! ! ! ! ZEITGEIST MEDIA GROUP LITERARY AGENCY FRANKFURT RIGHTS CATALOGUE 2012

! 1!

Zeitgeist Media Group is a unique literary agency.

We represent a distinctive array of Australian, American, British, European, and Chinese authors from our & Brussels offices.

‘China’ stories have been our passion and we have a number of fascinating works of fiction and non- fiction that break new ground. Setting us apart from other agencies is our Zeitgeist media department, giving us the capacity to generate unsurpassed media exposure for our authors.

We hope you enjoy what we have to offer.

Warm regards, Benython, Sharon and Emma http://www.zeitgeistmediagroup.com/

!!! ! ! ! !

Benython Oldfield Sharon Galant Emma Nicholas Sydney Agent Europe Agent Sydney Agent Level 1, 142 Smith Street Ave du Vert Chasseur 8A Level 1, 142 Smith Street Summer Hill, Sydney 1180 Brussels Summer Hill, Sydney NSW, 2130 Australia Belgium NSW, 2130 Australia +61 2 8060 9715 +32 479 262 843 +61 2 8060 9715 benython@ sharon@ emma@ zeitgeistmediagroup.com zeitgeistmediagroup.com zeitgeistmediagroup.com ! 2!

Fiction pg. 3 Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey pg. 4 The Amber Amulet by Craig Silvey pg. 5 The Burial by Courtney Collins pg. 6 Amber Road by Boyd Anderson pg. 7 Errol, Fidel and the Cuban Rebel Girls by Boyd Anderson pg. 8 The 13th Tablet by Alex Mitchell pg. 9 Fractured by Dawn Barker pg. 10 Ideal Love by Alice Burnett pg. 11 Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu & Dancing Through Red Dust by Murong pg. 12 The Missing Ingredient by Murong pg. 13/14 New writing from China: Modern Chinese Masters pg. 15 Rock Soldier by Liu Jian pg. 16 X Girl Series: Book 1: Rev Girl (YA) by Leigh Hutton

Non-Fiction pg. 17 China Cuckoo by Mark Kitto pg. 18 The Girl from Baghdad by Michelle Nouri pg. 19 Fusion Economics: Peaceful Revolution for a New Global Consensus by Laurence Brahm pg. 20 Zhu Rongji and the Transformation of Modern China by Laurence Brahm pg. 21 The Thirty Years that Transformed China: 1980-2010 by Caroline Puel pg. 22 Philosophy in the Garden by Damon Young pg. 23 Liar Liar by Damon Young pg. 24 ShortThink. How not to think about the future by Ben McNeil pg. 25 On The Unhappiness of Being Greek by Nikos Dimou pg. 26 Mr Snack and the Lady Water by Brendan Shanahan pg. 27 In Turkey I am Beautiful by Brendan Shanahan pg. 28 Gaysia by Benjamin Law pg. 29 by Benjamin Law pg. 30 Chasing Bohemia: A Year of Living Dangerously in Rio by Carmen Michael pg. 31 Burlesquing China by Jenevieve Chan pg. 32 Nomadia: Life on Our Own Terms by Païvi Kannisto and Santeri Kannisto pg. 32 Ancient World Guides: Ancient China Towns, Villages and Cites ! 3!

Craig Silvey (AUS) Jasper Jones

USA Printz Honor Book for excellence in YA literature, 2012 Winner Australian Book Industry Awards, Literary Book of the Year 2010 Winner Australian Book Industry Awards, Book of the Year 2010 Winner Australian Booksellers Choice Award 2010 Winner Australian Independent Booksellers, Book of the Year 2009 Winner Australian Independent Booksellers, Fiction Book of the Year 2009 Winner Indie Book of the Year Award 2009 Co-Winner West Australian Premier’s Award (fiction) 2010 with JM Coetzee Shortlisted Impac Dublin Literary Award 2011 Shortlisted Australian Miles Franklin Literary Award 2010 Shortlisted Christina Stead Award 2010 Shortlisted New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award 2010 Shortlisted New South Wales People’s Choice Award 2010

Shortlisted Victorian Premier’s Literary Award 2010 LITERARY FICTION Longlisted United Kingdom Dylan Thomas Prize 2010 Highly Commended Kathleen Mitchell Award 2010 Published:

Australia/NZ 2009 · Allen & Unwin

UK 2010 · Windmill Books, Random Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a USA 2011 · Knopf, Random House precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock France 2010 · Calmann-Lévy, Hachette Spain 2010 · Seix Barral, Planeta on the window of his sleepout. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in Italy 2010 · Neri Pozza the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and Netherlands 2010 · Bezige Bij solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So Norway 2010 · Cappelen Damm AS when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by 2011 · Rowohlt Verlag his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress. Jasper takes him Poland 2011 · Dom Wydawniczy Rebis through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it’s here that Israel 2011 · Modan Publishing House Charlie bears witness to Jasper’s horrible discovery. Brazil 2011 · Intrinseca

China 2010 · ThinKingdom Taiwan 2010 · Solo Press With this secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by Korea 2010 · Tin Drum a town closing in on itself and in vainly attempting to restore the parts Turkey 2013 · Marti Publishing that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. * Film rights sold to Porchlight Films

* All other rights available ! 4!

Craig Silvey (AUS)! The Amber Amulet

You're in safe hands - The Masked Avenger and Richie the Power Beagle are here to protect you!

A brilliant jewel of a book from the acclaimed, best-selling author of Jasper Jones. ! Dear Sir/Ma’am,

Please find enclosed this AMBER AMULET. That must sound unusual to a citizen, but you will have to trust me on

this count because the science is too detailed for me to outline here. All you need to know is that the AMBER AMULET will eliminate LITERARY FICTION / NOVELLA your unhappiness by counteracting it with POSITIVE ENERGY. FULL COLOUR / ILLUSTRATED This should see you straight. Fear not, you’re in safe hands now.

Published: Take care, The Masked Avenger Australia/NZ 2012 · Allen & Unwin

* All other rights available Meet twelve-year-old Liam McKenzie, who patrols his suburban ! neighbourhood as the masked avenger—a superhero with powers so potent not even he can comprehend their extent. !

! Along with his sidekick Richie the Powerbeagle, he protects the people ! of Franklin Street from chaos, mayhem, evil and low tyre pressure— ! but can he save them from sadness?

! This perfect jewel of a book by the award-winning author of the 2009 ! Book of the Year Jasper Jones will hold all readers in its irresistible ! power. ! !

!

! CRAIG SILVEY was raised on an orchard in Western Australia. At of 19, he wrote his first novel, Rhubarb, while living in Fremantle, where he now resides. In 2007 Silvey released The World According to Warren, a picture book starring the guide-dog from Rhubarb. In early 2008, he completed his second novel, Jasper Jones, an award-winning gothic tale that has become a global hit. In addition to his literary pursuits, Silvey is the singer/songwriter for the band The Nancy Sikes. The Amber Amulet was published ANZ in October 2012.

! ! 5!

Courtney Collins (AUS) The Burial

It is the dawn of the 20th Century in Australia and a woman has done an unspeakable thing. From her lonely outpost, the mountains beckon as a place to escape. First, she must bury the evidence. But how do you bury the evidence when the evidence is part of yourself?

Jessie is 22. She has served a two-year sentence for horse rustling. As a condition of her release she is apprenticed to Fitzgerald “Fitz” Henry who wants a woman to allay his loneliness in a valley populated by embittered ex-soldiers. Fitz wastes no time in blackmailing Jessie into marrying him and involving her in his business of horse rustling and cattle duffing.

LITERARY FICTION When Fitz is wounded in an accident he hires Aboriginal stockman, Jack Brown, to steal horses with Jessie. Soon both Jack Brown and Published: Jessie are struggling against the oppressive and deadening grip of Australia/NZ 2012 · Allen & Unwin Fitz. UK 2013 · Allen & Unwin

France 2013 · Buchet Chastel, On a catastrophic night, while Jack Brown is on a drove, Jessie * All other rights available murders Fitz and burns down his house. That same night she miscarries her child and buries it in a sandy grave near a river.

Broken and bloody, Jessie escapes to the mountains. There she meets a gang of young bushrangers whose impossibly brazen heists and mountain life are the freedom and the affection she has craved. But word has spread fast around the valley that she is both cattle thief and murderer. Soon there is a price on her head and gangs of men are crashing through the bush to be the first to claim her.

Riding in their wake, is an opium-addled cop, Andrew Barlow, and Jack Brown, who has been hired to track her. They move up the mountain uncertain as to who the real enemies are and if they should first save Jessie or themselves.

As Jessie finds herself pursued by all of them; gangs of men, tracker and sergeant, there is another compelling force drawing her closer. There can be no escaping this – it is her child calling back to her from the grave.

The Burial is the debut novel of COURTNEY COLLINS. It has been optioned for a feature film by Pure Pictures. Courtney's next work is in progress, The Walkman Mix has already received attention through the Melbourne Lord Mayor's Creative Writing Award 2011. Courtney grew up in the Hunter Valley in NSW. She now lives on the Goulburn River in regional Victoria.

! 6!

Boyd Anderson (AUS)

Amber Road As an empire is swept away a young woman’s world is ripped apart.

Boyd Anderson’s Amber Road, a sweeping historical saga on the scale of Gone with the Wind, is set against the cataclysmic final months of the British Empire. Nineteen year-old Victoria Khoo, the lithe daughter of a wealthy family of the 'King's Chinese', lives in luxury on the rambling ‘Homestead’ in colonial Singapore. Her carefree days are spent fantasising about a future with Sebastian Boustead, scion of a great British merchant family. Her sole ambition is to marry Sebastian

and become mistress of the Boustead’s Angsana Lodge.

Secure in the invincibility of 'Fortress Singapore', she fails to see the COMMERICAL FICTION conflict such a union would create, or the upheaval that looms over the Published: horizon for the faithful British subjects of the island colony. As Australia/NZ 2013 · Random House Singapore abruptly surrenders to the Japanese and the inhabitants are

deserted by Britain, Victoria is shunned by Sebastian, who declares his * All other rights available intention to marry the pretty Elizabeth Nightingale.

Victoria is forced to protect both her family and her rival, Elizabeth, from the cruelty of the Japanese occupation, and soon finds herself

drawn into a dangerous triangle. Can she reclaim her destiny with Sebastian, or should she welcome the attentions of the charming Joe

Spencer, mysterious Australian leader of a resistance force?

With intrigue, romance and suspense, Amber Road tells an epic story

of one woman’s indomitable spirit, and how she, like Asia itself, was so swiftly transformed by World War Two.

BOYD ANDERSON spent several years as a creative director in advertising, winning many awards in New York, Cannes, London, Los Angeles and Sydney. His novel Errol, Fidel and the Cuban Rebel Girls (UQP 2010) is based on the relationship between movie star Errol Flynn and Fidel Castro. Boyd also co-authored the novel, Children of the Dust (Random House 1997). His latest novel, Amber Road is set during the fall of Singapore in World War Two.

! 7!

Boyd Anderson (AUS) Errol, Fidel and the Cuban Rebel Girls

Based on true events, Errol, Fidel and the Cuban Rebel Girls recreates one of the 20th century’s great unknown stories.

Cuba, 1959: In the final year of Errol Flynn’s life, he found time for one last adventure. The dashing Hollywood star had always longed to be a real hero. Fidel Castro was the genuine article, and now he was looking for fame. What each man had the other wanted, and as revolution raged around them, the stage was set for an explosive

encounter.

LITERARY FICTION While Cuba is on the brink of a Castro-led revolution, Errol Flynn is there making what will be his final film. When they meet sparks begin Published: to fly. In their personal duel the weapons they use aren’t guns and Australia/NZ 2010 · University of grenades, but words and women. While Errol is indulging in his latest Queensland Press under-age tryst, Fidel with his own indiscretions is ready to march * All other rights available triumphantly into Havana after overthrowing the Batista government. Within days of the coup, Errol is chased out of Cuba with the firing squad and Fidel hot on his heels.

Featuring a cast of Hollywood movie stars, beautiful women, Cuban revolutionaries and New York mobsters, Errol, Fidel and the Cuban Rebel Girls is the story of two men at the opposite ends of astonishing careers. It is a story with two heroes ... but there is only ever room for one.

! 8!

Alex Mitchell (UK) th The 13 Tablet

“A fast-paced and exciting thriller with a convincing archaeological background. Great fun! ” – Harry Sidebottom, bestselling author of the Warrior of Rome series

A gripping thriller weaving together the obsessions of archaeologists, shady art dealers, kabbalists and ruthless businessmen.

Iraq, 2004. The war on terror rages on and as lawlessness grows, looters are hitting the museums.

Mina Osman, a spirited young American archaeologist of Iraqi descent, THRILLER / SUSPENSE appalled at the loss of her parents’ heritage heads to the University of Mosul to play a role in securing Iraq’s antiquities. Published: UK 2012 · Haus Publishing US 2012 · Haus Publishing While reprimanding one of her students for conspiring with the looters, Poland 2013 · Bellona a cuneiform tablet dating back three thousand years is handed over for restitution. The tablet holds within it a profound secret about the * All other rights available primordial flood described in the Gilgamesh epic.

What starts as a straightforward translation of an ancient text triggers a series of disruptive and life-threatening events. A chase without limits ensues which takes the savvy and adventurous Mina and Jack, a

handsome ex-US army Major on a dangerous path from Mosul to

Safed and from Cambridge to Phuket, in the midst of the tsunami

cataclysm.

ALEXANDRE MITCHELL has a B.A. in Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology and a Masters in classical archaeology from Strasbourg University. He has a D.Phil in Classical Archaeology from Oxford. His first book Greek Vase Painting and the Origins of Visual Humour (2009) was published by CUP. His current academic research focuses on Classical Greek & Roman political cartoons from the 18th to the 21st centuries published in British and American newspapers. He is an Honorary Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford. www.alexmitchell.net

! 9!

Dawn Barker (UK/AUS)

Fractured

An unforgettable novel that brings to life a new mother’s worst fears.

Tony is worried. His wife, Anna, isn’t coping with their newborn. Anna had wanted a child so badly and, when Jack was born, they were both so happy.They’d come home from the hospital a family. Was it really only six weeks ago? But Anna hasn’t been herself since. One moment she’s crying, the next she seems almost too positive. It must be normal with a baby, he thought, she’s just adjusting. He was busy at work. It would sort itself out. But now Anna and Jack are missing. And he realises that something is really wrong

*A compelling, emotional debut from a brilliant new author THRILLER / SUSPENSE *What happens to this family will break your heart and leave you Published: breathless. Australia 2013 · Hachette

*World Rights Hachette Australia

DR DAWN BARKER is a Child Psychiatrist. She grew up in Scotland, and studied Medicine at Aberdeen University. In 2001 she moved to Australia, completed her psychiatric training and began writing. Her first novel, Fractured, will be published in early 2013 by Hachette.

! 10!

Alice Burnett (UK) Ideal Love

A woman obsessed with two men. One dead, one alive.

Venus, a beautiful young mother and musician, is broken by the sudden death of her husband Gilles, a City lawyer and womaniser turned romantic.

Discovering that he died of a curable condition she knew nothing about, Venus becomes haunted by the impossible task of proving that

her husband loved her enough to want to live – and by the fear that the same condition could claim their infant daughter.

LITERARY FICTION When Venus meets the handsome and sensitive Alex, the sterility of

* Not yet published her life becomes apparent and her attraction to him eclipses even her * All rights available preoccupation with Gilles. But she doesn’t reckon on Alex’s past and his link with Gilles.

Written from both the perspective of a widowed Venus and a dead Gilles who recalls his joking pursuit of her from beyond the grave, Ideal Love is an intimate and philosophical novel about love, from its incandescent beginnings to its final breath and back again.

ALICE BURNETT grew up on a farm in Devon, England. She studied maths at Cambridge University followed by philosophy, a subject she is still passionate about. She qualified as a lawyer and worked in London and Paris. She currently lives in London with her husband and two children.

! ! 11!

Murong (CHINA) Leave Me Alone A Novel of Chengdu

Longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize (2008)

“The enfant terrible of Chinese literature.” – Sydney Morning Herald

“Murong’s perceptive take on China’s social malaise makes this novel as literary as it is page-turning.” – The Age

Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu is a bitter take on love and life in modern China. It’s the story of three young men, Chen Zhong, Li Liang and Big Head Wang, and their tragic-comic struggle to make their way in Chengdu, China’s fifth most populous city. FICTION

Published: Despite their aspirations in the newly capitalist China, the trio’s lives Brazil 2013 · Geracao Editorial are beset by dead-end jobs, gambling debts, drinking, drugs, and Australia/NZ 2009 · Allen&Unwin whoring. Complicated relationships with women, whether they be Vietnam 2009 · Bach Viet pregnant mistresses, angry wives or passive lovers, compound their Germany 2008 · Zweitausendeins misery. France 2006 · Editions de l’Olivier

China 2003 · 21st Century Now translated in English and available in its original ‘uncensored’ Publishing House form, this is an unflinching and darkly funny look at the pressures of life in modern China, where riches and sex abound... but not for all. * All other rights available

Dancing Through Red Dust

A novel delving into the secretive world of China’s legal system.

Wei Da’s nightmare starts with a game of Mahjong. The famous TV host and lawyer from humble beginnings ignores basic protocol and ! wins 150,000 yuan from a judge. This starts a litany of problems. !

! Knowing he has money, his girlfriend Xiao Li and her ex-boyfriend ! blackmail him. While defending himself, Wei Da accidentally kills Xiao ! Li’s ex. To avoid being prosecuted, he destroys evidence, hides his ! assets and plans to flee China. About to escape, he is incarcerated in ! the horrific Cao River Remand Centre. The worst of human nature is

exhibited here and as Wei Da tries to atone, the day of his execution encroaches.

FICTION

Published: France 2013 · Gallimard China 2008 · Zhuhai Publishing House

* Sample translation available * All other rights available ! 12!

Murong (CHINA)

The Missing Ingredient

Winner People’s Literature Prize 2010

In November 2010 Murong won the People’s Literature Prize for his acclaimed new book The Missing Ingredient, an account of how he infiltrated an illegal pyramid scheme in Jiangxi province for several

weeks and later had to flee for his life. His evidence led to the arrest of

a significant number of the ringleaders of the group.

Murong had prepared to use the occasion to make a speech criticising China’s continued censorship of writers but as he ascended the platform, he was barred from speaking. NARRATIVE NON-FICTION

Published: His banned acceptance speech was published around the world, France 2014 · Gallimard including in The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Huffington Post China 2010 · China Peace Publishing and Rue 89. House

* Sample translation available * All other rights available

After graduating from Beijing’s University of Political Science and Law MURONG worked briefly as a lawyer before starting to write in 2001. His first novel Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu took China by storm in 2002. One of China’s most famous authors, Murong is celebrated for his darkly funny novels about contemporary urban life. His latest books include the novel Dancing Through Red Dust and the non-fiction 2010 People’s Literature Prize winner The Missing Ingredient. Murong has a million + followers on Chinese social media site www.sina.com.

! 13!

Modern Chinese Masters The Modern Chinese Masters series aims to highlight Chinese authors who have typically been overlooked by Western publishers. Each represents a different facet of contemporary China: urban culture, dissent, humour and intellectual discourse. Each novella includes an essay introducing the author and a specially written authorial afterword. This series has been compiled with the philosophy that each title has the ability to surprise and to challenge preconceptions about Chinese fiction. Publish in their own right or as a collection.

! ! by Anni Baobei ! The Road of Others The cult writer !

! The Road of Others is a collection of three of Anni Baobei’s early

stories. Urgent, romantic and dark, the three stories, Goodbye to Anne,

Endless August and The Road of Others, established Anni as one of

the most adored and influential writers of her generation. The stories

are closely connected in terms of their Shanghai setting, themes and

character names. Taken together these writings constitute an enquiry

into the spiritual journey of a generation. Anni Baobei is an influential

cult writer whose fictions generally turn around characters detached

from life in big industrialized cities. Her fiction is celebrated for its

romantic, artistic and individualistic characteristics, which prompt love

among her passionate fanbase. As a young woman in the late 1990s,

Anni Baobei was a pioneer of the internet and internet fiction in China,

NOVELLA with her early online stories having a vast impact. A native of Ningbo, Anni now calls Beijing home, but travel is an important part of her life Published: and her fiction. Asia (English) 2012 · Make-Do Publishing * All other rights available

I Love My Mum by Chen Xiwo The dissident

This is the first English translation of the most famous work by Chen Xiwo, one of China’s most acclaimed and controversial writers, and winner of the Chinese People’s Literature Prize (2001). I Love My Mum made international news in 2007 when the author sued the Chinese customs authority for confiscating a shipment of his books, citing them as ‘pornography’. I Love My Mum is a shocking tale of murder and incest narrated by a hardened crime squad detective who is used to the seamy side of life. But he has never come across a murder case like this, and the same is guaranteed for the reader.

NOVELLA

Published: Asia (English) 2010 Make-Do Publishing * All other rights available ! 14!

Yu Li: Confessions of an Elevator Operator by Jimmy Qi The humorist

The title character Yu Li is an inspector at a wine distillery in a small town in traditional Hebei province. After he is fired for drinking wine during his inspections, Yu Li manages to land another job as an elevator operator in a luxury apartment building in the far-off capital, Beijing. The apartment building is home to celebrities, the new rich and big-shot government officials. Misadventures abound as Yu Li struggles to adjust to the confusion of city life and, above all, fights to subdue the ‘nuclear weapon’ in his pants. This story humorously but delicately highlights the plight of China’s migrant workers, a

NOVELLA phenomenon largely unnoticed by China’s prospering middle classes. Author Jimmy Qi believes “Yu Li shows the boundless and rich Published: ingenuity, not to mention philanthropy, of the Chinese people.” Asia (English) 2010 · Make-Do Publishing * All other rights available

The Magician of 1919 by Li Er The intellectual

In 1919, the year of the May 4th movement in China, magician Bigshot Cowrie arrives in Peking. He has with him a budgerigar who is a language genius, a hat with a magical long queue and some pigeons. During his time in Peking, he encounters various figures, fictional and historical, and becomes involved in important events in modern Chinese history. Li Er is widely recognised as being one of China’s most significant contemporary writers, on a par with the likes of Mo Yan, Yu Hua and Su Tong. The Magician of 1919, is the first of Li Er’s works to be published in English.

NOVELLA

Published: Asia (English) 2011 Make-Do Publishing * All other rights available

! 15!

Liu Jian (CHINA) Rock Soldier

“Liu Jian has a distinctive narrative voice and a fine prose style. His writing shows a lot of promise and potential.” – Ha Jin, bestselling author of Waiting: A Novel, War Trash and A Good Fall

A universal tale of teenage rebellion, Rock Soldier follows two schoolboy renegades who are expelled and end up in the army.

In the novel Rock Soldier, author Liu Jian introduces two Chinese soldiers who grew up with Coca Cola and Hollywood, rebels who stayed out all night and never went home, young men whose every CONTEMPORARY CHINESE other word was ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’. In other words, not your typical idea of a FICTION soldier in China’s uncompromising military system.

* 25000 words translation available As teenagers, their experimental rock music got them kicked out of

Published: school, so with little other options they joined the army. There they China 2004 · Writers’ Publishing House tried to rouse the troops with their music, and set their hopes on Beijing winning medals of honor. But under strict command and without a war in sight, their dreams proved impossible. Frustrated, they grew

* All other rights available restless, trying to bring on political unrest. But they found what was waiting for them instead was peace.

Rock Soldier is semi-autobiographical. The author’s second book, Out of the Army, continues the story of the characters in Rock Soldier, following them as they leave the army and try to return to civilian life. It was published in China in May 2008.

Singer-songwriter and author of Rock Soldier, LIU JIAN, 32, is a major figure in Shanghai’s folk-rock scene. Heavily influenced by Nirvana and 90’s rock when he was a kid, he spent his teenage years playing guitar and ignoring his studies. When he was expelled from school at age 16, he left home to join the People’s Liberation Army.

! 16!

Leigh Hutton (Canada / Aus) X Girl Series (Rev Girl) Gritty YA books about the kick ass chicks of Action Sports

X Girl Series Book 1: Rev Girl Based on a true story (120,900 words) Book 2: Rev Girl and the Land of Oz (4,000 words written) Book 3: Jump Girl Book 4: Surfer Girl Book 5: Fast Girl Book 6: Snow Girl Book 7: Moto Girl on the Run

Rev Girl Party girl Clover Kassedy is forced to make a choice after a major blow-out New Year’s Eve: keep hitting the booze, or go straight, and have a crack at a huge motorcycle race in Florida, then the ‘Olympics of Motorcycling’ in Eastern Europe —the chance to turn pro and meet the hottest riders from around the globe. Choosing to go clean, she *On submission in Australia kicks off her campaign with a win in ice racing and heads for the *All rights available States. But will it be her scheming bestie who foils her plans? Or will she let her ice hockey star boyfriend — the most desirable guy in

school — stop her from chasing her dream?

Rev Girl and the Land of Oz New to Australia and hot property in the pits, Clover Kassedy is quickly pursued by factory rider, DJ Titman, who tempts her into the world of Sydney’s elite; a crowd of glamorous rich girls, superficial gold diggers,

sports stars and dark and dubious men. When motorcycle magnate, Guy Prescott, offers Clover a job and sponsorship, she thinks she has finally made it and sets her sights on championship and the Worlds. But even DJ turns nasty when Clover discovers a sinister secret that could threaten Guy’s empire, and without the support of the man she’s convinced is meant for her: Ryder Black, Clover fears her

loneliness will swallow her whole. A proposition from her first love, Dallas Cash, casts further doubt over her move Down Under and when she discovers her father has been diagnosed with cancer, Clover is set to abandon hope and return to Canada. But will Clover get the opportunity for a happy ending? A terrible crash at the Finnish WSEC leaves Rev Girl fighting for her life…

LEIGH HUTTON is an extreme sports fanatic, former News Ltd journalist and champion dirt bike racer and horse show jumper. Hutton moved to Australia in 2002 to further her dirt biking career after winning Canadian championships in ice racing and enduro. The 28-year-old is an avid writer and works as a public relations consultant and public speaker in the motorcycle industry. Leigh loves spending time with her five-time Australian enduro champ husband, twins and eldest son. The family live on a property in southeast Queensland with a motocross track in their front yard. ! 17!

Mark Kitto (UK) China Cuckoo How I lost a fortune and found a life in China

“Written with humour and nerve” – Sunday Telegraph

China Cuckoo: How I lost a fortune and found a life in China is the true story of a witty and eccentric Sinophile Englishman and his Chinese tree-change. It’s set in Moganshan, a dilapidated, beautiful Chinese mountain village once favoured as a summer retreat by Shanghai’s saints and sinners. The author, Mark Kitto, a former commodities trader and magazine publisher, is the first westerner to return and live in the village fifty years on.

MEMOIR / TRAVEL Rejecting the corporate world, and the glamour of Shanghai, Mark eventually persuades his urbane Chinese wife to make Moganshan Published: their permanent home. With a toddler in tow they take the bold step of Asia 2012 · Make Do moving their lives to the isolated village, taking over an old brothel to UK 2009 · Constable Robinson start a western style cafe. USA 2009 · Sykhorse

Published as Chasing China China Cuckoo takes us into Kitto’s entertaining and painstaking days Australia 2009 · Murdoch Books weaving through village politics and bureaucratic farce to gain a * All other rights available foothold, livelihood and respect on the mountain top. Mark’s story is an illustration of past and present China’s relations with foreigners. It describes, in the words of one who has suffered and benefi ted from both, the risks and rewards of going China Cuckoo.

MARK KITTO finally found his vocation in China where he created a unique publishing empire. He made millions but then lost it all to his Communist Party partners. Rejecting corporate life he now lives peacefully with his Chinese wife and family in a village built by missionaries. He also writes a column on China for the UK’s Prospect Magazine.

! 18!

Michelle Nouri (ITALY)

The Girl from Baghdad

“Nouri has a fiery voice that speaks of adolescent oblivion, the constraints of Arabic culture, Czechoslovakian communism and her personal struggle at the junction of East and West. The Girl From Baghdad is a personal confession of a tortured past. It is a solid first book. From striking imagery of war-torn Iraq to scenes of bloody domestic violence, Nouri's emotional aptitude leaves the reader feeling truly touched by her story.” –Time Out Sydney

A flashy and violent Iraq. The dream of a better life in a foreign land. The true story of a woman torn between two worlds.

Her mother is from Prague; her father from hot, fragrant Baghdad. Her Iraqi childhood is like a fable, full of sun and games with her sisters AUTOBIOGRAPHY / MEMOIR and cousins in the crowded house of her grandma, the matriarch of the Published: powerful Nouri family. Poland 2013 · Wielka Litera Lebanon 2013 · Arab Diffusion Australia 2011 · Random House Michelle doesn’t fully comprehend the tension between East and West Italy 2007 · Rizzoli that exists in her upbringing – Muslim ceremonies, private ballet classes, overseas trips – but her adolescence serves to complicate * All other rights available things when family tradition dictates she should marry a cousin.

She resists family pressure and finds herself flattered by the attention of Uday Hussein, Saddam’s eldest son, who finds her irresistible. Before too long the world Michelle knows collapses: war with Iran

breaks out, and her own father betrays her.

Impoverished and abandoned, her only option is to flee to Czechoslovakia, and to embark on a painful and emotional journey between different cultures: Arabic, ex-communist and Western.

MICHELLE NOURI was raised in Baghdad, where she lived until 1988. Upon the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran conflict she fled to Prague, and eventually started a new life in Italy. Since 1997 Michelle has worked in Italian television and print media, investigating the lives and issues of immigrants in Italy. She also interviews the nation’s most famous politicians, writers, cultural gurus and sports figures. The sequel The Journey of the Tea Leaves was published by Rizzoli in 2010.

! 19!

Laurence Brahm (US) Fusion Economics Peaceful Revolution for a New Global Consensus

Fusion Economics can transform the world. It’s time. We need fresh thinking. Not another economic theory.

Everyone knows something is wrong. Over 40% of the world’s population lives in poverty and one sixth in extreme poverty, our planet’s resources are diminishing and social unrest –at times violent–

is unfolding in America, Europe and the Middle East. How do we fix it?

Brahm argues the only solution is to use common sense and

pragmatism instead of ideologically based economics. Localized diversification, green energy economics and finance for small and medium sized community enterprises can restructure our financial architecture into a more sustainable model. This requires a profound ECONOMIC THINKING / change in values and different measurement of individual and business SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT success. Is greed really the only factor that motivates us?

* Not yet published Fusion Economics is told through Brahm’s reflections and travels over * All rights available three decades. He takes us into China’s secretive halls of power where he helps convert rusty debt-ridden state enterprises into international corporations, Vietnam and Laos central banks, grass-roots social enterprises in the Himalayas, micro-finance schemes in Bangladeshi “Brahm is a rare combination of villages, the secluded kingdom of Bhutan where Gross National world class economist and hands- Happiness is invented and massive rallies in Africa calling for a new on entrepreneur. A down-to-earth approach to development that shocks multilateral institutions. pragmatist, he has been economic advisor to major Asian heads of Brahm claims a revolution is already under way, driven by a government. Fusion Economics constellation of activists, NGOs and social entrepreneurs seeking will contribute greatly to realistic solutions to address poverty and inequality. BRIC countries revitalizing sagging economies.” are openly calling for a new financial architecture and they have the –John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends capital and power to change the rules. A new global consensus is emerging and in the next decade it will be recognized as the new mainstream. This book is ahead of the curve. It tells us how to get

there– peacefully.

LAURENCE BRAHM is a global activist, pioneer social entrepreneur,

political economist, international mediator and independent film director. In 2002, after shooting a film in Tibet, he leaves his career as policy and investment advisor. He is the founder of the Himalayan and African Consensus movements, dedicated to protecting ethnic diversity

through sustainable economics. His previous books include Zhu Rongji: The Transformation of Modern China (John Wiley, 2001) and The Anti-Globalization Breakfast Club (John Wiley, 2009). He divides

his time between Beijing, Lhasa and Honolulu where he is Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center. ! 20!

Laurence Brahm (US) Zhu Rongji and the transformation of Modern China

China's astonishing transformation from a centrally planned to a market economy was one of the most remarkable stories of the twentieth century. It has set the stage for what many see as a period of unparalleled future growth. During this spell of delicate and risk-fraught economic transition, one defining figure stood out as the true driving force Zhu Rongji.

A remarkable visionary, Zhu has consistently refused to follow the conventional wisdom of established economics. Instead, he has developed a unique approach for a unique situation. Author Laurence

Brahm tells the inside story of Zhu's rise to power, the political

POLITICAL ECOMOMY / HISTORY obstacles that he has overcome and the policies that he has engineered to set China on a new path. While other developing Published: countries such as Russia, have floundered badly, China continues to Original edition excite the world with its phenomenal growth. Brahm skillfully argues Asia English 2002 · John Wiley & Son that Zhu's policies of “managed marketisation” deserve international

New edition recognition as a new economic model for both developing and China 2012, complex characters transitional economies. Open Page (Hong Kong)

China 2013, simplified characters · In Zhu Rongji and the Transformation of Modern China, Laurence Shijie Zhishi Chubanshe (Beijing) Brahm provides a fascinating inside account of the man dubbed an "economic czar" by many western commentators. This is the untold * All other rights are available story of Zhu and his strategies, and the key events that have shaped China into a modern nation and economic powerhouse.

! 21!

Caroline Puel (FRANCE)

The Thirty Years that Transformed China 1980-2010

“A crystal-clear overview of the last 30 years in China by an observer who has lived there almost all that time. An excellent introduction to today’s China, spanning politics, economics and society all with equal confidence. A truly impressive achievement.” – Simon Kuper, Financial Times

In just thirty years the face of China has radically changed. The battered communist giant that was healing its wounds at the death of

Mao in 1976 has risen to become the world’s second largest economy.

In this process, China has recovered its sense of pride and rank among nations. But the new superpower, seemingly well adapted to JOURNALISM / the globalised 21st century, remains a contradictory place where CONTEMPORARY HISTORY tensions and inequalities run high. Published: France 2011 · Buchet Chastel How did China achieve such rapid transition, especially after a century Japan 2013 and a half of political unrest and hardship? Who are the people and what are the landmark decisions that made this sweeping change * English-language rights available possible?

Interweaving political, economic, social and cultural history The 30 Years That Transformed China is a unique year-by-year account of key

events that explain the ‘Chinese Renaissance’ and China’s ‘peaceful emergence’ on the world stage.

CAROLINE PUEL arrived in China in the early eighties as a young diplomat after graduating from the Institut de Sciences Politiques in Paris and the Chinese Institute of Diplomacy. In 1988 she quit diplomacy and spent several years as a war correspondent. In 1995 she opened the China office of French newspaper Libération and later the Asia bureau of Le Point, a leading news magazine. She received the prestigious Albert Londres Award in 1997 for her coverage of China and was recently honoured Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. Also an art critic, Puel is the author of 15 books about Chinese contemporary art. She lives in Beijing with her husband and two

children. ! 22!

Damon Young (Australia) Philosophy in the Garden

“An absolute joy of a book—I couldn’t put it down.

Its prose is as careful and lovely as a beautifully tended garden.” – Nikki Gemmell

Why did Marcel Proust have bonsai beside his bed? What was Jane Austen doing, coveting an apricot? How was Friedrich Nietzsche inspired by his ‘thought tree’?

In Philosophy in the Garden, Damon Young reveals one of literature’s most intimate relationships: authors and their gardens.

For some, the garden provided a retreat from workaday labour; for POPULAR PHILOSPHY others, solitude’s quiet counsel. For all, it played a philosophical role:

giving their ideas a new life. Philosophy in the Garden reveals the Published: Australia Dec 2012 · Melbourne profound thoughts discovered in parks, backyards and pot-plants. University Publishing It does not provide tips for mowing overgrown cooch grass, or mulching a dry Japanese maple. *All other rights available It is a philosophical companion to the garden’s labours and joys.

Damon Young is a philosopher, writer, and Honorary Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. Damon is the author of Distraction. He has written for The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, the ABC and the BBC, and is a frequent radio guest. Damon has also published and short fiction.

! 23!

Damon Young (Australia) POPULAR PHILOSPHY Liar Liar * Not Yet Published * All rights available “This author makes 'dancing' with the philosophic and artistic masters... enjoyable even though one may be tone-deaf to the music and not know the steps.” – Bookseller+Publisher

"Young communicates ideas with enthusiasm and a genuine emotional connection to his subjects, their triumphs and frailties. He is a talent." – The Australian

Liar, Liar is a book of popular philosophy, which explores deception in everyday life.

We feel that lies are vulgar, inhumane or simply wrong, and yet they are an ever-present part of public and private life. Why? Is it simply base opportunism and cynicism, or is something more profound involved?

This question taps into ongoing anxiety about the deceptions we see every day: politics, big business and intimates. But Liar Liar goes beyond polemics or condemnation, to illuminate the murky world of delusion, myth, exaggeration, white lies, feints. It is neither an angry denunciation of deceit, nor a sly gloss on spin. Instead, it seeks to reveal the nature and worth of untruth. It asks: what deceptions do we practice daily, and what do they add to life? What are the rewards and dangers? And what can our lies tell us about the human condition?

As literary non-fiction, it grapples with ‘big picture’ ideas, but does so in a lively, welcoming and witty way. It is intimate and enjoyable to read, rather than aloof and abstruse. In short, it is fine ideas in striking or elegant prose.

As with Young’s previous books, Distraction (MUP, 2008) and The Mystery of the Garden (MUP, 2012, forthcoming), Liar, Liar will take a biographical and autobiographical approach. It will tell stories – the author’s own, and those of artists, scholars and statesmen – and draw on the history of ideas to illuminate them. These stories will come from luminaries like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ernest Hemingway and Plato. Ideas and insights will be provided by scholars including Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche.

This approach introduces readers to the ‘big ideas’ of philosophy, psychology, sociology and anthropology, without being condescending or impenetrable. It is in the essayistic tradition of Montaigne, Virginia Woolf and Alain de Botton: writing to be savoured, not endured. ! 24!

Ben McNeil (AUS)

ShortThink

How not to think about the future

ShortThink will revolutionise the way you see the future in making those important decisions today.

In this ground-breaking book, Ben McNeil draws on fascinating real-life stories and research to show us the forces that can drive us to avoid thinking about the long-term, and how these forces can be overcome.

ShortThink occurs when we act on immediate, short-term rewards that

disregard, avoid or deny the future. It happens when we buy something NON FICTION / LEADERSHIP / we know we can’t afford; it happens when a CEO denies a broad PROBLEM SOLVING consumer shift; it happens when a president can’t make sacrifices

today to ensure prosperity for future generations. * Not Yet Published

* All rights available How did an obscure Frenchman accidentally induce ShortThink on

Wall Street, allowing a worldwide financial meltdown? How did ShortThink plague a three-time NBA All-Star, American school teachers in the ’60s, and a multibillion-dollar airline? And conversely,

what was the secret that made Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey avoid falling into ShortThink?

BEN McNEIL is leading a new generation of economic and scientific

thinkers. He advises government and companies on strategic thinking, particularly around sustainability and energy. He has presented his strategic thinking to prime ministers and boardrooms. His writing is

published in newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and The Dominion Post. His first book, The Clean Industrial Revolution (Allen & Unwin 2009) looked at strategic thinking in

sustainability. He regularly appears on television and radio, including CNN, BBC, ABC and Sky News.Ben has a masters in political economy and a PhD in climate science. After working as a research scholar in Princeton University and living in New York City, he now lives in Sydney, Australia.

! 25!

Brendan Shanahan (AUS) Mr Snack and the Lady Water

“Shanahan has a style that recalls David Sedaris or the funny gay nephew of Bill Bryson” – Independent Weekly.

Mr Snack and the Lady Water is the title story of a compilation of hilarious travel essays by writer and journalist Brendan Shanahan.

In Mr Snack and the Lady Water Shanahan embarks on what was supposed to be a luxury cruise down the Yangtze River, only to find

! himself on a three-day endurance test aboard a leaking tug in the AMUSING TRAVEL MEMOIR company of an intrusive roommate – the mysterious “Mr Snack” – a pair of neurotic American spinsters and a thousand baseball hat- Published: wearing tourists. Australia/NZ 2013 · Melbourne University Press In Friends in DC, Shanahan contemplates the transitory nature of

friendships formed on the road as he rejects the affections of a sinister * All other rights available black albino and a sexed up Norwegian fisherman.

In Mr and Mrs Kumar Make a Plan, Shanahan is sucked into the strange world of Indians Mr and Mrs Kumar as he becomes the unwitting mediator of their strained relationship with their children.

Other stories in Mr Snack and Lady Water include an account of a dental surgery holiday in the Philippines, a close call with a gunfight in Johannesburg the bizarre world of working as a Bollywood extra and many other, equally unexpected, adventures from Shanahan’s travels. ! 26!

Brendan Shanahan (AUS) In Turkey I Am Beautiful Between Chaos and Madness in a Strange Land

“Shanahan has a tart tongue and wicked turn of phrase tempered by an obvious affection for the people he meets on his travels.” – Sydney Morning Herald

When Brendan Shanahan returned to Turkey after two years to catch up with old friends he found much had changed. Not only was the country itself transforming but the lives of his Turkish friends seemed to be mirroring the growing pains of a nation on the cusp of its biggest transformation since independence.

After travelling extensively in the wilds of the east where, among other AMUSING TRAVEL MEMOIR things, he found himself in the middle of a gunfight, was propositioned Published: Australia 2011 Harper Collins by shepherds and swam to Armenia in his underpants Brendan eventually agreed to run his friend’s carpet shop in Istanbul. With only * All other rights available the dubious help of his carpet dealer friend, a lovable but frequently demanding bi polar drug addict, the results were often disastrous, “As the sub-title says, this is book about frequently hilarious and occasionally poignant. ‘madness and chaos in a strange land’. Written with obvious love and humour for Turkey and its people, this book is one of the best I have read this year. I laughed, I By the end of his travels he was broke and owned more carpets than cried, and I could not put it down. floor, but had come to a deeper understanding both of a country he Fabulous! A good friend of mine is dating the gay "Jamie Oliver" of Istanbul so this loved and the people he loved in it. book also brought back all his weird and wacky stories.” - David Feighan In Turkey I Am Beautiful was described as “laugh out loud funny” by

the Sydney Morning Herald and named one of the best travel books

ever by the Sun Herald. It was also named one of the year’s 10 best non-fiction works by Radio National and was voted one of the “100

Favourite Books of All Time” by a Borders poll.

BRENDAN SHANAHAN is a Sydney-based writer and journalist. His previous books include Poodle on Prozac: The Biography of Rose Hancock-Porteous, (Duffy & Snellgrove). The Secret Life of the Gold Coast (Penguin). A former columnist for the Sunday Telegraph and Daily Telegraph, he writes regularly for publications including The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal Asia.

! 27!

Nikos Dimou () On The Unhappiness of Being Greek

A pithy and provocative book that predicted much of what Greece is going through today

If Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal had a Greek analogue, it would be Nikos Dimou.

One of his generation's most fertile minds, a legendary advertising man and a prolific writer, Dimou is best known as the author of On the Unhappiness of Being Greek, a visionary book that earned him everlasting fame in Greece but also the label of an "anti-Hellene”.

First published in 1975, On the Unhappiness of Being Greek is a series CURRENT AFFAIRS / PHILOSPHY of 193 mostly brief, often cutting and at times satirical aphorisms about Greece 2010 · Opera Books Greece and Greeks. The book became an overnight best seller and is

Germany 2012 · Kunstmann currently in its 30th edition having sold over 110.000 copies in Greece. (Über das Unglück, ein Grieche zu sein) 20K copies sold in 2 months! With the recent debt crisis in Europe Nikos Dimou’s seminal work has found a new audience in Europe and has gone on to become a ”Only the Gods know why it took almost 40 publishing phenomenon. years until – at last – this work appeared in Germany. Dimou’s book is much more than a loose collection of fragmented thoughts.” On the Unhappiness of Being Greek is a uniquely topical book, which - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung according to German newspaper Die Welt, “is painfully relevant to

France 2012 · Payot Rivages understanding the current crisis engulfing (Greece) and the continent”.

Italy 2012 · Castelvecchi Editore

Spain 2013 · Editorial Anagrama

Turkey 2013 · Istos Publishers

English world 2013 · Zero Books

* All other rights are available

NIKOS DIMOU was born in in 1935. He studied English and French literature in Athens and Philosophy in Munich. He has published around 60 books including essays, short prose, satire, philosophy, poetry, and political theory. He has consistently been interviewed and quoted in major European and American newspapers over last 35 years (eg. The Guardian, The Independent, NYT)

! 28!

Benjamin Law (AUS) Gaysia Adventures in the Queer East

Gaysia examines what it’s like to be young and queer in the queerest region of the world. Because Asia is also home to the majority of the world’s population—over four billion people—it stands to reason that it’s also where most of the world’s gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people live. But in a region renegotiating its cultural and religious traditions alongside rapid-paced modernisation, life for its queer citizens ranges from celebratory and mundane, to risky and life- threatening.

Told in discrete but interlinking chapters, Benjamin investigates Asia’s

LITERARY JOURNALISM queer subcultures by being too curious for his own good, asking Published: uncomfortable questions, meeting interesting folks, and finding himself Australia (2012) · Black Inc. in ludicrous situations. It won’t all be hanging out backstage at the transgender Miss Tiffany’s Universe in Thailand – although that will * Rights held by Black Inc. happen. What Gaysia provides is access to people, exploring both their public and private lives. While the backstage drama of the beauty “One of the most surprising and entertaining voices in Australian nonfiction pageant is undeniably riveting, what happens after the pageant is over, writing. A book of powerful, enlightening stories on a fraught topic, told with care, and the kathoeys are back at home, studying for exams or socialising empathy, grace and good humour.” with parents? The reality will challenge expectations and defy Andrew McMillen, The Australian stereotypes about these countries. “Gaysia is focused, observant [...] and often thought-provoking in a refreshingly upbeat way.” Gaysia is an entertaining, humorous and accessible blend of new Robert Dessaix, The Monthly journalism, first-person adventure and travel reportage. From his

“Investigative journalism carried out with unique insider-and-outsider perspective Benjamin scratches beneath style, empathy and unflinching honesty. the surface to unearth cultural and religious taboos as he asks readers Law’s intelligent and non-sensationalist approach renders such content ever more to examine their own ideas of what human and civil rights mean in the poignant.” st Emma Perry, artsHub 21 century.

“A wild ride … Gaysia is like a Louis Theroux documentary in book form. ” Andrew Wrathall, Bookseller + Publisher

“Benjamin throws himself into every challenge he’s given, occasionally to the detriment of his own personal health, and recalls it all with warmth, sympathy and humour. A fantastic book.” Dani Solomon, Readings

“An absolutely fascinating book, and I have gained so much from reading it. Gaysia is a book with human experience at its core.” Catherine Horne, Booktopia

! 29!

Benjamin Law (AUS The Family Law

“With these dazzling stories, Benjamin Law manages to be scatological, hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. Every sentence fizzes like an exploding fireball of energy.” – Alice Pung, author of Unpolished Gem

“In The Family Law, Ben Law has painted a vivid, gorgeously garish, technicolour portrait of family – every gaping wound, every red-raw hurt, every hysterical shriek is splashed out on the page for us to pore over and admire. His writing is viscous and brilliantly pungent.” – Marieke Hardy, triple j

AUTO BIOGRAPHY / MEMOIR “We were never camping people,” Mum says now. “Your dad never Published: wanted to camp, and insects eat me alive. See, Asians – we’re scared Australia 2010 · Black Inc. France 2011 · Editions Belfond of dying. White people: they like to ‘live life to the full’, and ‘die happy’.” Film/TV Option 2011 · MatchBox She pauses. “Asians are the opposite.”

Hilarious and moving, The Family Law is a linked series of tales from a 2011 Australian Book Industry Awards born humorist – and a literary star in the making. Benjamin Law invites Book of the Year (Nominated) Newcomer of the Year (Nominated) readers into the world of his endearing yet profoundly eccentric family. Biography of the Year (nominated) He constructs brilliantly turned essays in the style of David Sedaris, “Very funny. You may find yourself at assembling a portrait that is both universal and utterly particular. times almost barking with laughter.” Linda Jaivin, The Monthly Why won’t his Chinese dad wear made-in-China underpants? Why “In The Family Law, Benjamin Law has was most of his extended family deported in the 1980’s? Will painted a vivid, gorgeously garish, Technicolor portrait of family. Every Benjamin’s childhood dreams of Home and Away soapie stardom gaping wound, every red-raw hurt, every hysterical shriek is splashed out on the page come to nothing? What are his chances of finding love? Read one of for us to pore over and admire. His writing is viscous and brilliantly pungent.” these stories, and you will inevitably want to read more. Marieke Hardy

“I truly didn’t need so much of Benjamin

Law’s mother’s vagina.” Anson Cameron, The Age

BENJAMIN LAW is a Brisbane-based writer and journalist. Since 2005, he has been a senior contributor to frankie magazine. His work has also been published in The Monthly, Sunday Life, The Big Issue, the Courier Mail, Growing up Asian in Australia (2008, edited by Alice Pung), The Best Australian Essays 2008 and The Best Australian Essays 2009.

! 30!

Carmen Michael (Australia) Chasing Bohemia A Year of Living Dangerously in Rio de Janeiro

“If ever there was a book that was going to make you pack in your job and move to Brazil, this would be it.” –Kate Wilson, News Mail

Carmen Michael, a twenty-eight-year-old travel industry executive, ditches her job in London and visits the city of Rio de Janeiro for a holiday. Wary of the allure of glossy brochure promises, she starts out very much as a jaded jetsetter.

Her skepticism, however, is swiftly overcome when she moves into a

TRAVEL / MEMOIR yellow mansion owned by Gustavo, a flamboyant bachelor who lives in Published: the hills between the favelas. Australia 2007 · Scribe Hungary 2011 · Jaffa Kiado In the forgotten bairros of old Rio, Carmen embraces Latin American Russia 2012 · Ripol Classic life with all its colour, danger, and unpredictability. She flirts with BRAZIL hosts the WORLD CUP Brazilian high society, collaborates with an Italian revolutionary, walks SOCCER in 2014 & THE OLYMPICS straight into the well-sprung trap of a local hustler, runs away from him in 2016. to Buenos Aires and then runs back—only to fall for a samba “Carmen’s Rio is not the world of the tourists, but rather the “avant-garde musician from the local bohemian quarter. world of Santa Teresa”. This makes her memoirs of Chasing Bohemia all the more engaging and entertaining.” Kerry Hennigan, Travelbeat Winding its way through the anarchic backstreets of bohemian Rio, far from the glitzy beaches for which the city is more famous, Chasing “… written with an observant, truthful and often humorous clarity. Never Bohemia looks at the extraordinary musical culture, unapologetic attempting to hide Rio’s dangerous moments, this book, nevertheless, hedonism, and rampant infidelity that rule this far-flung paradise of the draws you in to the beautiful times, tropics. ever-interesting people and magnetic culture.” - Wentworth Courier

“[Michael] describes the city in prose Written with great vivacity, Chasing Bohemia is a story about living for that sings with excitement … this is the day—and the surprising little truths about yourself you can great travel writing; never self indulgent and always intelligent.” discover through being immersed in poverty, isolation, and a culture Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald that is not your own.

CARMEN MICHAEL first visited Brazil in 2003 for one week, and has been there ever since. After completing a degree in economics at the University of Sydney, she worked in the travel industry and travelled extensively. She contributed to Lonely Planet’s Rio de Janeiro Guide, set up a site for women travellers (www.womantraveller.com), conducted radio interviews for the ABC, and has written articles across a wide variety of subjects, including travel, politics, economics, and the arts. Carmen lives in Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro.

! 31!

Jenevieve Chang (Australia) Burlesquing the Chinese A tale of sex, stoicism and sequins.

From Western suburbia to the underbelly of Chinese nightlife: this is a tale of sex, stoicism and sequins.

The year is 2008 and Jenevieve has just moved to Shanghai to be with her African yoga teaching husband: a shift which soon prompts the end of their marriage.

Searching for a job, she is seduced by the larger than life charms of a New York vaudevillian to become a burlesque dancer in his ambitious

new club. TRAVEL / MEMOIR

Shaking off the shackles of the past and attempting to embrace a * 10,000 words ready for reading * All rights available. bright new future in modern day China, Jenevieve embarks on a rollercoaster ride through the annals of Shanghai nightlife.

Chapter 1: THE BODY SLIDE Shanghai. I wake up naked. And alone. Last night’s dress is a pool of tarnished glitter next to the bed. My head

feels like it’s been run over a saw and the last thing I remember is

drinking post-show cocktails at the bar. I find a note on my kitchen

table in the cursive writing of a fellow showgirl: Darling, take a shower.

You threw up all over yourself before I put you to bed. Love you! An hour later a text arrives from Francis, a rock god of the big brand advertising world and my occasional lover: Jenevieve! Where did you disappear? Do you remember the third floor bar? I’ve still got your

panties in my pocket. Uh oh.

!

JENEVIEVE CHANG works as a performer in theatre, dance and hybrid forms of storytelling. In Australia, she has worked with Sidetrack Performance Group, State of Play and Legs on the Wall as well as Chopped Logic, Yellow Earth Theatre, the Lady Greys, Fran Barbe Dance and Benjamin Zephanaiah in the UK. Jenevieve lived in China between 2008-2010 where she co-founded Fifth Wall – a hub of artists developing intercultural performance languages; and worked as Dance Captain of Shanghai’s first Vaudeville-style Cabaret club, Chinatown.

! 32!

Païvi KANNISTO & Santeri KANNISTO (Finland) Nomadia Life on our own terms

A fascinating and unique account of modern nomads.

How does it feel to be a full-time traveller? Is it possible to make a living on the road? Does travel means a happier and freer life?

Authors Païvi and Santeri have been travelling the world together since they got married in 2004. During their ever-lasting honeymoon, they met other long-term travellers who wander the world without a permanent home, each on their way to solve the riddle of freedom. They are the modern-day adventurers and vagrants—no one's

property. TRAVEL / ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE

Travelling as a lifestyle is a future trend that values freedom and Published: mastery of one's own time and life. Finland 2012 · Atena Kustannus

(My Life as a Nomad) Nomadia takes you to the roots of this new lifestyle to discover how World English 2013 · Drifting Sand urban nomads revive the ancient ideal of a simpler life, in which free time is more important than work, money and possession. In the * All other rights are available process, home, nationality, freedom and travel draw new, surprising

and inspiring meanings that permanently change the way we perceive our world.

Drawing on philosophy and the history of exploration and vagrancy,

Nomadia also interweaves portraits of notable pioneers including

Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lord

Byron, George Orwell, T.E. Lawrence, Jack Kerouac, and the spiritual

wanderers of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam.

Nomadia was written on the road in Italy, Greece, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, South-Africa, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, China, Australia, Myanmar and India.

PÄIVI and SANTERI KANNISTO had had their share of success in the rat race. Päivi received her PhD when she was 27 and later worked as a researcher and management consultant. Santeri was a pioneer in open source software development. When they met in 2004, they both had enough of work, money, and constant worry about the future. They took a bold life decision to walk outside the box and wander the world. Païvi and Santeri regularly blog about their experience on “Global Nomads”. Together they have written about ten books including Backdoor, an IT thriller (Kustannus HD, 2009), Gilded Pooper Scooper, a collection of satirical short stories (Siniplaneetta, 2007), Happy Together, a book on relationships and the

memoir La Habanera, The Escape from the Rat Race (self-published, 2005). ! 33!

Ancient World Ancient China: Villages, Towns & Cities

Hidden away among high-rise apartment towers and busy highways, the past lives on in China’s ancient villages, towns and cities which reflect the country’s many different regions, cultures and ethnicities. Ancient China Guides spirit us to dreamlike villages nestled on remote mountain-sides. They lead us on walks along ancient town streets of wooden buildings. Lovingly produced with pages of stunning colour photography, the books are a guide to the scenic charms, buildings, and culture of each ancient village, town and city.

Ancient China Villages Ancient Chinese Villages is a guide to a lost world of Chinese villages that have remained largely unchanged for generations. Most ancient villages were situated near rivers and were designed according to traditional feng shui principles. Ancient Chinese village architecture includes courtyard residences, temples, colleges, wells, bridges, theatre stages, memorial arches, towers, shrines and tombs. Many of the beautiful villages in this guide look like details from Chinese ink paintings.

Ancient China Towns

Ancient China Towns introduces historic Chinese river towns,

mountain towns, fortress towns and border towns. Ancient towns in China were founded primarily for trade purposes but their development was driven by many different forces. The architecture of ancient Chinese towns can be divided into private buildings (like courtyard residences and private gardens) and public buildings (like ancestral temples, colleges, opera towers, guild halls and bridges.)

Ancient China Cities Ancient China Cities has sections on ancient capitals, walled cities, and cities with a special significance in Chinese history. Ancient Chinese cities are differentiated from towns by their greater emphasis

TRAVEL / CULTURAL DISCOVERY on political and military functions. Over 5,000 years of Chinese history, China has had numerous capitals, with one giving way to another as Published: dynasties rose and fell. Asia (English) · 2012 Make Do Publishing

*All other rights are available

FORTHCOMING TITLES Ancient Thailand Ancient Vietnam Ancient Mexico

! 34!