We invite you to join us online for the launch of Toby Fitch’s new collection Sydney Spleen and for a conversation between Anwen Crawford and Declan Fry.

“It is difficult to live in the ‘after’ of sexual assault when empire reminds you time and time again – through the broken justice system, the news, and the stories of people you care about – that what was done to you doesn’t matter. Through the writing of these poems, I’ve tried to map out what it means to live in the ‘after’ while holding the weapons of rage, hope and desire.”

“I did intend for the heroes of this book to be equally as influenced by Tommy Raudonikis and the Western Suburbs Magpies as they were by Kathy Acker, The Dicks and Noam Choamsky: to have equal appreciation of the great sport of rugby league as they do the (ir-)relevant cultural artifacts of twenty-first century Sydney punk music, all while dreaming of related anti-capitalist pursuits.”

‘Whilst designing, I seek to decipher meanings in abstract visual configurations in response to the literary work, as well as to determine how abstract an image can be and retain meaning for others.’ Jenny Grigg describes the process for designing Giramondo’s new-look poetry series.

Join us online and in person to celebrate the publication of Gentle and Fierce by Vanessa Berry and Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life by Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle.

The Speculate Prize is a new national award for an unpublished speculative fiction manuscript.

One winner will receive $5000 prize money, mentorship from Giramondo Publishing and a week-long residency at RMIT Culture’s McCraith House.

This biennial prize is aimed at writers who explore the expansive possibilities of literature. We wish to uncover and support writers who embrace new literary modes and extend the possibilities of the novel and short story form.

Giramondo Publishing is pleased to announce the appointment of Alexandra Christie as the editor of the third series of HEAT magazine.

From Fiona Kelly McGregor’s essay ‘Looking for Lanny K’ comes ‘a psychedelic mix of Egyptian, Iranian and other West Asian trippy delights from the 1960s and 70s, with contemporary stuff from around the world thrown in’.

‘Across the collection lies a gossamer web that stretches between people, places and the natural world, threads that are gathered and sustained over time. Time in its vagaries and elusiveness is another poetic focus. Beneath the Tree Line recognises that humans need a habitable environment just like plants and animals, something we ignore at our peril.’

‘When you don’t really feel like you have a future, or the sort of future that is available to you seems uncaring and undesirable, then you can get stuck in the past and nostalgia.’

Giramondo is proud to be a participating publisher in Writing NSW’s new program of paid internships for emerging editors, designed to increase cultural diversity in the publishing industry.

Applications are open now, and close on 8 August 2021.

In Gentle and Fierce I reflect on animals, and how my life stories have been shaped by their presence. These essays and illustrations form a discontinuous memoir, based around the animals and animal representations that have expanded my perceptions and sense of self.

I began to think of Baudelaire’s idea of the splénétique as a mood or mode, and whenever I wrote a poem with a more trenchant, urban realist or political bent, I set it aside in a folder on my computer that I’d named ‘Sydney Spleen’.

We’re delighted to share the news that Dr Jenny Grigg was won the ABDA award for Best Designed Literary Fiction Cover for her work on A Body of Water by Beverley Farmer. The judges praised ‘the understated simplicity‘ of Jenny’s cover, its ‘minimal means but maximum effect’.

Ben Juers was highly commended in the Best Designed Young Adult Cover award, with the judges commenting: ‘Innovation is always bound to impress, with The F Team featuring a bold illustration that evokes drama and interesting typographic treatment [which] combine to create an eye-catching cover which breaks the mould of young adult covers.’

Rawah Arja’s debut novel has been shortlisted for the Russell Prize for Humour Writing and the 2021 Readings Young Adult Prize.