Focus on Western Australian writers

Western Australia (WA) has a rich literary tradition, with numerous successful writers, past and present, and a handful of independent presses, including Fremantle Press, the University of Western Australia Press, Margaret River Press, Magabala Books and Upswell Publishing, being based here.

This is despite a small population — just  2.6 million people live in the state, mainly in the fertile south-west (home to the Margaret River wine region) and the capital city of Perth.

Here is a list of books reviewed on this blog which have been written by WA writers — whether they live here or come from here — arranged in alphabetical order by author’s surname.

Alan Carter

• Prime Cut (fiction, 2011)
• Heaven Sent (fiction, 2018)

Claire G. Coleman

• Terra Nullius (fiction, 2017)

Amanda Curtin

• Elemental (fiction, 2016)

Brooke Davis

• Lost & Found (fiction, 2014)

Wendy Davis

• Don’t Make a Fuss: It’s Only the Claremont Serial Killer (memoir, 2022)

Zoe Deleuil

• The Night Village (fiction, 2021)

Madelaine Dickie

• Red Can Origami (fiction, 2019)

Robert Drewe

• The Bodysurfers (short stories, 1983)
•  The Shark Net (non-fiction, 2000)

Ron Elliott

• Spinner (fiction, 2010)

Sara Foster

• The Hush (fiction, 2021)

Alice Grundy (editor)

• Stories of Perth (short stories and essays, 2019)

Glenda Guest

• A Week in the Life of Cassandra Aberline (fiction, 2018)

Karen Herbert

• The River Mouth (fiction, 2021)

Dorothy Hewett

• Bobbin Up (fiction, 1959)

Michelle Johnston

• Dustfall (fiction, 2018)

Elizabeth Jolley

• The Newspaper of Claremont Street (fiction, 1981)
• Mr Scobie’s Riddle (fiction, 1983)
• The Well (fiction, 1986)
• The Orchard Thieves (fiction, 1997)

Gail Jones

• Sixty Lights (fiction, 2004)
• Sorry (fiction, 2007)
• Five Bells (fiction, 2011)
• A Guide to Berlin (fiction, 2015)
• Our Shadows (fiction, 2020)

Mudrooroo (aka Colin Johnson)

• Wild Cat Falling (fiction, 1965)

Ngarta & Jukuna

• Two sisters (non-fiction, 2016 – first published 2004)

Avan Judd Stallard

• Spinifex & Sunflowers (fiction, 2018)

Mimi Kwa

• House of Kwa (memoir, 2021)

Lynne Leonhardt

• Finding Jasper (fiction, 2012)

Joan London

• The Good Parents (fiction, 2008)
• The Golden Age (fiction, 2014)

Kenneth Mackenzie

• The Refuge (fiction, 1954)

Martin McKenzie-Murray

• A Murder without Motive: The Killing of Rebecca Ryle (non-fiction, 2016)

Emily Paull

• Well-behaved Women (short stories, 2019)

Katharine Susannah Prichard

• Coonardoo (fiction, 1929)

Kim Scott

• True Country (fiction, 1993)
• Benang (fiction, 1999)
• That Deadman Dance (fiction, 2010)
• Taboo (fiction, 2017)

Craig Silvey

• Jasper Jones (fiction, 2009)
• Honeybee (fiction, 2020)

M.L. Stedman

• The Light Between Oceans (fiction, 2012)

Laurie Steed

• You Belong Here (fiction, 2018)

Randolph Stow

• To the Islands (fiction, 1958)
• The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea (fiction, 1965)

Alf Taylor

• Cartwarra or what? (poems & short stories, 2022)

Ros Thomas

• How to Shame the Devil (fiction, 2021)

Alexander Thorpe

• Death Leaves the Station (fiction, 2021)

David Whish-Wilson

• Line of Sight (fiction, 2010)
• Shore Leave (fiction, 2020)
• Perth (non-fiction, 2020)
• The Sawdust House (fiction, 2022)

Josephine Wilson

• Cusp (fiction, 2005)

Tim Winton

• In the Winter Dark (1988)
• The Riders (fiction, 1994)
• Dirt Music (fiction, 2001)
• Breath (fiction, 2008)
• Eyrie (fiction, 2013)
• Island Home (non-fiction, 2015)
• The Shepherd’s Hut (fiction, 2018)

This page will be updated as and when new books are reviewed. It was last updated on 17 January 2023.