best Australian Poems», «The Australian», and «Meanjin». Michelle has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Queensland, and received a Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship for 2012-2013. She lives in Melbourne.

World Rights: Black Inc

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Paul Dillon

 — When is the right time to start talking to my kids about drugs?
 — How can I reduce the influence of peer pressure?
 — How should I introduce alcohol to my child?
 — How can I make sure that a party I hold for my teenager doesn’t get out of control?
 — Can you really overdose on alcohol?
 — How do I look after someone who has drunk too much?
 — Can ecstasy really kill?


There are so many questions that need answers, but how do parents start talking to their kids about alcohol and drugs? Asking ‘Are you taking drugs?’ won’t do it — that approach won’t give teenagers the information they desperately need to keep themselves and their friends safe.

Teenagers, Alcohol and Drugs has been written in response to the stories Paul Dillon has heard over 25 years in drug and alcohol education, It provides answers to the questions he has been asked by both young people and their parents and also includes solutions to the many scenarios he has heard about from anxious teenagers who haven’t known what to do when things went bad,

This book shows parents how to talk to their children in a way that is respectful and reasonable, non-threatening and non-judgmental. It will help them understand the issues their children are facing, and show them how to help their kids negotiate a minefield of misinformation and social pressure in a calm and sensible way — to tell them what they really want and need to know about alcohol and drugs.

The book has been sold into Spain to Ediciones Medici.

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Arabella Edge — Novels, historical fiction

The Company, Arabella’s gripping debut novel based on the shipwreck of the Dutch ship the Batavia in 1629, was published to critical acclaim in Australia, Britain, the US, and translated into Dutch, French and German. It was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Prize and won the Commonwealth Prize.

The God of Spring is set in Paris during the upheavals of the French Revolution, the Empire and the Restoration, and is inspired by the fascinating life of the artist Théodore Géricault.
     Her latest novel, Fields of Ice, based on the tragic Franklin expedition to find the elusive North-west Passage, was published in the UK by Picador UK in 2011.

Rights sold: Australia/New Zealand (Pan Macmillan), Britain (Picador) and Simon and Schuster in the USA.

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Will Elliott — Novels, fantasy

Nightfall

Will Elliott is the critically acclaimed author of The Pilo Family Circus, which won the inaugural ABC Fiction Award and the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist Award; it was also shortlisted for the International Horror Guild Award, the first Australian writer to be listed in the Novel Category — against the likes of Stephen King.

Here is Nightfall… Journey into a strange and atmospheric world and enjoy this wildly entertaining story. Intensely written, dark and brooding, the bizarre, grotesque and magical characters will lead you into the depths of the imagination to confront the nature of storytelling and reality, love and loss.

“I couldn’t put Elliott’s debut novel down. It’s fantastic… An entertaining mixture of Palahniuk and David Lynch”’ Independent on Sunday

“This is a first novel of real promise. At his best, Elliott writes with a power commensurate with the originality of his vision. It is not just that he has unusually nasty visions to put on the page, but he has the ability to make us share them” Times Literary Supplement

A bad dream with a funnybone, a nightmare broken by laughter. Look out — here comes Will Elliott’ — Malcolm Knox, Judge of ABC Fiction Award

“…plunges the reader full-pelt into a world of comic-book violence that is underpinned by a more sinister and ancient evil”  — Delia Falconer, Judge of ABC Fiction Award

Australian and New Zealand Rights: HarperCollins Australia

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