Queensland

Queensland writers cover more ground than the state's sunshine reputation suggests. The names here run from contemporary romance to crime, historical fiction and satire, with a strong thread of migrant and outsider experience running through the literary end. Readers in want of Queensland writers will find voices shaped by Brisbane, the coast and the long distances in between, writing for people who want either an easy evening or an argument about who gets to call Australia home.

What separates the Queensland listings from the New South Wales and Victoria ones is range rather than a single house style. Ally Blake and Amy Andrews work the warm end of contemporary romance, the kind of books readers finish in a weekend and pass on. Peter M. Ball and Rachel Amphlett sit at the opposite pole, writing crime and speculative fiction where the tension comes from what a character decides under pressure. Catherine Bilson writes historical romance, Siang Lu plays with satire and the literary novel, and VENERO ARMANNO has spent a career on the migrant experience in Australia. Put them side by side and you get a state that exports both comfort and confrontation. If you read Victoria for its gothic streak or New South Wales for its urban journalism, Queensland authors are likelier to hand you heat, distance and a dry humour about both.