Siang Lu's novel, Ghost Cities, won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2025. We thought it timely, as we begin our 2026 season, to revisit his interview on Published or Not when the book first came out. The imaginative and allegorical references, the literary influences, and the diverse timelines make this an enthralling and entertaining read.

‘The Hiding Place’ is a literary thriller written by Kate Mildenhall.‘What Have They Done to Liza McLean?’ sister Meg needs to get into the school data base which requires help from the very handsome and wealthy Benedict Hargreaves the fourth. Horticulture, herbology, chemistry and psychology are all in play as well as murder in this YA book by Amy Doak.

‘The Hiding Place’ is a literary thriller written by Kate Mildenhall.‘What Have They Done to Liza McLean?’ sister Meg needs to get into the school data base which requires help from the very handsome and wealthy Benedict Hargreaves the fourth. Horticulture, herbology, chemistry and psychology are all in play as well as murder in this YA book by Amy Doak.

A remarkable novel about lust, not just for a person but for music and the consequence of choice in Indyana Schneider’s ‘Since The World is Ending’.Sam Guthrie takes us into the world of espionage and deceit where diplomats are emotionally blackmailed to betray their country in, ‘The Peak’.

Zana Fraillon’s verse novel ‘Song of a Thousand Seas’ has an octopus who knows her world looking at humans with intelligence and curiosity. Elise Janes is actually the psuedonym for Elise Wackett and Jane Abbott whose novel, 'The Canvas Killings', reveals the macabre world of a serial killer artist who turns the blood and bones of his victims into paint and pigment to create renowned and admired works or art.

Lyn Yeowart has set her book in the not so distance past when unmarried mothers were a social disgrace and sent away to have their babies who were adopted. Years later there are murders ‘The Hollow Girl’ may be the perpetrator of these revenge killings .                  Sibling rivalry, arson attacks, a surf lifesaving competition and the threat of bushfires are the Australian touchstones activated by Carla Salmon in her adolescent novel, 'We Saw What You Started'.

In a continuation of the Hirsch crime series, Constable Hirschhausen finds himself not just contending with the local problems of his isolated South Australian community but with a cold case involving the death and disappearance of two fossickers. The past and present come together in 'Mischance Creek'.Leisl and her daughter Else are awkward in society but in the demands of a climatic crisis they find their capabilities more attuned to their changing environment, one in which other animals have adaptions and techniques to survive.   ‘Else’ is a book set in the not so distant future by Rose Michael.

High octane action in a high rise building - that's where all the mayhem and murder takes place in Gabriel Bergmoser's latest novel, High Rise.Rachael Johns', The Lucky Sisters, is a moving story about life, death and miracles.

Oliver loves his job as the 113th Assistant Librarian, he knows books can be dangerous but if the wording in one is changed could it impact the stability of the kingdom? Travel books help him leave and return in ‘Lost in a Book’ the second book in the series by Stuart Wilson .   Mythology and reality merge in Sofie Laguna's novel, The Underworld.

‘Shutter City’ has photographs of early Melbourne. They come alive as Robyn Annear guides our eye into the detail and describes it with her insightful humour. Christian White takes us on a journey of kidnapping, revenge and violence over one concentrated evening in, ‘The Long Night’.