Books published by University of Queensland Press

Born on a remote island in Papua New Guinea to a migrant Chinese father and indigenous mother, Julius Chan overcame poverty, discrimination, and family tragedy to become one of Papua New Guinea's longest-serving and most influential politicians. His 50-year career, including two terms as Prime Minister, encompasses a crucial period of Papua New Guinea's history, particularly its coming of age from an Australian colony to a leading democratic nation in the South Pacific. Chan has played a significant role during these decades of political, economic and social change. Playing the Game offers unique insights into one of the world's most ancient and complex tribal cultures. It also explores the vexed issues of increasing corruption, government failure, and the unprecedented exploitation of its precious natural resources. In the first memoir by a Papua New Guinean leader in forty years, Sir Julius Chan explores his decision in 1997 to hire a private military force, Sandline International, to quell the ongoing civil crisis in Bougainville. This controversial deal sparked worldwide outrage, cost Sir Julius the prime ministership and led to ten years in the political wilderness. He was re-elected as Governor of New Ireland in 2007, aged 68, a seat he has held ever since. Playing the Game is an authentic and compelling account of Chan's private and political life, and offers a rare insight into how the modern nation of Papua New Guinea came to be, the vision and values it was founded on, and the extraordinary challenges it faces in the 21st century.

An exquisite, compelling story of courage, destiny and the search for homeLithuania, 1913. Haunted by memories of the pogroms, Jacob Frank leaves his village in the hope of a better life, and boards a ship bound for New York. Twenty-five years later, his daughter Bertha sets sail for South Africa to marry a man she has never met, unaware of the tumult that lies ahead. In time, her granddaughter Shelley, following those very steps in reverse, flees the violence of apartheid to live in America, before at last finding home in Australia. These immigrant voyages, repeated from one generation to the next, form the heart of this richly layered memoir. Drawing on her grandmother''s diary and letters, Shelley Davidow tells her family''s stories in vivid detail, recounting their experiences of love and loss alongside her own. As she learns about the past, Shelley discovers that her aspirations and fears, her dreams and nightmares, echo those of her forebears as ancestral whisperings in the blood. Spanning four continents and one hundred years, this extraordinary book explores the heartache and emotional legacies of those who leave their homelands forever.

Born from a secret liaison between a British mother and an Icelandic father, Kári Gíslason was the subject of a promise: a promise elicited by his father not to reveal his identity in order to spare his wife and five other children. At the age of 27, Kári decides to break the pact between his parents by contacting his father's family; what follows makes for a riveting journey over landscapes, time, and memory. From the shark net at Sydney's Balmoral and an unsettled life in the English countryside to the harsh yellow summer of Brisbane and the freezing cold winters of Iceland, the author traces his mother's steps into the arms of a secret lover. At the culmination of this poignant, painful, and joyous story, Kári's determination to defy his father's wishes results in his uniting with his relatives.

This is a fascinating account of ancient culture colliding with modern media. Tucked between Tibet and India in the Himalayas, the kingdom of Bhutan is one of the most isolated and beautiful countries in the world. In The Dragon's Voice, Australian journalist Bunty Avieson provides a glimpse of life beyond the country's exotic exterior. As a consultant to local newspaper Bhutan Observer, she admires the paper's strong social conscience, but finds her expectations challenged in a country where spirituality and personal happiness are prioritized over work. Avieson also witnesses the tensions that arise as a Buddhist kingdom makes the transition to democracy. The courtship ritual of "night-hunting" and the nation's first public demonstration become controversial news items, while journalists must overcome traditional social hierarchies to keep politicians accountable. With a unique blend of memoir and reportage, The Dragon's Voice is both a deeply personal story and a vivid portrait of a nation on the cusp of revolutionary change.

Raised by her maternal grandmother, Australian novelist and bookseller Krissy Kneen was understandably bereft when she died. In the midst of writing a novel, she suddenly found herself paralyzed with grief and unable to write fiction. Instead, she became obsessed with writing poems about her grandmother as a way to assuage her loss. The result is an award-winning collection of poems that charts a cycle of grieving, offering a kaleidoscope of fitful dreams, tender memories and heart-struck musings that shine new light on our own sense of mortality.

A poignant, mesmerising debut novel about an unlikely friendshipAn elderly man, living alone in the suburbs, thinks back on his life - the missed opportunities, the shocking betrayals, the rare moments of joy. When his ten-year-old neighbour hides in his garden one afternoon, they begin an unexpected friendship that offers a reprieve from their individual struggles. The boy, often left on his own by his mother, finds solace in gardening and playing chess with his new friend, who is still battling the demons of his past.As a sinister figure enters the boy''s life, he must choose between a burgeoning friendship and blood ties. Can the old man protect the boy he has come to know - and redeem the boy he once was?

Australia''s food system is more than just broken - it''s killing us. Now is the time to act, to make a difference - to change the world.The groundbreaking Fair Food tells the new story of food: how food and farming in Australia are dramatically transforming at the grassroots level towards reconnection, towards healing - of the land, of each other. It offers a compelling and coherent vision of how our future can be so much better than our present and our past, and how each of us can make a difference.Told through the experiences of several of the leading figures in Australia''s Fair Food movement, this book tells stories of personal change, courage, innovation and food activism, from local food hubs and backyard food forests, to the GE-free movement, urban farming, radical homemaking and regenerative agriculture. In a time of bullying corporations, supermarket monopolies and environmental degradation, Fair Food offers compelling and inspiring stories of personal transformation from everyday people, showing us that we, too, can be powerful agents of change in this time of need.Edited by Fair Food pioneer Nick Rose, and with forewords by David Pocock and Guy Grossi, contributors include Michael Croft, Angelo Eliades, Cat Green, Tammi Jonas, Kirsten Larsen, Charles Massy, Fran Murrell, Robert Pekin, Carol Richards and Emma Kate Rose.

A riveting study of the politics of power Power is the only measure of a politician that matters. How they win power. How they wield power. How they lose power. Catch and Kill is an inside account of the beguiling and nomadic nature of the unholy trinity of politics - the winning, the wielding, the losing. Taking us into the inner sanctum of state and national politics, Joel Deane investigates how four friends - Steve Bracks, John Brumby, John Thwaites and Rob Hulls - beat the factions, won office in Victoria, achieved progressive reforms, then tried to hijack Canberra. 'We were, ' Bracks says, 'a government that could catch and kill its own.' Drawing on dozens of interviews with key figures, Deane provides a candid insight into the triumphs and failures of the Bracks-Brumby government, as well as those of its federal and state counterparts. He also shines a light on the personalities behind these decisions - their ambitions, their passions and their disappointments. A gripping work of narrative non-fiction, Catch and Kill delivers a slice of political gothic, venturing inside the heart of the contemporary Labor Party in search of the nature of power.

Over a fifty-year writing career, Astley published more than a dozen novels and short story collections, including The Acolyte, The Slow Natives and, finally, Drylands in 1999. She was the first woman to win multiple Miles Franklin Awards - four in total. With many of her works published internationally, Astley was a trailblazer for women writers. In her personal life, she was renowned for her dry wit, eccentricity and compassion. A loving mother and wife, she rose above the domestic limitations imposed on women at the time to carve out a professional life true to her creative drive. Karen Lamb has drawn on an unparalleled range of interviews and correspondence to create a detailed picture of Thea the woman, as well as Astley the writer. She has sought to understand Astley's private world and how that shaped the distinctive body of work that is Thea Astley's literary legacy.

When Jo Breen uses her divorce settlement to buy a neglected property in the Byron Bay hinterland, she's hoping for a tree change, and a blossoming connection to the land of her Aboriginal ancestors. What she discovers instead is sharp dissent from her teenage daughter, trouble brewing from unimpressed white neighbors, and a looming Native Title war between the local Bundjalung families. When Jo unexpectedly finds love on one side of the Native Title divide she quickly learns that living on country is only part of the recipe for the good life.

The much-awaited sequel to the The Age Non-fiction Book of the Year winner Ten Hail MarysFollowing on from Ten Hail Marys, which chronicled her volatile upbringing and the fight to save her son from the forced adoption practices of the time, Kate Howarth''s extraordinary life continues in Settling Day. Thrust out of her son''s life while he is still a toddler, teenaged Kate has to rely on her wits and courage to start life anew. Filled with remorse and an unwavering determination to be reunited with her son, so begins Kate''s journey as she fights injustice and prejudice to create a better life. She amasses a fortune helping to build one of Australia''s most successful recruitment companies, only to lose it all in a contentious legal battle. Kate once again manages to rebuild her life after a major injury, but is always haunted by her lost son. Settling Day is a remarkable story of resilience that highlights the still prevalent injustices that many women face at work and at home. It took Kate Howarth more than 50 years to discover the true meaning and power of unconditional love.

A haunting novel in the vein of John Marsden from a brand new voice in Australian YA literatureFor Fin, it''s just like any other day - racing for the school bus, bluffing his way through class and trying to remain cool in front of the most sophisticated girl in his universe. Only it''s not like any other day because, on the other side of the world, nuclear missiles are being detonated.When Fin wakes up the next morning, it''s dark, bitterly cold and snow is falling. There''s no internet, no phone, no TV, no power and no parents. Nothing Fin''s learnt in school could have prepared him for this.With his parents missing and dwindling food and water supplies, Fin and his younger brother Max must find a way to survive ... all on their own. When things are at their most desperate, where can you go for help?

A powerful family memoir from the award-winning author of The China GardenKristina Olsson''s mother lost her infant son, Peter, when he was snatched from her arms as she boarded a train in the hot summer of 1950. She was young and frightened, trying to escape a brutal marriage, but despite the violence and cruelty she''d endured, she was not prepared for this final blow, this breathtaking punishment. Yvonne would not see her son again for nearly 40 years.Kristina was the first child of her mother''s subsequent, much gentler marriage and, like her siblings, grew up unaware of the reasons behind her mother''s sorrow, though Peter''s absence resounded through the family, marking each one. Yvonne dreamt of her son by day and by night, while Peter grew up a thousand miles and a lifetime away, dreaming of his missing mother. Boy, Lost tells how their lives proceeded from that shattering moment, the grief and shame that stalked them, what they lost and what they salvaged. But it is also the story of a family, the cascade of grief and guilt through generations, and the endurance of memory and faith.

A superior memoir by an accomplished writer at the height of her powersWhen writer Patti Miller discovers that the first post-Mabo Native Title claim was made by the Wiradjuri in the Wellington valley where she grew up, she begins to wonder where she belongs in the story of the town. It leads her to the question at the heart of Australian identity - who are we in relation to our cherished stolen country?Feeling compelled to return to the valley, Miller uncovers a chronicle of idealism, destruction and hope in its history of convicts, zealous missionaries, farmers and gold seekers who all took the land from the original inhabitants. But it''s not until she talks to the local Wiradjuri that she realises there''s another set of stories about her town, even about her own family. As one Wiradjuri Elder remarks, ''The whitefellas and blackfellas have two different stories about who''s related to who in this town''.Black and white politics, family mythologies and the power of place are interwoven as Miller tells a story that is both an individual search for connection and identity and a universal exploration of country and belonging.

A powerful mystery from award-winning author Anthony Eaton, this edition of A New Kind of Dreaming is a special reissue of a modern Australian classic Jamie Riley has hit rock bottom. Busted for stealing cars, he's been shipped off to serve time in Port Barren, a stinking hot town stuck between the desert and the sea. The minute Jamie arrives, he can feel something is not quite right about Port Barren--the town has a past it doesn't want to share. After being warned that Port Barren is his last chance before jail, Jamie resolves to serve his time and get out. But when he discovers an old, wrecked boat on the beach and starts asking questions, it becomes obvious that local cop Elliot Butcher has it in for him. As he gets closer to the truth, things start going wrong around town. With no one else to blame, Jamie realizes surviving Port Barren is going to be way harder than he thought.

In this hilarious--and brutally honest--memoir about mental illness and depression, Kristy Chambers goes in search of greener grass and finds that, if she could only cut her head off, she would probably enjoy travel and life. For someone who hates exercise, Kristy Chambers is pretty good at running away, and coming back again when her credit cards are declined. She's not so much an international jetsetter as a loose cannon with a passport. So, in the manner of Eat, Pray, Love, a privileged white girl takes her privileged white arse on the road in an attempt to find happiness. With a family history of mental illness that goes back generations and a complicated long-term relationship with depression, will eating all the pasta in Italy help her to find the silver lining she's looking for? Of course it won't. It's pasta, not magic beans. Joined by the most unreliable travel companion of them all--her mental health--Kristy openly, honestly, and humorously recounts their adventures together.

In The Ash Burner, a sensitive, poignant novel about growing up, running away, and the many guises of love, 12-year-old Ted lives with his father, the local magistrate, in the small coastal town of Lion's Head. All Ted knows about his mother is that she died when he was a boy, and that his father--despite moving halfway across the world to start anew--still grieves for her privately. When he is hospitalized after a swimming accident, Ted meets Anthony and Claire, and is immediately captivated by the older pair. Intelligent and perspicacious, they introduce him to poetry and art, and he feels a sense of belonging at last. But as the trio's friendship intensifies over the years, Ted must learn to negotiate the boundaries of love and come to terms with a legacy of secrets and silence.