Sally Piper - Writer

I’ve been hearing great things about PHANTOM DAYS by Angela O’Keeffe so I can’t wait to dip in. I also can’t wait to meet Angela and hear her talk about her third novel at the Magandjin-Brisbane launch at Avid Reader Bookshop on 5 June. It’s a free event but you can secure your place here:

https://avidreader.com.au/pages/13998-AngelaOKeeffe-PhantomDays

UQP

I have a new novel coming out on 30 June called PEOPLE LIKE US. Amongst other things, this novel explores housing insecurity of older single women. I wrote it because I believe safe, secure and affordable housing is a human right for all but is sadly one that some people are denied. And disturbingly, women over 55 are the fastest growing group in Australia at risk of homelessness with 500,000 older women living in precarious housing.

While writing the novel, I was fortunate enough to become involved with a group of women who founded a not-for-profit organisation called Sharing with Friends Queensland. After almost six years of hard work, commitment, setbacks and perseverance, this organisation will very soon deliver its first co-housing community in Darra (Brisbane) which will provide forever homes for five women with limited means.

This Mother’s Day, Sharing with Friends is asking for our help, and I extend this request to you. Please consider making a donation to support the important work and ambitions of this visionary organisation so that they can continue to build something different and create homes and supportive communities for vulnerable older women. Donations can be made via the link in my bio. Thanks so much for your help.

https://shoutforgood.com/fundraisers/mothers-day-appeal

My started at this morning with a fancy-topped crema and ended with a rainbow, with visits to several bookshops throughout the day, catching up with old bookseller friends and making new ones. The Global Book Crawl, as the name suggests, is a global movement uniting bookshops and book lovers. Thank you to all the following booksellers for the warm welcome, yarns and passion for the very thing I’m passionate about too … books! My reading for the next few months is well and truly sorted.

Thank you UQP staff for your statement of solidarity with Jazz Money
As a UQP author I know the shameful decision by The University of Queensland to ban the publication of Jazz’s beautiful children’s book Bila: a river cycle does not represent who you are as individuals or what you stand for as an organization. This egregious decision by University of Queensland shows an appalling lack of respect and support for their staff and the decades of service that UQP has given to Australian literature and to the authors they have nurtured, supported and published with such diligent and expert care.

The pages are tabbed in preparation for my interview with Ian Kemish Author about his fabulous debut novel TWO ISLANDS at BooksStones this Thursday 16 April at 6:30pm. TWO ISLANDS is many things - political thriller, an account of forgotten wars and their lingering consequences, a celebration of a place, the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, and above all it is a story about human decency, kindness and the power of unity. If you, like the rest of the world right now, could do with more of that in your life, then register for this free event at the link in my bio and come along and be uplifted by Ian’s conversation. Ian has a long history as a former Australian diplomat, so knows a thing or too about the long tail of war and how our shared humanity lifts us all.


UQP

The Queen of rom-coms Anita Heiss brings us another pacey, racey tale about surviving heartbreak, finding love, the power of female friendships, living your best life and of loving your body no matter its age.
A woman can travel far looking for romance - to Hawai’i in THE PARADISE PACT - and while there are no guarantees of success, the story is rich with the possibility that there will be amongst the other marathon runners Abbey is competing with, alongside her tiddas Cait and Stevie.
But politics is never far away in an Anita Heiss story, whether in her rom-coms or her historical literary fiction. Parallels are drawn throughout this novel about the lives, cultures and consequences of colonization on First Nation peoples in Australia and the Hawaiian island, reminding readers that travel to foreign places is as much about embracing its history and culture as it is its beautiful beaches, sunsets and mai-tais.




Simon & Schuster

Witnessed quite the hunt on the bush trails this afternoon. A cane toad hurtled past with unusually long leaps then a grass snake sailed past soon after, head well up like the mast of a ship, in extraordinarily rapid pursuit. Didn’t end so well for the toad. 🐍 vs 🐸

EDIT: Thanks (over on Instagram) for clarifying it was one of the barred frogs and not a cane toad. Which makes a big difference if the snake isn’t a keelback as they’re the only Australian snake that can eat toxic cane toads. Nature shows us some pretty cool stuff. 💚💚

Thank you UQP for this exciting book mail. I’ve be hearing such wonderful things about FROGSONG by Melissa Manning, so I can’t wait to dip in! 💚📗

Celebrated the launch of this stunner this afternoon (book and author) at Loft West End and for Hawaiian cocktails and all things pineapple afterwards at Avid Reader Bookshop.
Love, friendship, sisterhood and marathons … Anita Heiss delivers it all, in reality and on the page.