Archives par étiquette : Text Publishing

SIDE CHARACTER ENERGY d’Olivia Tolich

A sharp, wise, hilarious novel about love—romantic, platonic and toxic—from a brilliant new voice in Australian fiction.

SIDE CHARACTER ENERGY
by Olivia Tolich
Text Pubishing Australia, February 2026

Before she met Bee, Gertrude was alone—like a whale singing on a different frequency so that none of the other whales could find it. Then Bee decided they were friends, and now they’re not just best friends: they live in the same house and work together too.

Gertrude’s whole life, in fact, seems to revolve around Bee. Not that it’s a problem; she’s just not sure why she’s going on double dates with Bee and her new boyfriend Will, a pompous-finance-bro, and his friend Arthur, who is apparently also a jerk.

Apparently. Because there might be more to Arthur than Gertrude thinks. And, according to Arthur, there might be more to Gertrude than she thinks as well. And if that’s true? Where would that leave her life with Bee?

The author herself writes, “This book is for everyone who watches a romcom and thinks the best friend should get their own movie.” 

Senior Editor at Text, Mandy Brett, writes, “A lot of craft goes into crafting effortless fun. Olivia Tolich is a master of her craft.” 

Olivia Tolich is an emerging author based in Melbourne. She holds a Masters of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing from the University of Melbourne and works as an educational publisher. 

UNTITLED ON LIGHT AND DARKNESS by Lauren Collee

Ever since the Enlightenment we have associated light with reason. In this groundbreaking book, Lauren Collee defends darkness and argues that we need to learn to understand and appreciate it.

UNTITLED
by Lauren Collee
Text Publishing (Australia), July 2026

Our world is unnaturally bright. Over eighty percent of us live under night skies polluted with light. Scientists are concerned about the impact on nocturnal creatures; researchers worry about the effects of our screens on our circadian rhythms.

Ever since the Enlightenment we have associated light with reason. In this groundbreaking book, Lauren Collee defends darkness and argues that we need to learn to understand and appreciate it.

Throughout history, conversations about dark and light have been entangled with other binary systems, such as gender and race. Now the discussion is about excess: saturation, media overload, endless consumption, incessant speed. The search for darkness is also the search for a lost world: for the authentic self in an age of artificiality, and the search for rest in an age of overstimulation.

Through reportage, interviews and personal stories, Lauren explores what a transformative relationship with darkness and light might look like. With its profound appeal to the mystery of the human spirit, this extraordinary debut will appeal to fans of Annie Dillard, Jenny Odell and Robert Macfarlane, to everyone who cares about our relationship with technology, nature and culture.

Lauren Collee’s essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Real Life and the Sydney Review of Books. She lives in Tasmania.

GRIEFDOGG de Michael Winkler

Michael Winkler’s first novel Grimmish became a cult hit. Griefdogg is another triumph. Funny, sad, always entrancing, it tells a crazy-sane story about identity, love, family and forgiveness.

GRIEFDOGG
by Michael Winkler
Text Publishing (Australia), April 2026

Meet Jeffrey Watson-Johnson: hydrologist, husband of Martine, father of Bern, model citizen of Mildura.

After inheriting a small fortune from an obscure aunt and a disconcerting encounter with his cousin Pam, Jeffrey decides it’s time to change everything.

He wants to live like the family pet.

As his relationships face upheaval, Jeffrey withdraws further from his old life. Sleeping through the day or wandering beside the river, he discovers a new power: he can sense secret grief in others. What to do with this gift? Or with his awareness of the endless streams of water flowing unseen beneath the earth?

Michael Winkler’s first novel Grimmish became a cult hit. Griefdogg is another triumph. Funny, sad, always entrancing, it tells a crazy-sane story about identity, love, family and forgiveness.

Michael Winkler is a writer from Melbourne, living on the unceded lands of the Kulin nation. He is the author, co-author and editor of numerous books. His novel Grimmish was shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award, and he won the Calibre Essay Prize for ‘The Great Red Whale’. His journalism, short fiction, reviews and essays have been widely published and anthologised.

SHADOW OF THE LOOM de Michael Sala

In the tradition of Justin Cronin, prize-winning author Michael Sala has created a breathtaking new fantasy series with an absorbing cast of flawed heroes and heroines. With its propulsive narrative, and its epic world-building, THE WAR OF THE SHROUD is set to become a publishing sensation.

SHADOW OF THE LOOM
(The War of the Shroud, Book One)
by Michael Sala
Text Publishing, June 2026

The world is fractured. Every night, the Shroud rises from the cracks, a dread mist that devours souls…Or transforms them.

Isa was always viewed with suspicion in her village. Partly because her mother was a foreigner, partly because Isa fell into the Shroud as a child and survived. This animosity has smouldered away, fanned by the village Seer. And when Isa’s father can no longer protect her, she has only the forest for refuge.

Dio’s family is poor, but she knows that when the time comes she will be chosen, elevated to the Weaver caste and trained for mighty deeds. But when her father sells her to a city crime lord to pay his gambling debts, Dio will have only two options: kill or die.

Kyron is destined for greatness. As a Second of the Hyrarchs, he will eventually take his place among the half-dozen most powerful people in the world. Until an act of shocking violence destroys his innate powers, and his life is upended. Now he has to decide who he will betray in order to survive.

These three people, living in different places and times, have never met. But a time of crisis is coming for their world. Between them, they hold its future in their hands.

“The story is a huge feat of imagination, the narrative drags you in powerfully, and the characters are subtly drawn but heroic. It hits all the right notes and just the right amount of new ones – everyone here who’s read any fantasy thinks it is up there with best in class.” (Mandy Brett, senior editor)

Michael Sala is a prize-winning Australian author, whose earlier works have been praised by many, including Raimond Gaita and Hannah Kent. He was born in the Netherlands in 1975 to a Greek father and a Dutch mother, and first came to Australia in the 1980s. His critically acclaimed debut, The Last Thread, won the 2013 NSW Premier’s Award for New Writing and was the regional winner (Pacific) of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.

EDIE TELLS A LIE d’Ingrid Laguna

A heartfelt story about friendship and family, loneliness, and the consequences of making a mistake.

EDIE TELLS A LIE
by Ingrid Laguna
Text Publishing (Australia), July 2025

Edie lives with her mum—it’s just the two of them. Her best friend, Bowie, lives right next door, until Bowie moves to the country.

Edie feels alone and forgotten, but she soon meets Aleki, and she’s happy to have a new friend. Aleki has a big family with lots going on all the time. Edie wishes she had a big, interesting family too.

So she invents a story—a lie.

It’s only a small story, but it soon grows, and it lands her in trouble. Suddenly Edie is lonelier than ever.

But then she finds a mysterious letter in an old book. It’s written in Polish, the language of her dad’s family, and Edie discovers she has a famous great aunt who lived a remarkable life with wild animals in a forest in Poland. Edie is proud of her Polish heritage, and she wants to tell her classmates about her amazing auntie.

But, after her lie, will anyone believe her?

Ingrid Laguna is an award-winning author and educator. Her books include Songbird, Sunflower, Serenade for a Small Family, Bailey Finch Takes a Stand, which was awarded best chapter book and overall primary resource winner in the 2022 Educational Publishing Awards, and Kit and Arlo Find a Way, which won the same awards in 2023. Her writing has featured in various publications, including the Monthly, the Age and AEU Magazine. She regularly presents to teachers and students at schools, libraries, festivals and conferences.