2020 HIGHLIGHTS BLACK INC. NERO LA TROBE UNIVERSITY PRESS AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS QUARTERLY ESSAY
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2020 HIG HLIG HT S BL ACK INC . · NERO · L A TROBE UNIVERSIT Y PRESS AUSTR ALIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS · QUARTERLY ESSAY
2020 HIGHLIGHTS
AGENDA-SETTING JUNE
Australian Foreign Affairs 1 Growing up Disabled in Australia 7
Peter and the Tree Children 7
FEBRUARY
A Couple of Things Before 1 JULY
the End Car Crash 8
The Medicine 2 The Story of Australia 8
On the Line 9
MARCH
Factory 19 9
Melting Moments 2
Solved!3 AUGUST
Contest for the Indo-Pacific3 Full Circle 10
The Road 4
SEPTEMBER
Quarterly Essay 774
Journaliste 10
APRIL Russians, White and Red11
Jacinda Ardern5
OCTOBER
The Shortest History of England5
One Hundred Days 11
MAY On Beverley Farmer 12
On Robyn Davidson 6
NOVEMBER
F*ck Happiness 6
The Shortest History of China12
F E B R U A R Y, J U LY, O C T O B E R 2020 FEBRUARY 2020 1
Australian Foreign A Couple of
Affairs Things Before
the End
Australian Foreign Affairs,
Issues 8, 9, 10
Stories
Imprint: Australian Foreign Affairs Sean O’Beirne
Release date: February, July,
October 2020 Imprint: Black Inc.
Release date: February 2020
A
ustralian Foreign Affairs, launched in 2017, has quickly This brilliant collection mixes the originality of George Saunders
developed a reputation as the nation’s leading forum for and Lydia Davis with a sensibility all of its own.
A
compelling, in-depth and quality writing about Australia
and its place in the world. As Australia confronts challenges such woman on a ship in 1958 gets involved with a young,
as China’s rise and a United States disengaging from the region, wild Barry Humphries. In 1988, a boy recalls his sexual
AFA has provided crucial insights into unfolding developments and initiation. In the near future, a racist demagogue talks to
explored how Australia will need to respond. It has featured award- the press after his electoral triumph. A lady from one of the ‘better
winning writers and thinkers from Australia and around the world, suburbs’ strives to get her family into a gated community as the
including David Kilcullen, Andrew J. Bacevich, Jane Perlez, George cities heat up and lose their water. Bitingly satirical, outstandingly
Megalogenis, Jo Chandler, Jen Rayner and Hugh White. original and written in a remarkable range of voices, A Couple of
Things Before the End is a stand-out fiction debut of 2020.
‘There has never been a more critical time for Australia to contemplate
its place in the world. Australian Foreign Affairs serves as a forum for ‘These voices, so superbly heard and rendered, threw me into fits
our most adventurous and deepest strategic thinkers to interrogate of laughter and slyly broke my heart.’ —Helen Garner
foreign policy.’—Morry Schwartz, Publisher ‘Astonishing … Complicated and savage and difficult and funny and
melancholy, it’s both harsh and a caress.’ —Christos Tsiolkas
Sean O’Beirne is a Melbourne bookseller and critic. He grew up
in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, and studied arts, law and acting.
Sean performs the stories of this collection brilliantly.
FEBRUARY 2020 MARCH 2020 2
The Medicine Melting Moments
A Doctor’s Notes Anna Goldsworthy
Karen Hitchcock Imprint: Black Inc.
Imprint: Black Inc. Release date: March 2020
Release date: February 2020
W I
hat happens when a doctor kills a patient? Are GPs t is 1941. Eighteen-year-old Ruby leaves behind the family farm,
overprescribing antidepressants? Does ‘female Viagra’ her serious mother and roguish father, and heads for Adelaide.
work? What role can psychedelics and cannabis play After a brief courtship, she enters into a hasty marriage with a
in treating pain? In The Medicine, Dr Karen Hitchcock takes us soldier about to go to war – who returns a changed man.
to the frontlines of everyday treatment, turning her acute gaze to
everything from the flu season to dementia to the humble sick Anna Goldsworthy recreates the world of Adelaide half a century
day. These dazzling essays show Hitchcock as one of the most ago, and portrays the phases of a woman’s life with intimacy.
fearless and illuminating medical thinkers of our time – reasonable, We follow Ruby as she contends with her damaged husband,
insightful and deeply humane. experiences motherhood and kindles a late-life romance.
‘Karen Hitchcock is our best medical writer.’ —Chris Feik, ‘Anna Goldsworthy combines an Austenesque wit with Alice Munro’s
Publisher feeling for human complexity.’ —Chris Feik, Publisher
Dr Karen Hitchcock is a general physician and one of the first Anna Goldsworthy is an acclaimed memoirist, and this is her debut
authorised prescribers of medicinal cannabis in Australia. She novel, based in part on the life of her grandmother. Her previous
wrote the Quarterly Essay Dear Life and the story collection books are Piano Lessons, Welcome to Your New Life and the Quarterly
Little White Slips. Essay Unfinished Business: Sex, Freedom and Misogyny. She is also a
concert pianist.
MARCH 2020 3
Solved! Contest for
the Indo-Pacific
How Other Countries Have
Cracked the World’s Biggest Why China Won’t Map the Future
Problems and We Can Too
Rory Medcalf
Andrew Wear
Imprint: La Trobe University Press
Imprint: Black Inc.
Release date: March 2020
Release date: March 2020
D T
enmark will achieve 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. he Indo-Pacific is both a place and an idea. It is the region
Iceland tops the gender equality rankings. South Korea’s central to global prosperity and security. It is also a metaphor
average life expectancy will reach ninety. How have these for collective action. If diplomacy fails, it will be the theatre of
places achieved such remarkable outcomes? the first general war since 1945. But if its future can be secured, the
Indo-Pacific will flourish as a shared space, the centre of gravity in a
Andrew Wear examines what has proven successful around the connected world. Written by a recognised expert and regional policy
world, and how we can apply the lessons in our own country. insider, Contest for the Indo-Pacific is the definitive guide to tensions
Solved! is a dose of optimism in an atmosphere of doom and gloom, in the region.
a toolkit for those looking for social change.
‘Uses history and strategy to show why this is the key region for
‘A refreshing, cup-half-full approach to inspire each and all of us we the world’s – and Australia’s – future.’ —Chris Feik, Publisher
MUST and CAN do the hard work to make the world a better place.’
—Dana H. Born, Kennedy School ‘An essential guide for anyone – politician, policy specialist
or informed citizen – interested in the future of the region.’
‘Wear shows why in pessimistic times there are reasons to feel —Books+Publishing
optimistic.’ —Robyn Scott, co-founder of Apolitical
Rory Medcalf was among the first to popularise the term ‘Indo-
Andrew Wear is an Australian public servant with degrees in Pacific’. The head of the National Security College at Australian
politics, law, economics and public policy, and a graduate of Harvard National University, his work appears widely, including in The New
Kennedy School. His work appears in The Mandarin, The Guardian York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as on the ABC, BBC
and others, and he has appeared on The Guardian politics podcast. and CNN.
MARCH 2020 4
The Road Quarterly Essay 77
Uprising in West Papua Margaret Simons on Water,
John Martinkus Drought, Food and Politics
Imprint: Black Inc. Release date: March 2020
Release date: March 2020
C T
hemical weapons deployed. Choppers taken out. he Murray–Darling Basin is the food bowl of Australia, and
Communications repressed. Tens of thousands of people it’s in trouble. What does this mean for the future – for water
displaced. The West Papuan independence movement and food, and for the people and towns that depend on it?
has reignited, and Indonesian troops are cracking down. In The Margaret Simons takes a trip through the basin, from Queensland
Road, John Martinkus gives a gripping, up-to-date account of the to South Australia. She shows that its plight is environmental but
province’s descent into armed conflict and suppression. With vivid also economic, and enmeshed in ideology and identity.
detail and new information, this revelatory work of journalism
shows how and why a highlands road led to an uprising, and where Margaret Simons is an award-winning journalist and the author
this might all lead. of thirteen books, including biographies of Malcolm Fraser and
‘John Martinkus breaks new ground with this story of a secret war Penny Wong. She won the 2015 Walkley Award for Social Equity
on Australia’s doorstep.’ —Chris Feik, Publisher Journalism and has been honoured with several Quill Awards for
journalistic excellence.
John Martinkus is a Walkley Award–nominated investigative
reporter on the Asia region. His other books include A Dirty Little
War, Travels in American Iraq, Indonesia’s Secret War in Aceh and
the Quarterly Essay Paradise Betrayed: West Papua’s Struggle for
Independence.
APRIL 2020 5
Jacinda Ardern The Shortest
History of England
A New Kind of Leader
Madeleine Chapman James Hawes
Imprint: Black Inc. Imprint: Black Inc.
Release date: April 2020 Release date: April 2020
P W
rime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern is a leader ith the British Empire gone, Brexit looming and the break-up
for a new generation, tired of inaction in the face of pressing of the United Kingdom a possibility, there’s no better time to
issues such as climate change, immigration and the rise of far- discover the true history of England.
right terrorism. Ardern was catapulted onto the international stage
with her grace and compassion following the Christchurch mosque A gallop through England’s past shows that it is shot through with
shooting. Oprah Winfrey invited us to ‘channel our inner Jacindas’ ancient fault lines, locked into European history and overlaid with
as praise for Ardern flooded headlines and social media. The world’s that most English of factors: class. It has been rife with tension and
youngest female head of government, and only the second elected challenge, from the Roman invasion through the Britons, Anglo-Saxons
world leader to give birth while in office, Ardern describes herself as a and Danes; to the Norman Conquest, the Anglo-French Empire and
progressive and a social democrat. But can she live up to her promise? the Reformation; to the Empire and the wars of the twentieth century;
What does her new style of leadership look like? And what can we and up to the question-filled present.
learn from the world’s reaction to this inspiring leader? ‘The first book in the series, John Hirst’s The Shortest History of Europe,
‘This is a stunning portrait of Jacinda Ardern by an award-winning was a global publishing phenomenon. It has been translated into fifteen
journalist. A book of hope and inspiration, it will appeal to readers different languages, selling half a million copies in China.’ —Sophy
of Michelle Obama’s Becoming.’—Sophy Williams, Publisher Williams, Publisher
Madeleine Chapman is the co-author of Steven Adams: My Life, My James Hawes is the author of several books, including the acclaimed
Fight (Penguin Random House NZ) and a staff writer at The Spinoff. The Shortest History of Germany.
She was named the 2018 Young Business Journalist of the Year.
M AY 2020 6
On Robyn F*ck Happiness
Davidson
How the Science of
Psychology Ignores Women
Writers on Writers
Ariel Gore
Richard Cooke
Imprint: Black Inc.
Imprint: Black Inc. in partnership
with State Library Victoria and Release date: May 2020
the University of Melbourne
Release date: May 2020
R H
obyn Davidson, author of the classic memoir Tracks, has led appiness is big business. Books, psychologists and
a remarkable life of writing and nomadic travel. In this crisp, governments promote scientific findings into the psychology
erudite essay, acclaimed critic and journalist Richard Cooke of happiness. The problem is that almost all of this science is
explores Davidson’s relationship with place and freedom, and her performed by and for straight white men. And some of these experts
singular presence in Australian letters. This is a marvellous addition suggest that women can become happier by rejecting feminism.
to the Writers on Writers series, in which leading authors reflect on
an Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. Ariel Gore combed the history, interviewed the thinkers and
explored her friends’ experiences. For readers of Rebecca Solnit’s
‘A stunning biographical look at the author of Tracks by a brilliant Men Explain Things to Me and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright Side,
young writer.’ —Chris Feik, Publisher this is a nuanced, thoughtful account of how happiness has defined
modern gender roles, and how we can all pursue joy in our lives.
Richard Cooke is The Monthly’s contributing editor and the author ‘Thoughtful, funny and inspiring, this is a down-to-earth guide to the
of Tired of Winning. His work appears in The New York Times, elusive human quest for happiness.’ —Booklist
The Best of Longform, Best Australian Essays, The Saturday Paper, The
Guardian and others. He is a Mumbrella Columnist of the Year and
was a finalist in the 2018 Walkley–Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism. Ariel Gore is a journalist, writer and teacher. The author of several
books on parenting, feminism and queer culture, she is also the
publisher of Hip Mama, an award-winning magazine covering the
culture and politics of motherhood. Her writing has been described
as ‘eloquent, sensitive, and revolutionary’ and novelist Marc Acito
dubs her ‘an adventurer, the Indiana Jones of literature’.
JUNE 2020 7
Growing up Peter and the
Disabled Tree Children
in Australia
Peter Wohlleben
Carly Findlay (ed.) Imprint: Piccolo Nero
Imprint: Black Inc. Release date: June 2020
Release date: June 2020
G P
rowing Up Disabled in Australia is the fifth book in the iet the squirrel embarks with Peter the forester on a search
highly acclaimed, bestselling Growing Up series. for tree children. Along the way, Peter shares amazing facts
about trees: how they communicate with and care for each
Contributors include: Jordon Steele-John, Sarah Firth, other, and the struggles they endure. This environmentally conscious
Dion Beasley, Astrid Edwards, Jessica Walton, Carly-Jay Metcalfe, picture book, written by acclaimed author Peter Wohlleben, brings
Isis Holt, Gayle Kennedy and El Gibbs. the majesty of The Hidden Life of Trees to young readers.
‘This extraordinarily vibrant anthology – including poetry and
graphic art – demonstrates the enormous contribution that people Peter Wohlleben is the author of numerous books, including the
with disabilities make to the nation’s cultural life.’ —Kirstie New York Times bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees and its follow-ups,
Innes-Will, Publisher The Inner Life of Animals and The Secret Wisdom of Nature.
‘This gentle story will introduce young readers to the real, magical
Carly Findlay is a writer and an appearance activist. A regular forest families, with a super-cute squirrel as their guide.’
festival guest, she is the author of memoir Say Hello and has been —Sophy Williams, Publisher
published in The Guardian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,
Daily Life, Mamamia and Frankie.
J U LY 2020 8
Car Crash The Story
of Australia
A Memoir
Lech Blaine Don Watson
Imprint: Black Inc. Imprint: Black Inc.
Release date: July 2020 Release date: July 2020
D
Lech Blaine was seventeen when he was in a crash that changed his life. on Watson’s The Story of Australia is a modern illustrated
O
history of our nation that integrates new understandings about
ne evening in 2009, seven teenage boys piled into a car to Indigenous Australia and looks to the future, asking: where will
go to a party. They never arrived. One boy died at the scene. we go from here? In clear, succinct language that both children and
Two more died in hospital and one was left disabled, in an adults will appreciate, Watson guides readers from the ancient lands
incident that convulsed their rural community. How do we grieve in of Gondwana, through human settlement, colonisation and waves of
an age of social media? How can tragedy shape a community? And migration, to the challenges facing our diverse nation today. Each era
how does a boy on the cusp of manhood survive when his world has is brought to life in a series of beautifully illustrated spreads. It covers
erupted? the familiar and iconic – Burke and Wills, Ned Kelly and the Eureka
‘The events described in the book continue to affect a great number Stockade – and the lesser-known, such as Daisy Bates and the Coniston
of people. I feel a huge responsibility to the subject matter. I started massacres.
writing the memoir as a private way for me to interrogate a complex ‘The Story of Australia makes history accessible and appealing for the Rebel
event. I hope by sharing my experiences of grief and trauma I can Girls generation. Integrating Indigenous Australian history with that of
make other people feel less alienated or alone.’—Lech Blaine colonisation, it is compassionate, inclusive and compelling. Stunningly
designed, it will be treasured by children and families for years to come.’
Lech Blaine is a writer from country Queensland. His work appears —Kirstie Innes-Will, Editor
in The Best Australian Essays, The Guardian and The Monthly,
among others. He was an inaugural recipient of a Griffith Review Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books for adults, including
Queensland Writers Fellowship. Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys
and The Bush. This is his first work for children.J U LY 2020 9
On the Line Factory 19
Joseph Ponthus Dennis Glover
Imprint: Black Inc. Imprint: Black Inc.
Release date: July 2020 Release date: July 2020
The story of a casual worker labouring in the fish-processing plants and ‘They tell us that human happiness lies only in the future. But what if it
abattoirs of Brittany. really lies in the past?’
D H
ay after day the narrator records with infinite precision the obart, 2022: in the grip of a deep, dark recession. A rusty
nature of work on the production line: the noise, the weariness, ship begins unloading cargo on the site of the abandoned
the dreams stolen by the repetitive nature of exhausting rituals Gallery of Future Art. One day the city’s residents are
and physical suffering. But he finds solace in a life previously lived. awoken by a high-pitched sound no one has heard for two
This working life turns into an odyssey under the spell cast by writing generations – a factory whistle. The disrupted, whose jobs have been
that is at once distanced and irascible, droll and comradely. destroyed by Amazon and Uber and Airbnb, have begun to fight
back by living as if the internet had never existed. Can nostalgia
Joseph Ponthus worked for more than ten years as a social worker defeat the future? Can the little people win back the world?
and special needs teacher in the suburbs of Paris. In 2012 he co-wrote We are about to find out.
Nous . . . La Cité (The Suburbs Are Ours). He lives in Brittany. ‘This novel is so readable and thought-provoking, while always
remaining amusing and light on its feet.’ —Chris Feik, Publisher
Stephanie Smee is a literary translator. Her publications span
nineteenth-century French children’s literature to Hannelore Dennis Glover has worked as an academic, newspaper columnist,
Cayre’s prize-winning crime novel The Godmother. Her translation political adviser and speechwriter to Labor leaders. His previous
of rediscovered World War II memoir No Place to Lay One’s Head books include The Last Man in Europe and An Economy is Not a
won the JQ–Wingate Prize. Society.AUGUST 2020 SEPTEMBER 2020 10
Full Circle Journaliste
Scott Ludlam When Women Became
War Correspondents
Imprint: Black Inc.
Elizabeth Becker
Release date: August 2020
Imprint: Black Inc.
Release date: September 2020
S
cott Ludlam has been on the frontlines of social change for Arguably the last forgotten story of the Vietnam War – how female
decades. From outback demonstrations to parliamentary journalists broke into the very male bastion of war correspondents.
D
committees, he has seen what it takes to bring about real progress.
In Full Circle, he combines experience and ideas – about ecology, uring the ten years of the Vietnam War, several dozen
technology and politics – in an exhilarating blend. Part autobiography, women arrived in Indochina with no money or jobs. They
part blueprint for living, this is a book like no other. manoeuvered their way into the Vietnam press corps,
defying military rules, and slowly convinced newspapers, television
‘Scott is a fine writer, with a wealth of fascinating experiences and ideas and radio networks to publish and broadcast their work. They were
to draw upon. This, his first book, is the fruit of a fascinating life.’ often strangers to one other, not a purposeful band of sisters. Yet
—Chris Feik, Publisher year by year, woman by woman, they made history by eliminating
the official and unofficial barriers against them. And with their
Formerly the deputy leader of the Australian Greens, Scott Ludlam outsiders’ view, they changed how war was reported.
served in the Senate from July 2008 until July 2017. He is a regular ‘This is a timely book – there is a genuine hunger out there for
contributor to The Monthly and The Guardian. women’s stories. These are some of the most compelling and brave
women I have read about.’ —Sophy Williams, Publisher
An award-winning journalist, Elizabeth Becker began her career as
a war correspondent for The Washington Post in Cambodia, and is
the author of the definitive book on the Khmer Rouge, When the
War Was Over.SEPTEMBER 2020 OCTOBER 2020 11
Russians, One
White and Red Hundred Days
Sheila Fitzpatrick Alice Pung
Imprint: La Trobe University Press Imprint: Black Inc.
Release date: September 2020 Release date: October 2020
T A
his is the history of how tens of thousands of Russians lice Pung, the author of the award-winning memoirs
were displaced from Russia and the Soviet Union, and how Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter, and the young-
they ended up resettled in such a distant place as Australia. adult novel Laurinda, has again moved into new territory
Australia, knowing little of Russians and refugees, tried to select with this wise, witty, tautly written novel – her first for adult readers.
the people it wanted – preferably young anti-Communist manual Part bildungsroman, part psychodrama and part intergenerational
labourers. Some of these migrants dreamed of a war of liberation to drama, it follows the story of a young teen who falls pregnant and
overthrow the Soviet regime, while a dissident minority admired the her suffocatingly close relationship with an overprotective mother.
Soviet Union and thought of returning there. This is also the story A subtle and poignant meditation on class, gender and ethnicity, it
of how Soviet intelligence agencies and Australia’s ASIO assessed is sure to resonate with new and existing fans of Pung: a writer who
and tried to influence them. never repeats herself.
‘The story of Russians in Australia – some refugees, some spies – as ‘Alice is one of Australia’s most original and skilful storytellers, and
told by one of world’s leading historians of Russia.’ —Chris Feik, this book grips from the beginning.’ —Chris Feik, Publisher
Publisher
Alice Pung is an award-winning writer, editor, teacher and lawyer in
Sheila Fitzpatrick is a bestselling author. She has won the Magarey Melbourne. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize
Prize for biography and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Alice is a regular,
Nonfiction. A regular contributor to The London Review of Books, beloved speaker at festivals, schools and literary events. She has
she received a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement spoken on topics such as migration, memoir, YA fiction, bullying,
Award in 2002 and the American Historical Association’s Award family life and mothers and daughters.
for Scholarly Distinction in 2012.OCTOBER 2020 NOVEMBER 2020 12
On Beverley The Shortest
Farmer History of China
Writers on Writers Linda Jaivin
Josephine Rowe Imprint: Black Inc.
Imprint: Black Inc. in partnership Release date: October 2020
with State Library Victoria and
the University of Melbourne
Release date: October 2020
B F
everley Farmer’s novels and short stories focused on loss, or centuries, China led the world in science, technology
migration and homecoming. In this beautifully hewn essay – and maths, inventing silk, gunpowder and the magnetic
an addition to the Writers on Writers series – fellow novelist compass. In the twentieth century it saw the bloody Cultural
and short-story writer Josephine Rowe finds a kindred spirit and Revolution. China today is variously described as an economic
argues for a celebration and reclamation of this long-neglected powerhouse; a beacon of urbanisation; a propaganda state; an
Australian writer. environmental polluter; and an aggressive geopolitical player
seeking world domination. As we enter the Asian Century, Linda
‘An act of reclamation that shows how Farmer’s focus on the natural Jaivin distils a vast history into a short, readable account that tells
world is both timely and prescient.’ —Chris Feik, Publisher you what you need to know about the Middle Kingdom, from its
philosophical origins to its political system, to where its future is
Josephine Rowe is the author of the novel A Loving, Faithful Animal, likely to lead.
longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and selected as
a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and the acclaimed short-story ‘Linda Jaivin combines learning and wit in this indispensable guide.’
collection Here Until August. —Chris Feik, Publisher
Linda Jaivin is an expert in Chinese politics, language and
culture, and a frequent festival guest. She has written several
works of fiction, nonfiction and criticism, and reviews books for
The Saturday Paper.Black Inc.
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