Everything In The World's Got A Voice; Most People Don't Hear Hard Enough Is All. Sunrise Sounds Like

Just a reminder that Zadie Smith is cool and brilliant (as if anyone could forget!) I don’t remember where this photo is from (a gala? Oscars after-party?) that’s her husband Nick Laird to her left but it doesn’t really matter who anyone is ... that’s Zadie f’ing Smith in the middle and don’t you *ever* forget it!

Little news ☺️ “Alyssa Miele at HarperCollins/Quill Tree Books has bought ‘The Year the Maps Changed’ … Publication is set for fall 2022; Annabel Barker at Annabel Barker Agency handled the deal via Jacinta di Mase at Jacinta di Mase Management.” 🗺 ‘Maps’ is a very Australian-focused book, and I am incredibly thankful that it’s been acquired by a US-publisher who is intending to keep it that way. Quill Tree has this motto; “Many branches, Many voices,” and I’m so grateful that with such an outlook, they saw fit to take onboard my little #LoveOzMG book. Most of you would probably know how important this particular aspect is to me, and I am truly just so floored and happy!

...this is the way fate usually treats us, it's right there behind us, it has already reached out a hand to touch us on the shoulder while we're still muttering to ourselves, It's all over, that's it, who cares anyhow.”

'The Tale of the Unknown Island' by José Saramago

What I Will

by Suheir Hammad

I will not

dance to your war

drum. I will

not lend my soul nor

my bones to your war

drum. I will

not dance to your

beating. I know that beat.

It is lifeless. I know

intimately that skin

you are hitting. It

was alive once

hunted stolen

stretched. I will

not dance to your drummed

up war. I will not pop

spin break for you. I

will not hate for you or

even hate you. I will

not kill for you. Especially

I will not die

for you. I will not mourn

the dead with murder nor

suicide. I will not side

with you nor dance to bombs

because everyone else is

dancing. Everyone can be

wrong. Life is a right not

collateral or casual. I

will not forget where

I come from. I

will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved

near and our chanting

will be dancing. Our

humming will be drumming. I

will not be played. I

will not lend my name

nor my rhythm to your

beat. I will dance

and resist and dance and

persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than

death. Your war drum ain’t

louder than this breath.

Entirely possible we’ve all been in iso too long - but to celebrate BSC on Netflix and a resurgence in the books, my local indie bookstore (Readings) turned me into a spin-off! 😍

⭐️ Top 25 Reads of 2021 ⭐️

I’ve had an amazing reading year this year (mostly due to the super-boost I got last January from starting my reread of The Saddle Club) so I wanted to highlight some of the best books I had the pleasure of reading. Feel free to ask me questions about any of these books or you can find my reviews of them by searching the title or author on my blog 😊

I’ve listed the titles below in the order they appear in the collage above (which is no particular order lol) and I’ll mark them with rainbow flags and wheelchair symbols to denote queer and disability rep!

The Other Side of Perfect by Mariko Turk ♿️

Social Queue by Kay Kerr ♿️ #LoveOzYA

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones ♿️

The Boy From the Mish by Gary Lonesborough 🏳️‍🌈 #LoveOzYA

(US release March 2022, also titled “Ready When You Are”)

Stars in Their Eyes by Jessica Walton & Aśka ♿️🏳️‍🌈 #LoveOzYA

Near the Bone by Christina Henry 

Growing Up Disabled in Australia (ed.) by Carly Findlay ♿️🏳️‍🌈

The Monster of Her Age by Danielle Binks 🏳️‍🌈 #LoveOzYA

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh

Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent

The Degenerates by J Albert Mann ♿️🏳️‍🌈

How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi 🏳️‍🌈

Burden Falls by Kat Ellis (also titled “Wicked Little Deeds)

The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa

Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson ♿️🏳️‍🌈

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero 🏳️‍🌈

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare 🏳️‍🌈

Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller #LoveOzYA

Echo After Echo by AR Capetta 🏳️‍🌈

Girls on the Verge by Sharon Biggs-Waller

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan 🏳️‍🌈

Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron ♿️🏳️‍🌈

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling 🏳️‍🌈

This Is Not A Ghost Story by Andrea Portes

I Kissed A Girl by Jennet Alexander 🏳️‍🌈

If you liked Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, try The Monster of Her Age by Danielle Binks

They both include:

sweet wlw romance

a window into the scandalous lives of fictional Hollywood stars

explorations of how films impact and interact with real life

More of my recs are available in my “book recommendations” tag!