UWA Publishing

07/09/2026

07/09/2026

Congratulations to Pip Smith on being shortlisted for the South Australian Literary Awards for her young adult novel The Pull of the Moon.

The Young Adult shortlistees include Pip Smith, Olivia De Zilva, Sharon Kernot and Margot McGovern. The winner will be announced at the State Library of South Australia in November this year and will be awarded $15,000.

Megan Berghuis, Director of the State Library of South Australia, remarked that “this year’s shortlist reflects the strength and diversity of contemporary Australian writing, bringing together established authors, emerging voices and works that invite readers to see the world from new perspectives.”

Congratulations Pip!!

https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/the-pull-of-the-moon

02/09/2026

UWA Publishing has acquired world rights to N. J. Madden’s literary fiction novel Laughing River.

Laughing River is a thrilling historical fiction novel about a boy who grows to become a feared bushranger, before going through a moral and spiritual crisis. Set against the pristine but violent backdrop of the goldrush era, it is a meditation on what becomes of individuals when they are held together only by an instinct to survive. Through its tightly controlled narration and subtle music, the novel, like its characters, is charged with a powerful reticence that gives each burst of violence or tenderness an almost mythic resonance.

Madden says: “For a long time, I’ve felt UWA Publishing would be the perfect home for my book and to be able to announce this acquisition means I can safely say this book has found where it belongs. It’s a remarkable privilege to be working with the supportive and generous UWAP team to help bring this story to life. UWAP has always championed meaningful and unique writers and to now count myself as a part of this incredible legacy is an honour I don’t take lightly.”

Laughing River will be published by UWA Publishing in April 2027 with a national publicity campaign by Brendan Fredericks PR.

Read the full announcement on our website: https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/blogs/marginalia/uwapublishing-acquires-world-rights-to-nj-maddens-laughing-river

01/09/2026

MAYA FOLLOWS HER NOSE by Nic Gill and Jake A Minton is OUT NOW!!

Book 1 in the new Sniff Squad series is out now Australia-wide.

ABOUT THE BOOK 🐾
When Maya the border collie is abandoned at the local animal shelter, she’s scared she’ll never find a forever home. But just as her hope starts to fade, Dr Romane ‘Rom’ Cristescu appears, looking for a dog with a keen nose to help with her research. Rom needs a pup to help her find koalas by their sniffing out their poo – could Maya be the perfect dog for the job?

Join Maya and her new friends on a koala conservation adventure, as she faces her fears and learns some new tricks. Maya Follows Her Nose is a story of embracing your uniqueness, finding courage, and lending a paw for wildlife – one sniff at a time!

Buy now: https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/maya-follows-her-nose

28/08/2026

Beverley McWilliams is a multi-award winning author with a passion for history and animals – both of which can be seen in her brand-new middle-grade historical novel BANDOOLA!

You can hear Beverley Mcwilliams Author read the first chapter of 'Bandoola', which is inspired by the TRUE STORY of a remarkable elephant, in this week's YKNR podcast Friday First Chapters episode.

Settle in and listen here https://www.yourkidsnextread.com.au/podcast-episode/friday-first-chapters-48-beverley-mcwilliams-reads-bandoola/ or where you get your pods!

Allison Tait Megan Daley UWA Publishing

28/08/2026

: Ella and the Call of the Wild (Book #4), Cassy Polimeni (author), Hykie Breeze (illus.), UWA Publishing. Junior fiction.

24/08/2026

A lovely afternoon chatting with Jo Laverty on ABC Adelaide Radio about my new book Bandoola 🐘 Thank you so much Jo and Steven for welcoming me on the program 😊❤
UWA Publishing

19/08/2026

ARTIFICIAL LIFE: THE ART OF AUTOMATING LIVING SYSTEMS
By Oron Catts, Sarah Collins, Elizabeth Stephens and Ionat Zurr

UWA Publishing's Vignettes is a bite-sized non-fiction series edited by Tony Hughes-d'Aeth and Sarah Collins aimed at sharing the latest knowledges from academics across Australia. The fourth book in the series, Artificial Life, is out in November 2026.

Have you ever eaten food that appeared natural but then found out it was created in a lab or was genetically modified? Have you ever mistaken a deep fake video or AI voice for the real thing? You may have felt deceived or anxious about how closely we are now able to simulate and engineer the indices of life. Or you may have felt awe-struck by the ingenuity involved in creating the illusion of life, as you might feel watching an impressive magic trick. Distinctions between what is real or fake, or natural or artificial, seem to harden in direct proportion to cultural anxieties around this imagined boundary.

This book explores the ways in which we tend to frame and imagine artificial life, through art, corporate marketing, popular culture, scientific discourse, film and other forms of expression and meaning-making. It argues, that through practices of framing, our understanding of what constitutes life is continuously being re-shaped.

Cover design by Mika Tabata.

Pre-order now: https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/artificial-life-the-art-of-automating-living-systems