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.