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www.affirmpress.com.au FICTION

A Break in the Chain TANGEA TANSLEY...... 5

Paradise Updated MIC LOOBY...... 6

Under Stones BOB FRANKLIN...... 8

Nineteen Seventysomething BARRY DIVOLA ...... 9

Known Unknowns EMMETT STINSON ...... 10

Having Cried Wolf GRETCHEN SHIRM ...... 11

Bearings LEAH SWANN...... 12

Two Steps Forward IRMA GOLD...... 13

NON-FICTION

1001 Australian Nights ...... 15

Peace of Wall CHRIS PARKINSON...... 16

The Boy and the Crocodile...... 17 -Affirm ------Press- - - - -

FICTION 5 A Break in the Chain The Early Kozminskys by Tangea Tansley

------‘Splendidly- - - illuminating, A Break in the Chain is an emotionally dense and intriguing Australian story of high achievement.’ Michael Meehan ‘A beautifully written imagining of three generations of her family.’ Herald Sun ‘This is a warm, lively, empathetic novel full of fascinating social history.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘A gripping book.’ Alan Gold, J-Wire ------In- - 1856,- Simon Kozminsky travelled from Prussia to begin a new life in the fledgling British colony of Fiction, July 2011 Victoria. In the heady days of the gold rush, he estab- 256 pp RRP: $27.95 (pbk) lished a jewellery house that would gain world renown. 978-0-9807904-6-7 But behind the glittering facade of wealth, glamour and Rights: World influence lay a darker, sadder story: a mysterious rift between Simon and his eldest son. In an extraordinary Why international audiences will love coincidence, the answer to this life-long estrangement A Break in the Chain... was painted by Australia’s pre-eminent artist of the time, - It’s an epic drama that spans three Frederick McCubbin. The cover depicts a shy Eileen continents and three generations Watkins, the Irish woman who would unwittingly drive - A unique story of the Jewish diaspora a wedge between father and son. - Brilliant characters facing universal The Early Kozminskys is a brilliant imagining of three challenges – love, faith, business and family generations of real-life Kozminskys. With authenticity - A modern-day Richard Mahoney, one of and dramatic verve, Tangea Tansley brings alive Australia’s most iconic novels Melbourne of the past in a tantalising tale of fortune and - Kozminskys is what Tiffany & Co. is to New faith, love and betrayal. York, and Skinner & Co. is to London

Tangea Tansley was born WILL APPEAL in Zimbabwe and moved to TO FANS OF Australia when she was fifteen, and since then has lived all Charles Dickens around the world. She is a direct Henry Handel Richardson descendent of the Kozminsky John Galsworthy’s family. She holds a PhD in The Forsyte Saga comparative literature from Murdoch University. Tangea lives in Western Australia. 6

Paradise Updated by Mic Looby ------‘A- - -satirical package with political nous and a social conscious...Sharp and brave.’ Sunday Age ‘Hilarious and engaging.’ Max Barry ‘Best rookie novel of the year - like early Waugh: comic with a sense of threat.’ Australian Book Review ‘Hilarious characters’ and ‘a cheeky insiders’ romp.’ The Age ------There are precious few places still untouched by Fiction, September 2009 tourism. Paradise Lost? More like Paradise Packaged, 256 pp, RRP: $29.95 (pbk) Marketed and Sold in Easy-to-Enjoy Portions. And ISBN: 978-0-9803746-6-7 if there’s money to be made shining light into the Rights: World (excl. Czech Republic, darkest corners of the world, SmallWorld™ wrote the Slovak Republic) book on it. Robert Rind is a legend in guidebook circles. He’s Why international audiences will love fiercely independent and resolutely old-school. Little Paradise Updated... wonder the Company decides he’s updated his last - Everyone’s familiar with guidebooks edition. Mithra is young, pliable and fits SmallWorld’s - It’s a cheeky expose of what really goes sense of itself Going Forward. She’s sent into tropical on in some of the world’s most famous Maganda to reel Rind in. But as any seasoned traveller publishing houses knows, things rarely go as planned... - Brilliant international locales Mic Looby’s masterful debut novel weaves a hilarious - From backpackers to luxury-travellers, and hair-raising tale about corporate shenanigans, everyone can relate to the wonderful compromised idealism and life on the road with a characters found within Paradise Updated guidebook author.

Mic Looby worked for many years as an author and editor for WILL APPEAL Lonely Planet, the world’s largest TO FANS OF: and most influential guidebook Alex Gartland’s publisher. He is a regular columnist The Beach at The Big Issue and his work has (except it’s funny!) also appeared in the Australian, the Age and the Herald Sun. Paradise Updated is his first novel. 7

About Long Story Shorts...

------Award- - - - ‘Affirm Press is well-named; in their Long Story Shorts project they give affirmation to Australian winning writers everywhere: the short story is alive, part of our fiction collective national voice, and a form to be treasured. If there’s a renaissance on the cards, it’s vision like this which is going to kick-start it.’ Cate Kennedy Long Story Shorts is a project by Affirm ‘I don’t know where Affirm Press is finding its Press to publish six collections of short new fiction writers but this is the second time in fiction from individual authors. months that I’ve been amazed by the quality of a debut short-story collection from it by a previously The books have been created as a series, unknown writer.’ designed and illustrated by award- Sydney Morning Herald, on the Long Story winning illustrator Dean Gorissen. Shorts Series ------

AWARDS FOR THE LONG STORY SHORTS SERIES COVER ART: Gold in the Illustrators Australia 2012 Award Bronze in the 3x3 Illustration Annual (United States) 8 Under Stones by Bob Franklin

AWARDS FOR UNDER STONES: Shortlisted for Best Collection and Best Horror Short Story in the Aurealis Awards 2010 Winner of the 2010 Australian Shadows Award for Long Fiction

------‘A - -consistently engaging and surprising book.’ Australian Literary Review ‘What a bruising collection...Franklin turns a coolly amused, beautifully composed eye on the darkest, Fiction, February 2010 saddest, oddest, most ordinary corners of the world.’ 224 pp, RRP: $24.95 (pbk) Sonya Hartnett ISBN: 978-0-9806378-4-7 ‘They are horrors of a different kind, edgy and Rights: World unsettling, holding up a mirror to the underside of Australian society.’ Sunday Herald Sun Why international audiences will love Under Stones... ------A brilliant mix of horror, suspense and -Dip - - into the world of Bob Franklin’s fiction at your the supernatural, Under Stones has gripped own risk. The calm surface belies a swift undertow Australian readers and snags galore. These are not horror stories in the - Like the best genre writing, these stories traditional sense; they are more unsettling than that. are intriguing critiques of contemporary Under Stones are uneasy tales, set in familiar society surrounds. They are journeys into the human psyche - From decaying English seaside towns to and powerful critiques of contemporary Australian lakes in the USA, Bob’s stories are set all society. Bob Franklin pokes and prods at human fears around the world and foibles, revealing with forensic glee truths that you - Under Stones is the first book in Affirm might prefer were, well, left under stones. Press’s Long Story Shorts series, a critically acclaimed initiative to revive a passion and appreciation for Australian short fiction

Bob Franklin was born in Hillingdon, England, in 1965. He WILL APPEAL has lived in Melbourne, Australia, TO FANS OF: since 1989, working as a stand-up comic, writer, actor and director. Stephen King In 2011, Bob was awarded an Daphne Du Maurier Australian Shadows Award (Australian Horror Writers Kelly Link Association) and shortlisted for an Aurealis Award. Under Stones is his first book. 9 Nineteen Seventysomething by Barry Divola

------‘Evocative,- - - and very keenly observed.’ Sunday Age ‘Divola dresses memories and musings in a sunburnt innocence that captures the hear of the era perfectly.’ Rolling Stone ‘I‘ve come to expect the laughs and the recognition in Barry‘s writing - I’ve been a six-foot fan for a while - but I didn‘t foresee the heart...Why am I tearful and smiling? Wincing and thankful?’ ------Barry - - Divola’s Nineteen Seventysomething is a requiem for bygone days. In the fictional suburb Fiction, February 2010 of Braithwaite, we meet Charlie during the listless 192 pp, RRP: $24.95 (pbk) weeks of his summer holidays. Against a backdrop of ISBN: 978-0-9807904-5-4 buzzing cicadas, Dragstar bikes, schoolboy rock bands, Rights: Worldwide church youth groups, and Top 40 radio, Barry Divola Why international audiences will love deftly evokes that awkward, exhilarating journey from Nineteen Seventysomething... childhood to adolescence. - Evokes the unique Australian summer Told with humour, poignancy and authenticity, - For all those 1970s music fans – Barry’s Nineteen Seventysomething marks the familiar stages of characters are enamoured with the Eagles, teenage awakening – in friendship, desire and love. Neil Young, ABBA, The Monkeys, KISS, Alice Cooper - An endearing coming-of-age story, with all the familiar adolescent tribulations - Nineteen Seventysomething is the second book in Affirm Press’s Long Story Shorts series, a critically acclaimed initiative to revive a passion and appreciation for Australian short fiction

Barry Divola writes for magazines and newspapers, including Rolling WILL APPEAL Stone, the (sydney) magazine, Who and TO FANS OF: the Sydney Morning Herald. He is the author of three non-fiction books: Tim Winston Fanclub, Searching For Kingly Critter and Craig Silvey The Secret Life of Backpackers. Barry has Muriel’s Wedding won the Banjo Paterson Award for short fiction three times. He lives in Sydney, Australia. 10 Known Unknowns by Emmett Stinson

AWARD FOR KNOWN UNKNOWNS: Shortlisted for the prestigious Steele Rudd Award

------‘Beautiful- - - passages of writing.’ The Australian ‘Masterful touch.’ Australian Book Review ‘Each of these stories is a gem, and the collection is a remarkable chronicle of the human condition. Emmett Stinson is a writer of our time.’ Fiction, June 2010 Tony Birch, acclaimed novelist and short 224 pp, RRP: $24.95 (pbk) story writer ISBN: 978-0-9806378-7-8 Rights: World ------Emmett- - - Stinson is an American who moved to Why international audiences will love Australia in 2004 – and it was only with distance from Known Unknowns... his homeland that he could write Known Unknowns, - 9/11 is an event that touched lives around his debut collection. Set largely in Washington DC the globe immediately after September 11, these engrossing stories - Emmett brings a fascinating perspective tap into the zeitgeist of disconnection, isolation and the to the aftermath of these world-changing events loss of meaningful identity after those world-changing - Known Unknowns is a work of a true liter- events. ary stylist With sharp, insightful prose that illuminates the - Known Unknowns is the third book in Af- frailty of human relationships, Known Unknowns is firm Press’s Long Story Shorts series, a criti- an arresting collection that marks the arrival of an cally acclaimed initiative to revive a passion exciting new literary talent. and appreciation for Australian short fiction

Emmett Stinson was born in the United States in 1977. He moved WILL APPEAL to South Australia in 2004, where TO FANS OF: he pursued an MA in Creative Mary Gaitskill Writing. He has received the Don DeLillo Age Short Story Award and the Jonathan Safran Foer ArtsSA Creative Writing Award. Emmett is currently a Lecturer in Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne. 11 Having Cried Wolf by Gretchen Shirm

AWARDS FOR HAVING CRIED WOLF: Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year Shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award for New Writing

------‘This - - collection is beautifully formed.’ The Age ‘A major new talent has arrived.’ Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald Fiction, September 2010 ‘Wintonesque.’ Sunday Herald Sun 224 pp, RRP: $24.95 (pbk) ‘Deep emotional truths.’ Canberra Times ISBN: 978-0-9806378-9-2 ‘You’re in the hands of a born storyteller...’ Rights: World Cate Kennedy Why international audiences will love ------Having Cried Wolf... -Small - - towns harbour secrets. Rising and returning like - Rich and evocative Australian seaside the tides lapping the fictional coastal town of Kinsale, settings these stories revolve around Alice and Grace. Friends - A delicate and moving collection of since childhood, they have grown into young women interweaving stories, drawing together a with vastly divergent lives. host of authentic and memorable characters Having Cried Wolf draws their partners, families, - Gretchen is a stylish literary writer friends, neighbours and strangers into a rich tapestry of - Conveys deep emotional truths about shared experience: of love, tragedy, success and failure. love, family and friendship - Having Cried Wolf is the fourth book in This is a contemplative and affecting work, a novel in Affirm Press’s Long Story Shorts series, stories, from a remarkable new Australian writer. a critically acclaimed initiative to revive a passion and appreciation for Australian short fiction

Gretchen Shirm was born on the south coast of NSW, in 1979. She WILL APPEAL currently lives in Sydney where TO FANS OF: she works as a lawyer. Having Cried Wolf was shortlisted for the 2011 Tim Winton UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Elizabeth Strout Writing in the New South Wales Helen Garner Premier’s Literary Award. Having Cried Wolf is Gretchen’s first collection. She is now working on a novel. 12 Bearings by Leah Swann

------‘Leah- - - Swann is a fine stylist. The novella is masterly.’ Amanda Lohrey ‘I don’t know where Affirm Press is finding its new fiction writers but this is the second time in months that I’ve been amazed by the quality of a debut short-story collection from it by a previously unknown writer.’ Sydney Morning Herald, Pick of the Week ‘The novella ... is especially memorable. This small book has big heart.’ Canberra Times ‘Heartbreaking, honest, but ultimately hopeful, Fiction, April 2011 you may lose yourself in Swann’s engaging reality.’ 208 pp, RRP: $24.95 (pbk) Readings Monthly ISBN: 978-0-9807904-2-9 Rights: World ------Are we slaves to destiny or architects of our own fate? Why international audiences will love Bearings is about challenging the course of our lives as Bearings.. well as keeping a foothold during unpredictable times. - These are moving explorations of love, In this affecting novella and collection of stories, Leah loss and family in contemporary society Swann burrows deep into the souls of her characters to - Motherhood is a central theme in the reveal universal complexities, frailties and strengths. collection – its challenges and joys From searching for love to coping with grief, - Faith and all its nuances are delicately Bearings provides a map of the human condition, deftly investigated, producing rich and intriguing drawn by an exciting new Australian talent with a sharp portraits of authentic characters eye for instinctive behaviours and emotional truths. - Bearings is the fifth book in Affirm Press’s Long Story Shorts series, a critically acclaimed initiative to revive a passion and appreciation for Australian short fiction

Leah Swann lives in Melbourne, WILL APPEAL with her husband and two children. TO FANS OF She is a former speechwriter, public Jodi Picoult relations manager and journalist. Marilynne Robinson In 2011, she was selected for the prestigious Best Australian Stories anthology. Bearings is her first book. 13 Two Steps Forward by Irma Gold ------‘A - -beautifully crafted volume.’ The Age ‘Gold’s themes are refreshingly varied and hers is a welcome new voice.’ Weekend Australian ‘A collection of bittersweet, beautifully written short stories.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘These stories catch the poignant sensuousness of dif- ficult lives, their daily tragedies and unexpected joys.’ Marion Halligan ‘With prose that’s both sharp and ravishingly metaphorical, Gold burrows into her characters’ lives until walls give way and emotion rushes in.’ Fiction, September 2011 Steven Conte, winner of the Prime Minister’s 224 pp, RRP: $24.95 (pbk) Literary Award ISBN: 978-0-9807904-7-4 ------Rights: World - - - It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. What binds the characters in Why international audiences will love Two Steps Forward is an indomitable desire to climb their Two Steps Forward.. way out. - Iconic Australian settings – the beach, the Located in familiar Australian settings, this collection bush, the desert, our vibrant cities of stories brilliantly weaves together authentic - Poignant journeys of motherhood – birth, characters and adverse scenarios. You’ll encounter battlers, miscarriage, death underdogs and people who are doing it tough. Folks to - Provides insight into current Australian applaud and causes to cheer. In this moving, assured debut, social issues, such as the plight of Irma Gold celebrates courage and challenges our notions asylum seekers of what it takes to be happy. - Two Steps Forward is the final book in Affirm Press’s Long Story Shorts series, a critically acclaimed initiative to revive a passion and appreciation for Australian short fiction

WILL APPEAL TO FANS OF Irma Gold is a writer and editor Australian grunge-lit based in Canberra. She is the author writers, such as of two children’s books, and she has Christos Tsiolkas, been widely published in Australian Andrew McGahan and literary journals. Two Steps Forward is Helen Garner her debut collection of stories. 14

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NON-FICTION 15 1001 Australian Nights by Dave Graney

------‘A - -delirious cruise through the strange and perplexing mind of Australia’s pre-eminent songwriter, legendary mischief-maker and cosmic hipster. Funny, wise, narcissistic, deluded and anarchic. Pure genius.’ ‘All over the place and half-crazed but that’s why it’s great.’ The Age ‘Reads like Jack Kerouac or Hunter S. Thompson minus the drugs.’ West Australian ‘A rare and valuable aberration.’ Mess+Noise ‘A keen, bitingly sardonic observer of the times.’ Canberra Times ------Memoir, music. April 2011 Legendary- - - rock showman Dave Graney takes us on a 256 pp, RRP: $29.95 (pbk) journey about self-discovery. As a young man fired up ISBN: 978-0-9807904-3-6 by punk rock he sets off on a road-trip from small-town Rights: World Australia, outside of life and looking for a way in. When he loses the map Graney discovers his groove, then twists Why international audiences will love and turns through three decades as a working artist. 1001 Australian Nights... When Graney takes the wheel, you don’t know - Dave Graney is a genuine cult figure where you’ll end up – or if you’ll get there safe. This with a massive following both in Australia ain’t no standard rock’n’roll trip; it’s an education. This and abroad - There are large sections on Dave’s is Graney up close, out there and on his game. Turn it awesome European tour with Nick Cave up loud. and the Bad Seeds - Dave hangs out with other celebrity musos, including Bob Mould from Husker Du and Ed Kuepper from The Saints

Dave Graney is an ARIA-award WILL APPEAL winning, gold record-wearing, bad- TO FANS OF ass musician with a recording output Patti Smith’s Just Kids comprising roughly twenty-four Paul Kelly’s How to albums (with The Moodists, The Make Gravy Coral Snakes, The White Buffaloes Keith Richards’ and Lurid Yellow Mist) in a career spanning thirty years. Life 1001 Australian Nights is his first book. 16

Peace of Wall: Street art from East Timor by Chris Parkinson ------‘Everyone- - - should read it.’ West Australian ‘Deeply moving and beautifully presented, the raw expression here tells the harrowing and Photography, East Timor. April 2010 inspirational story of East Timor.’ 192 pp, RRP: $29.95 (flexibound) Anthony LaPaglia, award-winning actor ISBN: 978-0-9806378-2-3 ‘An evocative piece of photojournalism – Rights: World capturing an important moment in East Timor’s history through its walls.’ Tristan Manco, author and graffiti documentarian, published by Thames & Hudson ------The- - - images and words adorning the walls of East Timor reflect the country’s tumultuous history, precarious present and hopeful future. They endow Why international audiences will love the social landscape with a rawness and honesty absent Peace of Wall... from their media, and echo the struggle towards new - East Timor’s general elections are nationhood. Peace of Wall is widely contradictory, scheduled for August 2012 and Peace of emotionally charged, instantly engaging and consistently Wall is timely in the discussion about dramatic. It’s life in East Timor. one of the world’s newest nations Chris Parkinson spent four years living and working - An unprecendented 50% of the in East Timor, where he amassed over 3000 photographs Timorese people are illiterate; graffiti is and hundreds of hours of interviews with East Timorese. literally their language of political Peace of Wall showcases a selection of these inspirational expression stories and artwork. - The book is a stunning collection of photographs taken in all 13 East Timorese districts - Peace of Wall is the only documented collection of graffiti from East Timor Chris Parkinson, an award- winning documentary filmmaker and photographer, spent four years WILL APPEAL working in East Timor where he TO FANS OF: documented the shifting walls Tristan Manco of the country and interviewed and Brassai the numerous graffiti artists. He currently lives in Melbourne and he’s planning another multimedia project in East Timor for later in 2012. 17

The Boy and the Crocodile Illustrated by the children from Familia Hope Orphanage ------‘A - -wonderful book that celebrates the storytelling traditions of this extraordinary country. It should be read far and wide.’ Robert Connolly, film-maker

‘A beautiful book about kindness being rewarded.’ Alison Lester, award-winning author and illustrator of many children’s books, including Are We There Yet? ------Childrens picture book, November 2011 - - - 48 pp, RRP: $19.95 (pbk) The Boy and the Crocodile is the legend of East Timor, a ISBN: 978-0-9871326-2-8 parable about kindness, and a delightful children’s book Rights: Worldwide illustrated by orphans from East Timor All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Familia Hope Orphanage. Pre-sales of The Boy and the Why international audiences will love Crocodile funded the producation of 4000 copies of the The Boy and the Crocodile... book in the local language, Tetum, that will be distributed - East Timor’s general elections are free to kids throughout East Timor (where educational scheduled for August 2012 and The Boy materials are in chronically short supply, and more than and the Crocodile is timely in the discussion half the adult population is illiterate). about one of the world’s newest nations - Everyone around the world can feel part of this worthy cause. All profits from sales go to the Familia Hope Orphanage outside of Dili - The Tetum version of the book will kickstart a love of reading in a country where more than 50% of the population are illiterate

WILL APPEAL TO FANS OF: Philllip K. Stead’s A Sick Day for Amos McGee Jerry Pinkney’s The Lion and the Mouse Mem Fox’s Possum Magic