Books published by University of Queensland Press

With this, her first novel, Olga Masters was immediately hailed for her powerful and original fiction. Loving Daughters is a brilliant, unsentimental portrait of two sisters - one artistic and restless, the other houseproud, her father's favourite. The entry of an eligible young man into their lives creates a disturbing triangle of desire and rivalry. Loving Daughters was highly commended for the National Book Council Award (then Australia's key literary award) and was also published in the US by Norton and in France by Rivages.

A 10th anniversary edition of this cult classic with a new introduction From cult heroes the Saints and the Go-Betweens to national icons Powderfinger and international stars Savage Garden, Brisbane has produced more than its share of great bands. But behind the music lay a ghost city of malice and corruption.Pressed under the thumb of the Bjelke-Petersen government and its toughest enforcers - the police - Brisbane''s musicians, radio announcers and political activists braved ignorance, harassment and often violence to be heard.Pig City''s reputation has grown in the decade since its first publication. In 2007, Queensland Music Festival staged the book as an all-day music event, headlined by the first performance in nearly 30 years by the original line-up of the Saints.This updated 10th anniversary edition features a scathing new introduction by the author, assessing the changing shape of Brisbane, its music, and troubling developments since the return of the state of Queensland to conservative governance.

''Flows fast and deep and occasionally treacherous. I loved it.'' Simmone Howell, author of Everything Beautiful and Girl DefectiveIt''s the most elite school sporting event in the country. Nine rowers, 2000 gruelling metres and one chance for glory in the ultimate team sport. Sit forward ... ROW. Tall, gifted and the offspring of Olympians, superstar siblings Leni and Cristian Popescu are set to row Harley Grammar to victory in the Head of the River race. With six months until the big day, the twins can''t lose. Or can they? When Cristian is seduced by performance-enhancing drugs, and Leni is suffocated with self-doubt, their bright futures start to fade. Juggling family, high expectations, study, break-ups, new relationships and wild parties, the pressure builds. As the final moments tick by, who will make it to the start line? And who will plummet from grace?

From a talented voice in children''s storytelling comes the final heart-warming tale in the humorous Chook Chook trilogy set against the backdrop of China.It''s Chinese New Year and for Mei and her family things are looking grim. It''s been another bad harvest and a disappointing year for their farm. And now, the government is building a major freeway that will rip right through their village and tear their little farm apart.One by one, Mei''s neighbours are convinced to sell their land and despite Ma''s and stepfather Jin''s best efforts to fight, it looks like their farm will be next. What can Mei and her beloved chickens, Little and Lo, do to save their farm and keep the family together? As the deadline for bulldozing draws near, villagers young and old will come to realise that it takes a village to save a farm.

A pioneering study of early trade and beach communities in the Pacific Islands and first published in 1977, this book provides historians with an ambitious survey of early European?olynesian contact, an analysis of how early trade developed along with the beachcomber community, and a detailed reconstruction of development of the early Pacific port towns. Set mainly in the first half of the 19th century, continuing in some cases for a few decades more, the book covers five ports: Kororareka (now Russell, in New Zealand), Levuka (Fiji), Apia (Samoa), Papeete (Tahiti) and Honolulu (Hawai'i). The role of beachcombers, the earliest European inhabitants, as well as the later consuls or commercial agents, and the development of plantation economies is explored. The book is a tour de force, the first detailed comparative academic study of these early precolonial trading towns and their race relations. It argues that the predominantly egalitarian towns where Islanders, beachcombers, traders, and missionaries mixed were largely harmonious, but this was undermined by later arrivals and larger populations.

The much-anticipated new volume of poetry from the winner of the NSW Premier''s Literary Awards Book of the Year From acclaimed poet Samuel Wagan Watson comes a much-anticipated volume that is both wild and dynamic in its flair and vision, mapping the songlines - the poemlines - of an Australia scarred by invasion and injustice, but brimming, too, with the vital energies of creativity and resilience. With striking immediacy, Watson''s often satirical take on contemporary Australia, with its acquisitiveness and materialism, bears witness to an ancient culture protesting against the implacable march of development. Honest, powerful and compelling, this new collection from one of Australia''s most recognised Indigenous poets reveals the ways love might go wrong, but, equally, its transformative power to heal and resonate in unexpected ways.Love Poems and Death Threats breaks new ground for Indigenous Australian writing and adds to Samuel Wagan Watson''s reputation as one of our most exciting poets.

A revolutionary new approach to caring for your babyThe first months after a baby's arrival can be exhausting, and attempts at quick fixes are often part of the problem. The first 16 weeks of life are a neurologically sensitive period, during which some babies will cry a lot and broken nights are to be expected. Attempts at quick fixes are often part of the problem. The Discontented Little Baby Book gives you practical and evidence-based strategies for helping you and your baby get more in sync. Dr. Pamela Douglas offers a path that protects your baby's brain development so that he or she can reach his or her full potential, at the same time as you learn simple strategies to help you enjoy your baby and live with vitality when faced with the challenges of this extraordinary time. With parents' real-life stories, advice on dealing with feelings of anxiety and depression, and answers to your questions about reflux and allergies, this book offers a revolutionary new approach to caring for your baby from a respected Australian GP.

Winner of the 2013 David Unaipon AwardIn this award-winning work of fiction, Ellen van Neerven takes her readers on a journey that is mythical, mystical and still achingly real. Over three parts, she takes traditional storytelling and gives it a unique, contemporary twist. In ''Heat'', we meet several generations of the Kresinger family and the legacy left by the mysterious Pearl. In ''Water'', a futuristic world is imagined and the fate of a people threatened. In ''Light'', familial ties are challenged and characters are caught between a desire for freedom and a sense of belonging. Heat and Light presents an intriguing collection while heralding the arrival of an exciting new talent in Australian writing.

Does your imagination ever run wild? Charli is at riding camp, where her dream is about to come true - she will finally learn to ride a real, live horse. But when show-off Mikaela picks the horse Charli wants, her heart bungees to her toes. Instead of the beautiful palomino Razz, Charli''s stuck riding the massive retired racehorse Spud. And what about the bats that fill the night sky? Don''t bats spread deadly diseases? Riding camp isn''t turning out the way Charli planned, especially when she finds herself in the middle of a life-threatening disaster. An action-packed adventure about horses, bats and getting carried away by your imagination.

In 1967, Australians voted overwhelmingly in favor of removing from the Constitution two references that discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Though these seemed like small amendments, they were an impetus for real change: from terra nullius to land rights, and from assimilation to self-determination. Nearly 50 years later, there is a groundswell of support for our Indigenous heritage to be formally recognized in the Constitution. With the prospect of a new referendum in the near future, Frank Brennan considers how far Australians have come--and yet how much work lies ahead. He looks through the prism of history to examine what we can learn from our successes and failures since 1967, from the efforts of the Council of Aboriginal Affairs to the Gove land rights case and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. He also assesses the way forward: how the upcoming referendum might provide fresh momentum for governments and Indigenous Australians to negotiate better outcomes. Written by one of the most respected commentators on legal and human rights issues, this book makes a vital contribution to the understanding of Indigenous affairs. It will generate crucial debate on how Australians should acknowledge the history that for too long has gone unrecognized

Honest, intimate conversations with some of Australia''s best musicians, including Paul Kelly, Gotye, Tina Arena, Phil Jamieson, Steve Kilbey, Mick Harvey and Holly Throsby.Of all the creative industries, the most distinct link between drug use and creativity lies within music. The two elements seem to be intertwined, inseparable; that mythical phrase "sex, drugs and rock and roll" has been bandied about with a wink and a grin for decades. But is it all smoke and mirrors, or does that cliché ring true for some of our best-known performers? In this fascinating book, journalist Andrew McMillen talks with Australian musicians about their thoughts on - and experiences with - illicit, prescription and legal drugs. Through a series of in-depth and intimate interviews, he tells the stories of those who have bitten into the forbidden fruit and avoided choking. This isn''t to say that stories of ruin and redemption are avoided - they''re not. These celebrated performers have walked the straight-and-narrow path of alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and prescription medication, as well as the supposedly dark-and-crooked road of cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin and methamphetamine.By having conversations about something that''s rarely discussed in public, and much less often dealt with honestly, McMillen explores the truths and realities of a contentious topic that isn''t going away. Talking Smack is a timely, thought-provoking must-read that takes you inside the highs and lows of some of our most successful and creative musicians. Paul KellyWally de Backer (Gotye)Steve Kilbey (The Church)Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon)Tina ArenaSpencer P. Jones (Beasts of Bourbon)Mick Harvey (ex Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)Lindy Morrison (The Go-Betweens)Ian Haug (Powderfinger)Bertie BlackmanTim Levinson (Urthboy)Holly ThrosbyJon Toogood (Shihad)Jake Stone (Bluejuice)

Winner of the 2013 Queensland Literary Award - Best Emerging AuthorWhen you''re at the end of the line with nowhere to turn - how far would you go to protect the one you love?A man is found dead in an inner-city suburb, a police officer walks the blurry line between duty and loyalty, and a young woman from the wrong side of the tracks is on the run. Ana soon becomes a suspect in the murder investigation, and as sole carer for her younger sister is desperately trying to stay ahead of the law. In a surprising twist, the detective in charge of the case is no stranger and Ana is forced to face her past and the things she has left behind. Unsure of who she can trust and isolated by her crime, Ana is drawn into a passionate affair that breaks all the rules.From the winner of the 2013 Queensland Literary Awards - Best Emerging Author category, Gap combines a gripping crime thriller with a style evocative of Dorothy Porter''s cult classic, The Monkey''s Mask.

Winner of the 2013 Thomas Shapcott AwardBoth fun and playful, Stavanger''s poems display wit and beguiling originality. They shift from the oddball to the vulnerable and from the zany to the deeply meditative. Stavanger''s collection embodies a spirit of the post-post-modern in both intellect and spark, while playing off cool disjunctions against electrifying erudition. There is a strong trace of the performative and dramatic in these poems - Stavanger''s flair for performance poetry gives this award-winning collection a distinct and likeable flavour.

''A tender story of grief, trust and healing ... Hannah broke my heart.'' AJ BettsI have three months left to call Katie my older sister. Then the gap will close and I will pass her. I will get older. But Katie will always be fifteen, eleven months and twenty-one days old.Hannah''s world is in pieces and she doesn''t need the school counsellor to tell her she has deep-seated psychological issues. With a seriously depressed mum, an injured dad and a dead sister, who wouldn''t have problems?Hannah should feel terrible but for the first time in ages, she feels a glimmer of hope and isn''t afraid anymore. Is it because the elusive Josh is taking an interest in her? Or does it run deeper than that?In a family torn apart by grief and guilt, one girl''s struggle to come to terms with years of torment shows just how long old wounds can take to heal.''The Protected captures the volatility of adolescence, the fragility of family, and the importance of a good friend.'' AJ Betts, author of Zac & Mia

Will this man be Australia''s next Prime Minister?While thousands of viewers watched Joe Hockey''s approachable persona each week on Channel 7''s Sunrise, there is a lot more to the Australian Treasurer than meets the eye. After embarking on his political career as a student, Hockey worked tirelessly to rise through the ranks of the Liberal Party - learning some pivotal lessons along the way and earning himself one of the nation''s toughest jobs. Having held a raft of senior ministerial positions in the Howard government, he presides over some of the most controversial financial decisions of the decade: rejecting the bid by US food processing giant Archer Daniels Midland to take over Graincorp; Holden''s decision to leave Australia; and demands for help from national icons such as Qantas and SPC Ardmona. Already a household name, it is hard not to know about Hockey the politician, who has declared a ''new age of opportunity'' and whose Budget has got the nation talking. But what about the man behind the politician?Drawing on hundreds of interviews, as well as full access to Joe Hockey, his family and friends, Madonna King''s biography explores the influences that have shaped his life, and provides an exclusive and unparalleled insight into the man who will play a pivotal role in our nation''s future.

Continuing on from the bestselling true crime story Three Crooked Kings, Jacks and Jokers opens in 1976. Terry Lewis, exiled in western Queensland, is soon to be controversially appointed Police Commissioner. As for the other two original Crooked Kings, Tony Murphy is set to ruthlessly take control of the workings of "The Joke," while Glen Hallahan, retired from the force, begins to show a keen interest in the emerging illicit drug trade. Meanwhile, ex-cop and "Bagman" Jack Herbert collects the payments and efficiently takes police graft to a whole new level. The Joke heralds an era of hard drugs, illegal gambling, and prostitution, and leaves in its wake a string of unsolved murders and a trail of dirty money. With the highest levels of police and government turning a blind eye, the careers of honest police officers and the lives of innocent civilians are threatened and often lost as corruption escalates out of control. Revealing more incredible facts and previously untold stories, award-winning journalist and novelist Matthew Condon once again exposes the shocking behavior outside the law by the law. Jacks and Jokers is the gripping second installment of the rise and spectacular fall of one man, an entire state, and generations of corruption.

Raised Japanese in a European skin at the turn of the 20th century, fate and circumstance ensured that Charles Bavier spent his life caught between two cultures, yet claimed by neither. A War of Words traces the extraordinary life of Bavier based on his own diaries and three decades of research by journalist and author Hamish McDonald. It thoroughly captures turn-of-the-century Japan, the Chinese revolution, and both world wars. The illegitimate son of a Swiss businessman, Charles Bavier was brought up by his father's Japanese mistress before setting off on an odyssey that took him into China's republican revolution against the Manchus, the ANZAC assault on Gallipoli, and British counterintelligence in prewar Malaya. Bavier's journey finally led him into a little-known Allied psych-war against Japan as part of the vicious Pacific War, where his unique knowledge of Japanese culture and language made him man of the hour. This is the story of a man regarded at times as a spy by both the Allies and the Japanese, but who remained true to the essential humanity of both sides of a dehumanized racial conflict. Though far from the glory he craved, Bavier saved thousands of lives in the Southwest Pacific: the Japanese soldiers who surrendered and the Americans and Australians they would have taken with them.

A new, laugh-out-loud novel from award-winning author Steven Herrick Some things are too big for a boy to solve. Jesse is an eleven-year-old boy tackling many problems in life, especially fitting in to a new school. Luckily he meets Kate. She has curly black hair, braces and an infectious smile. She wants to 'Save the Whales' and needs Jesse's help. But they haven't counted on Hunter, the school bully, who appears to enjoy hurling insults at random. With Hunter's catchphrase 'Ha!' echoing through the school, something or someone has to give. But will it be Jesse? Kate? Or is there more to Hunter than everyone thinks? An inspiring and funny story about the small gestures that can help to make the world a better place.

Between 1825 and 1831, close to 200 Britons and 1,000 Aborigines died violently in The Black War takes a unique approach to this historic event, looking chiefly at the experiences and attitudes of those who took part in the conflict. By contrasting the perspectives of colonists and Aborigines, Nicholas Clements takes a deeply human look at the events that led to the shocking violence and tragedy of the war, detailing raw personal accounts that shed light on the tribes, families, and individuals involved as they struggled to survive in their turbulent world. The Black War presents a compelling and challenging view of Australia's early contact history, the legacy of which reverberates strongly to the present day.

A breathtaking new volume of poetry from an Australian literary iconIn his first full volume of poetry since Typewriter Music in 2007, David Malouf once again shows us why he is one of Australia''s most enduring and respected writers. David Malouf''s new collection comes to rest at the perfect, still moment of ''silence, following talk'' after its exploration of memory, imagination and mortality. With elegance and wit, these poems move from profound depths to whimsy and playfulness. As Malouf interweaves light and dark, levity and gravity, he offers a vision of life on ''this patch/ of earth and its green things'', charting the resilience of beauty amidst stubborn human grace.

''A wise and tender novel about food, friendship and marriage.'' Kristina Olsson, author of Boy, LostGrace has not had twelve people at her table for a long time. Hers isn''t the kind of family who share regular Sunday meals. But it isn''t every day you turn seventy.As Grace prepares the feast, she reflects on her life, her marriage and her friendships. When the three generations come together, simmering tensions from the past threaten to boil over. The one thing that no one can talk about is the one thing that no one can forget. Grace''s Table is a moving and often funny novel about the power of memory and the family rituals that define us.

Outstanding new fiction from the Miles Franklin-shortlisted author of BloodIn this breathtaking new work, Tony Birch affirms his position as one of Australia''s finest writers of short-form fiction.Using his unflinching creative gaze, he ponders love and loss and faith. A trio of amateur thieves are left in charge of a baby moments before a heist. A group of boys compete in the final of a marbles tournament, only to find their biggest challenge was the opponent they didn''t see coming. Two young friends find a submerged car in their local swimming hole and become obsessed by the mystery of the driver''s identity. Across twelve blistering stories, The Promise delivers a sensitive and often humorous take on the lives of those who have loved, lost and wandered.