‘Little Bones’ claims Canberra’s top book award
Canberra writer Sandy Bigna has won the $10,000 2026 ACT Book of the Year Award for Little Bones, it was announced at the National Library of Australia on Friday, reports arts editor HELEN MUSA.
Books
ANNA CREER reviews new books from two star crime writers: one "convoluted with twists and turns", the other "powerful and poignant".
Canberra region authors Jackie French and Clare Hallifax have each received $5000 as shortlisted authors in the 2026 ARA Historical Novel Prize, announced in Sydney on Thursday.
Seven books have been shortlisted for the 2026 ACT Book of the Year Award, it has been announced by ACT Arts Minister, Michael Pettersson, reports arts editor HELEN MUSA.
Books
UK author, disgraced ex-MP Jeffrey Archer dead at 86
With what he said was his final novel due for publication later this month, former UK MP Lord Jeffrey Archer has died at 86.
Books
Rankin scales new heights away from Rebus
The books under review could be subtitled a tale of two cities, London, and Oxford, writes COLIN STEELE.
Books
‘Odd’ king’s tale explores the nature of history
ANNA CREER reviews two new novels of historical fiction, one set in present and medieval times, the other in World War I.
COLIN STEELE reviews six books, whose authors featured recently in the Australian National University Meet the Author series, that cover a wide range of important issues in Australian and global politics.
ANNA CREER reviews Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart's new novel, which is set in the lonely remoteness of Scotland's Outer Hebrides.
Patrons of Canberra’s literary organisation MARION have launched a strong protest over a cut to the organisation’s funding, despite the ACT Government’s recent boast of a 25 per cent boost to arts funding.
Canberra writer, scholar and curator Helen Ennis has won the $25,000 National Biography Award for her acclaimed biography of iconic Australian photographer Max Dupain.
Two ultimately feel-good novels from Matt Haig and Jessy Wu comprise COLIN STEELE's latest book reviews.
Leading her latest column of new books, ANNA CREER reviews a biography of Alexander the Great, a man its author says, "spent his whole life unsure of who he really was”.
Two cultural icons of the 20th century – Marilyn Monroe and Stephen King – have been assessed through their books. In Monroe's case, the books she read or owned; in King's, the books he wrote early in his career. COLIN STEELE reviews them.
The Marion Halligan Award, which recognises a work demonstrating uniqueness and literary excellence that transcends genre, has been awarded to The Dingo's Noctuary, an illustrated verse novel by Judith Nangala Crispin.
"NZ crime fiction is characterised by its distinctive rural and urban settings as well as its often gritty realism," says book reviewer ANNA CREER.
"The Vape Lord of Queanbeyan, reads like the rantings of a lunatic, like prophecy, like poetry, like messages passed between the cells of some imaginary jail. There really isn't another book like it," writes JUDITH NANGALA CRISPIN.
COLIN STEELE reviews two books that cover the lives and work of two global bestselling authors, who are coincidentally both Cornwells.
The ACT writers’ group, MARION, on Thursday released the shortlist for the 2026 ACT Literary Awards, to be announced on July 2.
