Each month the TWC publishes four recommended reads on our website. Three of the recommendations are recent releases by a local Tasmanian writer, an Australian writer and a children’s writer. The fourth is a Tasmanian classic that you may not have got round to reading, or that you may not have read for a long time. If you can’t get your hands on a copy of the recommended Tasmanian classic, please feel free to pop into the library at the Tasmanian Writers’ Centre and borrow a copy from us.
We would love to hear what you think of our picks – let us know on Twitter or Facebook.
Tasmanian recent release: Seven Stories, edited by Ben Walter
Seven Stories is a collection of short fiction from some of Tasmania’s most talented writers. The stories cover a diverse range of topics, from our relationship with nature to zombie love stories. Edited by Ben Walter, this original and provocative collection provides a taste of the brilliant creative minds that make up our island home.
Children’s Recent Release: Jon Tucker – Those Shipwreck Kids
Those Shipwreck Kids is the third book in Tasmanian author Jon Tucker’s popular ‘Those Kids’ series. It tells a rollicking tale of the swashbuckling escapades of a group of kids who discover a mysteriously abandoned campsite, which upon investigation, leads to further exciting discoveries. This story is bound to delight both children and adults alike.
Jon Tucker’s books are inspired by the sailing expeditions he went on with his wife and sons when they were between 9 and 14 years old. His books center on the joys of sailing, fishing, camping, problem solving and environmental consciousness.
Australian Recent Release: Half Wild by Pip Smith
Fearless and provocative, Half Wild by Pip Smith gives a fictionalised account of the true lives of alleged murderer Eugenia Falleni. Jumping from 1885 to 1917 to 1938, Smith’s debut novel follows a number of compelling characters, not all of which are who they seem.
‘Pip Smith has always been an agent of change. With her powerful debut novel, Half Wild, she will surely change the way we read, write, think and talk about Australian fiction.’—Sam Twyford-Moore, host of The Rereaders podcast and former director of the Emerging Writers’ Festival
Pip Smith is a writer of songs, poems and stories. Her first poetry collection, Too Close for Comfort (SUP) won the Helen Ann Bell Award in 2013. She ran the monthly writing event Penguin Plays Rough, for which she published and edited the multimedia anthology, The Penguin Plays Rough Book of Short Stories. She was a Faber Academy Writing a Novel scholarship recipient, has been a co-director of the National Young Writers’ Festival, and holds a doctorate in creative arts from Western Sydney University. She is one quarter of garage band Imperial Broads and works at Oscar and Friends bookshop in Sydney.
Read more: https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/literary-fiction/Half-Wild-Pip-Smith-9781760294649
You can also view a book trailer here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAcCaBJup4U&feature=youtu.be
Tasmanian Recent Release: Woven Landscape by Peter E. Davies, illustrated by Deborah Williamson.
Woven Landscape is a beautifully illustrated book that explores the concept of human connections with specific places, in this case the Midlands around Ross. Davies studies the diversity of relationships between the Tasmanian country, animals, plants and the Palawa indigenous people. The changes to these connections brought about following colonial settlement, as well as future implications of anthropocentric climate change are also examined.