News

The 2023 shortlists for the YABBA Awards have been announced.

The Russell Prize for Humour Writing 2023 has been announced. Lian Tanner is the winner of the Humour Writing for Young People Award 2023 for Rita's Revenge an hilarious mystery story about Rita a poet, outcast and duck who is out for revenge against a scruffy chicken called Clara.

The 2022 shortlists for the Aurealist Awards have been announced. Of special interest:

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION

The Wintrish Girl, Melanie La'Brooy (University of Queensland Press) 
Gus and the Starlight, Victoria Carless (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm, Karen Foxlee, illustrated by Frieda Chiu (Allen & Unwin)
The Raven's Song, Zana Fraillon & Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)
The Goodbye Year, Emily Gale (Text Publishing)
Mars Awakens, H M Waugh (Allen & Unwin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Night Lights, Sarah Epstein (Fourteen Press) 
The Rarkyn's Familiar, Nikky Lee (Parliament House Press)
Only a Monster, Vanessa Len (Allen & Unwin) 
If You Could See the Sun, Ann Liang (HQ Fiction)
We Who Hunt the Hollow, Kate Murray (Hardie Grant Children's Publishing)
League of Liars, Astrid Scholte (Allen & Unwin)

The CBCA has announced their 2023 Notables list. Many have been reviewed by ReadPlus reviewers and can be found in the Review index.

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2023 have been announced. Of special interest are the YA novels We Who Hunt the Hollow by Kate Murray, the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for Young Adults and The Upwelling by Lystra Rose who won the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for Indigenous Writing.

YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction list for 2023 has been announced:

All My Rage. By Sabaa Tahir. 2022.
Gideon Green in Black and White. By Katie Henry.
I Must Betray You. By Ruta Sepetys. 2022.
Man Made Monsters. By Andrea L. Rogers. 2022.
The Door of No Return. By Kwame Alexander. 2022.
The Getaway. By Lamar Giles. 2022.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea. By Axie Oh.
The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen. By Isaac Blum. 2022.
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet. By Jen Ferguson. 2022.
The Sunbearer Trials. By Aiden Thomas. 2022.

YALSA has announced its list of Best Fiction for Young Adults 2023. Some that have been reviewed in ReadPlus include:

Gallant. By V. E. Schwab.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler. By Casey McQuiston.
I Must Betray You. By Ruta Sepetys.
In the Serpent's Wake. By Rachel Hartman.
Loveless. By Alice Oseman.
Nothing More to Tell. By Karen McManus.
The Agathas. By Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea. By Axie Oh.

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, digital media, video and audio books for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards.

“Freewater,” written by Amina Luqman-Dawson, is the 2023 Newbery Medal winner.

“Hot Dog,” illustrated and written by Doug Salati, is the 2023 Caldecott Medal winner.

 “All My Rage,” written by Sabaa Tahir, is the 2023 Printz Award winner.

"Bookseller, black belt, ‘neon-bright’ talent: the unfathomable loss of acclaimed Australian YA author Gabrielle Williams". The Conversation.

Williams was the author of It's not you, it's me,  My life as a hashtag, The guy, the girl, the artist and his ex, Reluctant hallelujah and Beatle meets Destiny

She will be sadly missed.

• Young adult literature: The Gaps by Leanne Hall (Text Publishing)
• Children’s literature: Mina and the Whole Wide World by Sherryl Clark, illustrated by Briony Stewart (University of Queensland Press)
• Poetry: Human Looking by Andy Jackson (Giramondo Publishing Company)
• Australian history: Semut: The untold story of a secret Australian operation in WWII Borneo by Christine Helliwell (Penguin Random House Australia: Michael Joseph)
• Non-fiction: Rogue Forces: An explosive insiders’ account of Australian SAS war crimes in Afghanistan by Mark Willacy (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Fiction: Red Heaven by Nicolas Rothwell (Text Publishing)

The winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize – Adult Category is Corporal Hitler’s Pistol by Tom Keneally (Penguin Random House).

The winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize – Children and Young Adult (CYA) Category is Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief by Katrina Nannestad (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)