In a major achievement for a Canberra arts society, ASOC presents its 80th Spring Exhibition. This annual event is usually a vast exhibition of works by local and regional artists across a variety of mediums with members eligible to enter four works each.
Shortlist on 31 January, winner announced 25 February 2022
The ACT Publishing Awards awards recognise and celebrate Canberra-region works published by small presses as well as self- published titles.
The final date for submissions will be announced once there is a clearer understanding of Canberra’s COVID-19 restrictions in the coming weeks.to ensurethat all entrants have an appropriate amount of time to safely drop off their entries.
Continue Reading“2021 ACT Publishing Awards postponed until February 2022”
Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2021
This is a perfect book – for children a story of an adventurous trip by hot air balloon to the Arctic by a small boy and a crow, for adult readers an allegory equally as powerful and complex as Lewis, Baum and Grahame.
Hachette, Australia, 2021
Cover design by Christabelle Designs with photograph courtesy Idda van Munster – Aida Dapo Muharemovic
This book brings together a number of the author’s passions – France, World War 11 history, women of courage, fashion and art. It is set in Occupation Paris in the historical time frame and the Riviera, Australia and New York in 2015 for the contemporary.
Four online events with international authors
6pm, Wednesdays 8 – 29 September 2021
Tickets $10 per event
The in person BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival is scheduled for 2-5 December but meanwhile BAD has lined up four of the world’s top crime writers for interviews with BAD Sydney.
Ventura Press, Australia, 2021
The Banksia House Breakout deals with themes of domestic and elder abuse, of respect for the elderly and respect for women. Written like a road movie, and with all the visuals the form evokes, it tells the story of a group of aged care residents, three of whom take matters in their own hands when they meet obstacles to fulfil their life’s desires.
Online from The Street Theatre Canberra
5pm, Friday 10 September 2021
Tickets by donation with limited places
Just Wrong is a witty, powerful, music-filled trip, moving seamlessly through time, as it explores what it means to be an artist, what motivates artistic creation in a world full of rejection, and the importance of being ruthlessly honest with yourself to create great art.
HQ Fiction an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises, a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers, Australia, 2021
Cover design by Catherine Armstrong
The history of the second half of the 20th century provides a backdrop for this novel, set in the south east of Tasmania, specifically the once booming apple growing regions of the Huon Valley, Wattle Grove and Cygnet.
Centre stage it’s the saga of two family dynasties, the Turners and the Pearsons, starting on 7 February, 1967, known now as Black Tuesday, when 110 separate bushfires ravaged southern Tasmania.
A Lothian Children’s Book, Hachette, Australia, 2021
Megan McKean is the writer, illustrator and designer of this cheery and informative book, which will spark interest in children and a travel yen in adults.
The Street Theatre
Until October 2021
Live and online depending on COVID-19 restrictions
The Street Theatre’s Re-Storying: The Resilience Project is a six-module program, which was launched in July 2021 with the support of ACT Health. It is designed for artists from all practices and has attracted actors, writers, poets, visual artists and others wanting to counter the impact of the pandemic on their livelihoods.
Internal illustrations by Julie Stapleton
Self-published, Australia, first edition 2016, second edition 2019, third edition 2020
Deanna Copeland is a Canberra-based visual artist and writer. Reluctant Pioneer, the first of her two novels, is inspired by stories told to her by her mother, who came to Australia from England with her husband in 1948.
It is however a work of fiction, an Australian rural romance set in the recent past during the 1940s and 1950s.
Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2021
Written by Katherine Kovacic based on Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries episode 1, written by Deb Cox
This novelisation of the TV series of the same name no doubt aims to broaden the following and woo audience for a project bound to be met with some resistance from traditional Phryne Fisher fans. And what a success this book is!
Contemporary crime write Katherine Kovacic brings all the required qualifications to this task and instantly engages us with the sixties era and character Peregrine Fisher, niece of the missing Phryne and heir to her not inconsiderable estate.
World premiere season
New dates – 6 to 14 November 2021
See website link below
Tickets $37 to $45
Written by Luis Gómez Romero and Desmond Manderson, developed and made in Canberra, Twenty Minutes with the Devil is a gripping tale inspired by events leading to the capture of El Chapo, Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, in 2016.
RedDoor Press, UK, 2021
Cover design Emily Courdelle
The Painting is the sixth of Alison Booth’s novels. It is a fine piece of fiction – historical in that it is set in 1989-1990 and with the World War 11 and post-War era in Hungary at its core.
The centrepiece of the story is a gift from family carried by our heroine Anika to Australia when she manages to begin a new life in Sydney.
Pegasus Crime, NY, 2021
I became an immediate fan of Tess Lunney’s work with her first novel April in Paris 1921 where we met heroine, glamorous spy Kiki Button. Tessa nails it again with this thrilling breathless sequel, a tale of espionage, power and politics in 1922 Paris.
