Congratulations to our members, who have published the following books recently.

Bill Tapp Cattle King

Toni Tapp Coutts

The story about a Territory legend - a big man with a big hat, and a big heart.

Toni Tapp Coutts tells the story of Bill Tapp, the Cattle King of the Top End, tracing his rise to become a towering figure in the Northern Territory pastoral industry, and his downfall towards the end of his life.

Published 2010, by Toni Tapp Coutts
ISBN: 978-0-646-53363-6 (paperback)

Look see, look at me!

Leonie Norrington & Dee Huxley

Look see, look at me,
I'm so much bigger now I'm three.

Leonie Norrington's exuberant text and Dee Huxley's gorgeous, free-flowing illustrations capture a story that is perfect for reading and acting aloud.

Leonie and Dee visited three northern communities, Wugularr, Barunga and Manyalalluk, to workshop words and drawings for this wonderful celebration of childhood and community life.

Publishe 2010 by Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781741758832 (hardback)
ISBN: 9781742373065 (paperback)

The Devil You Know

Leonie Norrington

88 is angry. Damien can feel it prickling the air between them. He’s sitting so close Damien has to clench his teeth and hang onto the chair to stop himself from bolting.

88 is Damien’s father. 88 is coming home.

The Devil You Know takes you under the skin of a boy who learns to face up to those he fears most.

A story of resilience and courage, from the acclaimed author of The Barrumbi Kids series.

Leonie says, about The Devil You Know:

‘I wanted to write a book about the incredibly brave children who live with violence and show how they learn to cope in education systems that are not designed for them. I also wanted to acknowledge that there is often enormous love, care and joy in families suffering domestic violence and explore the seesaw of joys and destruction they experience.

‘I wanted to include the comic elements in the book partly because the main character, Damien, loves to draw, but also as a way of engaging children who might not find reading words easy.’

The Devil You Know won the Territory Read Angus & Robertson Childrens & Young Adult Fiction Award in 2010.

Published 2009, Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 978 1 7417 5866 5 (paperback)

About the author:

Leonie Norrington was born in Darwin and grew up at Barunga community in southern Arnhem Land. Leonie’s earlier novels, also set in the Northern Territory, are: Croc Bait, The Last Muster, Crocodile Jack, and the popular Barrumbi series (The Barrumbi Kids, Spirit of Barrumbi and Leaving Barrumbi). Leaving Barrumbi was shortlisted in the Childrens Book Council of Australia awards, as was her picture book illustrated by Dee Huxley, You and Me: Our Place.

Every Secret Thing

Marie Munkara

When culture and faith collide… nothing is sacred.

In the Aboriginal missions of far northern Australia, it was a battle between saving souls and saving traditional culture.
Every Secret Thing is a rough, tough, hilarious portrayal of the Bush Mob and the Mission Mob, and the hapless clergy trying to convert them. In these tales, everyone is fair game.

At once playful and sharp, Marie Munkara’s wonderfully original stories cast a taunting new light on the mission era in Australia.

Winner of the 2008 David Unaipon Award and Territory Read NT Book of the Year Award, 2010.

‘Told with biting wit and riotous humour’
Judges’ comments, Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards (2008)

Published 2009, University of Queensland Press
ISBN: 978 0 7022 3719 5 (paperback)

About the author:

Of Rembarranga descent, Marie Munkara was born on the banks of the Mainoru River in Arnhem Land and spent the first few years of her life on Bathurst Island. She now lives in Darwin.

My private pectus

Shane Thamm

‘There’s something different about my body. It’s like the missing hole in a jigsaw puzzle your eyes keep going back to. If I were to take off my shirt you wouldn’t see my face, freckles or ratty hair. All you’d see is the crevice in the middle of my chest.’

A story about footy, cars and a young man who discovers that revealing his greatest secret is the only way to hold on to the people he loves.

Published 2009, Ford Street Publishing
ISBN: 978 1 8764 6283 3 (paperback)

About the author:

Shane Thamm wrote My Private Pectus while studying masculinities at Queensland University of Technology. After six years working in high school outdoor education and the masculinised outdoor adventure industry, he became interested in what makes young men tick and the emotional challenges they negotiate each day, often in silence. He likes to give these boys a voice.

Jennifer Mills

The Diamond Anchor

An unexpected letter from her childhood friend Grace forces May to relive their extraordinary past and confront the events that drove them apart fifty years earlier.

May’s father won the Diamond Anchor, a dilapidated pub perched on the ocean’s edge, in a game of cards – a gamble which positioned her at the hear of the close-knit community for seventy years, and gave her custody of its stories.
Now,  trying to maintain a careful balance between the demands of the collapsing building and her won solitary life, May must decide whether to reach out to Grace, whose health is failing, or let her go.
With all the humour and storytelling of small-town life, The Diamond Anchor is a brilliant tale of the places and relationships that define us.

Published 2009, University of Queensland Press
ISBN: 978 0 7022 3695 2 (paperback)

About the author:

Jennifer Mills lives in Alice Springs.  She was the 2008 winner of the Marian Eldridge Award for Young Emerging Women Writers. Her work has appeared in Hecate, Overland, Heat, the Griffith Review, and Best Australian Stories, 2007. The Diamond Anchor is her first novel; she is currently working on her second.

Hope Endures

Colette Livermore

An Australian sister’s story of leaving Mother Teresa, losing faith, and her on-going search for meaning.

In 1972, Colette Livermore left home at age eighteen to join Mother Teresa and become a sister in the Missionaries of Charity. She was given a new name, Tobit, and unquestioning obedience was demanded.

As Sister Tobit, Colette worked in some of the poorest places in the East – the sprawling, fetid garbage dump of Manila, the crowded slums of urban India – and back home in Australia. The sheer number of desperate people she helped was huge and humbling, their circumstances devastating; yet she drew strength and courage from them, knowing that this was her calling.

Ultimately, though, Colette could not bear the rigid and often demeaning culture of the order, and decided to leave despite pressure from Mother Teresa and other superiors to stay. And so, eleven years after joing Mother Theresa, she walked away – from her vocation and from her faith – and began her awkward re-entry into Australian society.

Enormously compassionate and unflinchingly honest, Hope Endures is not only and inspiring story of an incredible woman, but also a critique that asks reader to question blind faith and submission, and to discover their own true path to practising goodness in life.

Published 2008, William Heinemann
ISBN: 978 1 74166 653 3 (paperback)

About the author:

Colette Livermore was born in Sydney in 1954. After leaving Mother Teresa’s order in 1984, she earned her medical degree from the University of Queensland. Since then she has worked in the Northern Territory, in Aileu, East Timor, and on the New South Wales Central Coast. She currently lives in Tennant Creek.

Cassie

Barry Jonsberg

Holly Holley is so average it hurts. She hates her name, her looks and her life. She isn't in with the right crowd and she has little hope of dating the gorgeous Raph McDonald. Then her cousin Cassie comes to stay so Holly has to move out of her bedroom into the tiny, smelly spare room - and she feels life couldn't be more unfair. So when Demi, the coolest girl in school, invites Holly on a make-over shopping spree, Holly jumps at the chance. Even Cassie can see that Holly is stretching her wings. But will she fly or fall?

Before long, Holly learns that appearances can be deceptive and friendship can blossom in unexpected places...

Published 2008, Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 978 1 74175 347 9 (paperback)

About the author:

Barry Jonsberg lives in Darwin in the Northern Territory. Before he became a full-time writer, Barry was a high school English teacher. He has written four books for young adults prior to 'Cassie'. 'The Whole Business with Kiffo & the Pitbull' was shortlisted for the CBC Book of the Year (older readers) in 2005. His second book, 'It's Not All About You, Calma!' won the Adelaide Festival Award for Children's Literature and was shortlisted for the CBC Book of the Year (older readers) in 2006. 'Dreamrider' was shortlisted for the 2007 NSW Premier's Award (Ethel Turner Award). 'Ironbark' was published in June 2008. For more Barry Jonsberg, see below...

A Croc called Capone

Barry Jonsberg

We met Blacky the farting dog in 'The dog that dumped on my doona'. Now he's back with a mission that Marcus and Dylan can't refuse. Trouble is, this mission involves a monstrous saltwater crocodile who would much rather chomp on a human for dinner than have a civilised conversation.

Of course, there's also the small matter of a giant big-game hunter on a collision course with our heroes. And will Marcus be any match his mean older sister Rose and her light-sabre-wielding best friend CyOb Han?

Blacky the master of disguise is back, full of attitude and smelly as ever.

Published 2009, Allen & Unwin
ISBN:  978 174715 668 5 (paperback)

About the author:

Barry Jonsberg lwas born in Liverpool, England, and now lives in Darwin, Australia, with his wife, children and two dogs - Jai and Zac, neither of whom, thankfully, share Blacky's flatulence problems. 'A Croc called Capone' is Barry's second book for younger readers and is a follow-up to 'The Dog That Dumped on My Doona'. 

Brumbies in the Night

Diane Lucas & Colwyn Campbell

It's midnight! And there are brumbies in the garden.

A young boy wakes.

He looks and he listens, and wonders, where will they take him this time?

Published 2009, Waterlily Publications
ISBN: 978 0 9806422 0 9 (paperback)

About the author:

Diane Lucas lives in Kakadu. This is her second children's picture book with Colwyn Campbell, 'Waterlilies' was published November 2007 (a Notable book in the 2008 CBC Awards). Diane is also author of the educational picture book 'Walking with the Seasons in Kakadu', which was shortlisted for excellence in Educational Publishing in 2004. She also has a CD of songs for children, 'Singing with the Seasons', recorded by the Cycad Sisters.

About the illustrator: 

Colywn Campbell came to the Northern Territory in 1978 and her passion for the NT bush is lovingly portrayed in her illustrations. This is her second picture book with Diane Lucas, and she illustrated 'Tropical Food Gardens', a book by Leonie Norrington. Colwyn has had many exhibitions of her artwork over the last 30 years.

Tom Tom

Rosemary Sullivan & Dee Huxley

Tom Tom is always busy. He goes to pre-school, where he likes to paint pictures and make damper with playdough. He visits his Granny Annie and Granny May and Grandfather Joe. Every day he swims with his brothers and sisters and cousins in the cool, clear water of Lemonade Springs.

Rosemary Sullivan's simple text and Dee Huxley's vivid illustrations capture the rich, full life of a small boy living in a remote Aboriginal community in Australia's Top End.

About the author:

Rosemary Sullivan was born in Darwin and has lived and worked in the Top End of the Northern Territory all her life. She has taught in rural, regional and remote areas of the Territory in both small rural and large urban settings. During her diverse career, she has won awards for journalism and teaching. 'Tom Tom' is her first picture book.

Published 2008, reprinted 2009, Working Title Press
ISBN: 978 1 876288 98 3 (hardback)

About the illustrator: 

Dee Huxley has been illustrating picture books for years and is now one of the most popular and well-known illustrators in Australia. She was short-listed for the Children's Book Council Picture Book of the Year Award for her illustrations in 'Mr. Nick's Knitting' in 1989, and for 'Rain Dance' in 2001.

...more to come...