The Sharpe Report – 24 October 2025

• The Australian Library and Information Association has announced Luna Roo the Kangaroo Baller as the National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS)

book for 2026. More information about the NSS can be found via their website.

• Melbourne Books as warned authors of a  new scam publisher trying to convince authors that they are the same company. A business running under a similar name (Melbourne Book Publisher/Melbourne Book Publishing) and impersonating the original.
• Create NSW has announced a new strategy: Stories Matter: A Writing and Literature Strategy for NSW to support writers and readers across the state and nationally. For more information on this you can see here.
• The ABC Radio National Top 100 Books of the 21str Century has been released.
• The top 10 are:

1. Boy Swallows Universe / Trent Dalton
2. The Book Thief / Mark Zusak
3. A Gentleman in Moscow / Amor Towles
4. All The Light We Cannot See / Anthony Doerr
5. Lessons in Chemistry / Bonnie Garmus
6. Burial Rites / Hannah Kent
7. The Dictionary of Lost Words / Pip Williams
8. Demon Copperhead / Barabara Kingsolver
9. A Little Life / Hanya Yanagihara
10. Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel

• The Australian Short Story Festival program for 2025 has been announced. It will be held in Adelaide from 21 to 23 November. You can see the program here.
• The Walkley Book Award longlist for 2035 has been announced.
  • All Women Want / Alyx Gorman
  • A Bunker in Kyiv / John Lyons
  • The Chairman’s Lounge / Joe Aston
  • Great Game On: The Contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy / Geoff Raby
  • The Holy and the Broken / Ittay Flescher
  • Meadow’s Law / Quentin McDermott
  • Mean Streak / Rick Morton
  • Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions / Clare Wright
• The Historical Novel Society Australasia has announced the full program for heir History Unbound festival that will take place 1 to 2 November in Parramatta. You can see the full line up here.

Books in the Media

National

• Boy Swallows Universe / Trent Dalton
• Burial Rights / Hannah Kent
• Demon Copperhead / Barbara Kingsolver
• Pictures of You / Tony Birch
• Seed / Bri Lee
• The Underworld / Sofie Laguna

ACT

• Chosen Family / Madeleine Gray
• Do We Deserve This? / Eleanor Elliott Thomas
• Heartbeats / Björn Borg
• Last Rites / Ozzy Osbourne
• The Lucky Sisters / Rachael Johns
• Nobody’s Girl / Virginia Roberts Giuffre
• The Scientist Who Wasn’t There / Joanne Briggs
• Seed / Bri Lee / Summit

NSW + VIC

• Ernest Rutherford and the Birth of Modern Physics / Matthew Wright
• A Great Act of Love / Heather Rose
• The Rose Field / Philip Pullman
• The Underworld / Sofie Laguna
• When Australia Became a Republic / Esther Anatolitis

TAS

• Ash / Louise Wallace
• Nature’s Last Dance / Natalie Kyriacou
• Pilbara / Judy Nunn
• Saffron Incorporated / Stuart Coupe

*All information obtained from Books+Publishing as well as the official websites linked.