Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre

KSP Bookshelf

This new online bookshelf features work from KSP's members, Ambassadors and Writer-in-Residence alumni. Support the KSP family! By buying a book listed here, you are supporting your community. Click on a title to be redirected to the author or publisher website, or other online sales platform, to purchase. All sales profit goes to the author; we do not take a commission for this promotional service. Categories are listed alphabetically. To add a book to the shelf, please email KSP with your name, genre of book, cover image, and web link to purchase. Limit two books per person.

Anthologies & Collections

In moments disquieting or quietly inspiring, this collection considers the complexity of the connections we make—with our family, friends and neighbours, and with those met briefly or never at all.

Brenda Berrisford’s book A Web Untangling and other stories is her second book of short stories and poems. She has written for the Writefree Women’s Group anthology for the past 20 years.

Fifty years after her passing, the KSP Writers’ Centre community have banded together to reflect on the life and legacy of noted Australian author Katharine Susannah Prichard (1883-1969).

With the conjuring of fictional fancies, poetic reminiscences, and enthralling essays, these pages are filled with evocative tales that bring Katharine back to life.

1/8

Fantasy, Paranormal & Science Fiction

Indigo Child, is the second instalment of the Scribe Chronicles, following the journey of the lead character Tara, an accomplished and celebrated author, as she navigates herself through life in two realms.

by Eugen Bacon
In this engaging and accessible guide, Eugen Bacon explores writing speculative fiction as a creative practice, drawing from her own work, and the work of other writers and theorists, to interrogate its various subgenres. Through analysis of writers such as Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling, this book scrutinises the characteristics of speculative fiction, considers the potential of writing cross genre and covers the challenges of targeting young adults.

The first book of the Scribe Chronicles, we join Tara as she takes her first tentative steps into the spirit realm. After finally answering the desperate pleas of the tortured souls who dwell there.

The story of their horrific lives needs to be told, in order for them to move on in peace.

1/8

Historical Fiction

Under the Same Moon, A Story from the Great War is the memorable fiction debut of Australian writer Chris Durrant. A
natural story-teller, the author weaves the true-life story of an
uncle who lost his life fighting the Germans in East Africa into a
wide-ranging tale that encompasses a cast of characters that readers will find hard to forget.

Every family has secrets that bind them together. A heart-rending story of a guesthouse keeper and his wife who attempt to start over, from devastatingly talented debut author Kali Napier.

As the only female cabinet maker in the valley in 1935, Frankie Redfern is unusual. She faces prejudice even from her own mother. When her father falls ill, Frankie's mother takes over management of the business, causing serious trouble for Frankie. And her cousin, an unscrupulous local builder, is trying to take over.

1/4

Non-Fiction, Biography & Memoir

Traverse, a travel memoir, charts the unfolding disintegration of a marriage and a woman’s last-ditch attempt to rescue it by taking a difficult and dangerous trek with her husband. The landscape of Madagascar proves as rocky as her relationship, and the path forward must be hacked through harsh, uncharted jungle. The terrain brings her face to face with her own limitations and demons from her past.

The travels and adventures of a simple freight forwarder.

Ashley Kalagian Blunt's 'How to Be Australian' is a funny and heartfelt memoir that explores Australian identity & culture through the eyes of a slightly anxious Canadian. A book for everybody, it traverses the realities of adulthood, marriage and how we find our place in the world.

1/15

Women's Fiction & Romance

Every heart needs a little ‘yelp’.

Seeking respite from her life in the city, Olivia Summers heads to the seaside town of Whitecap Cove where she once spent a memorable family holiday as a teenager. Her hopes of a peaceful stay are soon disrupted by the constant barking from the dog next door. Summonsing the courage to complain to the neighbours, Olivia unwittingly ﬁnds herself embroiled in a more serious situation.

In Barbara Gurney's new novel 'The Promise', we learn of an evolving but lasting friendship between four women: Eleanor, Pam, Jacqui and Rowena. 'The Promise' is a heart-warming story of friendship and loyalty with a touch of romance.

A series of one-night-stands brings Lucy much-needed escape, but it all comes crashing down when the past comes back to haunt her.
Lucy’s head is a mess, and she knows she needs help, but just as she's starting to make some headway, Em convinces her a holiday to the party island of Ibiza is all the respite she needs. Falling back into her former party-girl ways, Lucy soon realises that Em is right. But is Ibiza just a smokescreen?

1/4

Crime & Mystery

'According to Luke' takes the reader on a quest for an ancient truth so explosive it attracts violent separatists, angry clerics, and demands a ransom of millions.

Two corpses . . . a woman lying dead on her bed, a man hanging from the ceiling fan.

A suicide note cum murder confession.

And a name . . . Shaunak Sodhi.

Someone's stolen your baby. But no one believes you.

You wake up alone after an emergency caesarean, desperate to see your child. And when you are shown the small infant in the nursery, a terrible thought takes root: this baby is not your baby.

No one believes you. Not the nurses, your father or even your own husband. They say you’re confused and delusional.

1/7

General & Literary Fiction

Moving from the north-east of Scotland to the Shetland Isles to Fremantle, Australia, Elemental is a novel about the life you make from the life you are given.

Summer Wright organises her life down to the minute. Until adventure-show queen Cougar Gale intervenes. Suddenly Summer is in Antarctica: learning climate science on the fly, building an igloo, improvising scripts based on Dynasty, and above all trying not to be revealed as an impostor.

After 4 years of widowhood, Simone is fed up of friends trying to find her another husband, and equally fed up of her daughters not wanting her to marry because they need her for lots of babysitting duties. She therefore accepts an offer to change houses and spend a few months in the UK.

1/10

Horror

A Feast of Sorrows — Angela Slatter’s first U.S. collection — features twelve of the World Fantasy and British Fantasy Award-winning Australian author’s finest, darkest fairy tales, and adds two new novellas to her marvelous cauldron of fiction.

"We're all in pain. We try to keep the gates closed by falling in love, travelling, avoiding responsibility, getting drunk, taking drugs...anything to lose ourselves.
But the dull ache remains in each of us.
These stories are about the gates opening."

There are many grief holes. There's the grief hole you fall into when a loved one dies. There's another grief hole in all of us; small or large, it determines how much we want to live.

1/3

Poetry

WA writer, Betty Pyke, showcases a beautiful selection of poems written by her mother, and an award-winning Australian poet, Lillian May Egan.

Graffiti Lane looks at life through an unfiltered lens, bringing a personal perspective on the grittiness of urban living in an eclectic mix of traditional, shadow and freeform poetry.

With a talent for storytelling and metaphors flowing from the deepest level of her mind, Sabrina's poems are powerful at awakening change within the reader.

The poems within this book are designed to invite communication and reconnection, first and foremost with yourself but also with others.

1/10

Young Adult & Children's Books

Devil’s Ballast is action-packed yet nuanced, culturally relevant and sharp as a cutlass. Based on the true story of Anne Bonny, this new novel by the remarkable Meg Caddy brings to life one of history’s most fascinating anti-heroines.

When eleven-year old Danny becomes trapped in a mysterious land of garden gnomes, ghosts and gigantic spiders, his only chance of returning home lies in the magical powers of the Meelyion plant. But does it still exist?

In a small town, everyone thinks they know you: Charlie is a hardcore rocker, who's not as tough as he looks. Hammer is a footy jock with big AFL dreams, and an even bigger ego. Zeke is a shy over-achiever, never macho enough for his family. But all three boys hide who they really are. When the truth is revealed, will it set them free or blow them apart?

1/9

KSP Bookshelf

Anthologies & Collections

Well Behaved Women

A Web Untangling

Kaleidoscope

Fantasy, Paranormal & Science Fiction

Indigo Child

Writing Speculative Fiction

Sorcha

Historical Fiction

Under the Same Moon

The Secrets at Ocean's Edge

A Woman's Promise

Non-Fiction, Biography & Memoir

Traverse

The Lottery of Life

How to be Australian

Women's Fiction & Romance

The Dog Next Door

The Promise

The Sunrise Girl

Crime & Mystery

According to Luke

3 and a Half Murders

Mine

General & Literary Fiction

Elemental

Melt

Marrying Simone

Horror

A Feast of Sorrows

The Gate Theory

The Grief Hole

Poetry

The Wagtail's Tale

Graffiti Lane

Mala of Words

Young Adult & Children's Books

Devil's ballast

The Golden Orb

Invisible Boys