This August we are publishing a varied and striking collection of works from around the world: an anthology of some of Asia-Pacific’s finest writers and four very different memoirs — the first account by a Rohingya of a humanitarian crisis, a devastating exploration of race and identity, an environmental and agricultural call to arms, and a startlingly original memoir of mourning and mushrooms.
Read more about them here, and to win a copy just head to our Facebook page or Instagram and let us know which one you’d most like to read and why.
‘I am three years old and will have to grow up with the hostility of others. I am already an outlaw in my own country, an outlaw in the world. I am three years old, and don’t yet know that I am stateless.’
For the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the truth behind the global humanitarian crisis of prejudice, persecution, and ethnic cleansing. First, They Erased Our Name by Habiburahman with Sophie Ansel is an urgent, moving memoir about what it feels like to be repressed in one’s own country and a refugee in others. It gives voice to the voiceless.
‘What are you?’ Tessa McWatt knows first-hand that the answer to this question, often asked of people of colour by white people, is always more complicated than it seems. Shame On Me unspools and reshapes inheritance, history, and literature to create a powerful memoir and devastating analysis of the race debate — a stunning exploration of who and what we truly are.
‘Heartstopping and wise, exquisitely written, compellingly told, Shame on Me rises to a crescendo of such beauty and grace in its final chapter — a call to activism and resistance — that it left me breathless with the intensity of my own listening.’
REBECCA STOTT
Western Australia’s southern rangelands cover an area larger than France — a vital natural resource to the Australian continent, but one degraded and overexploited since European colonisation. An urgent story of political irresponsibility, bureaucratic obstinacy, and industrial monopolisation, The Wooleen Way is David Pollock’s memoir of managing a vast outback station and a call to arms — a comprehensive plan to restore the damage done that highlights the absolute necessity of doing so.
‘The astonishing story of reviving the oldest land on Earth. The Wooleen Way is a revelation.’
TIM FLANNERY
Grief grinds slowly: it devours all the time it needs. When Long Litt Woon loses her husband of 32 years to an unexpected death, she is utterly bereft. She stuck, aimless, and disoriented — until she wanders deep into the woods with the mushroom hunters and learns to see clearly what is all around her. The Way Through The Woods is a heartfelt and surprising memoir of grief.
‘Anyone with an interest in the natural world will delight in Long's sharp-eyed descriptions (and line drawings) of fungi and her therapeutic rambles through Norwegian woods. A wonder-inducing dive into the unique kingdom of fungi.’
KIRKUS
In the outer suburbs of Perth, Australia, a seven-year-old discovers ballroom dancing. In Jakarta, Indonesia, a poet tries to move on with his life after splitting up with his boyfriend. In the Philippines’ Quezon City, a nurse reflects on her late mother while caring for a dying woman.
The Near and The Far, Volume II is a collection of work by writers who have forged connections across cultures and generations. Spanning fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from the Asia-Pacific’s finest writers — including Christos Tsiolkas, Alice Pung, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Han Yujoo, Ellen van Neerven, and Ali Cobby Eckermann — The Near and The Far, Volume II invites readers on a unique and unforgettable journey.
To win a copy of one of our new releases, head to our Facebook page or our Instagram. Entries close Friday 10 August.
