Bookness Mudgeeraba

Look what's hit the shelves at Bookness today. Sally Rooney's new release Intermezzo is out now.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.
Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women - his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.
Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.
For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude - a period of desire, despair and possibility - a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

Mudgeeraba Twilight Rack Market
on tonight in the alleyway outside Bookness from 5.30pm. Drop by, check it out and say hello. Bookness will be open to 7.30pm tonight. See you there 😁

Last night Anita from Bookness attended the Sister's in Crime - Nightmare Noir Literary Dinner as the bookseller for the event where three talented Queensland authors took a deep dive into the real-life nightmares that inspired their latest blockbuster releases.

Over a two-course meal, Sisters in Crime Qld convenor, Megan Norris, launched fellow Big Sky author Nicole Morris’s new crime offering Missing, the sequel to her 2023 best-seller, Vanished, examining the heartache behind some of the most baffling disappearances in Australia and the impact on the shattered families as they search for answers. Nicole is the Director of Australia’s Missing Persons Unit.

Debut author and journalist, Nicole Madigan, has turned her nightmare as the victim of a female serial stalker into the Davitt-nominated release, Obsession. She is a non-executive Board Director of Friends with Dignity, a charity providing support to victim-survivors of domestic violence and is an ambassador for domestic violence advocacy group My Red Flags.

Tess Merlin is an ex-police officer and author who published her first novel Rank in 2023. This autobiographical novel about her time as one of the early policewomen in Queensland was written from her lived experiences as a female officer and as someone with personal experience of the trauma of being stalked. In 2023, Tess was awarded second place in the Thunderbolt Crime Writers Non-fiction Short Story awards with a High Commendation and was long listed for the Gold Coast Writers Fiction Short Story awards.

Host Megan Norris is a UK-trained journalist and award-winning author whose portfolio includes covering some of Australia’s most notorious crimes. Her book Look What You Made Me Do was awarded the 2017 Sisters in Crime Australia Davitt Award for best non-fiction crime book and Out of the Ashes won the same award last year. The Messiah’s Bride is her seventh book.

We have signed copies available in store at Bookness.

Come down and join us at Bookness next Wednesday 25 September at 9.45am for story time and author visit with Mark Cunich.
His new children’s book ‘Story Sparks’ has over 1000 plot combinations to ignite your creative bedtime storytelling!
We’d love you to bring the kids in for a fun time and to support this wonderful local author.

Afterpay now available at Bookness on all book and gift purchases. Pay It In Four. Interest Free.

It was an absolute pleasure to have Stacey & Michael choose Bookness to host the launch of Stacey's new book 'Valley' - book three of the Glacian Trilogy. Everyone had a wonderful and entertaining evening listening to Stacey and Michael discuss Valley, the trilogy and her publishing journey. We would like to pass on a very big thank you to them, they are just lovely. 🥰
The event was sold out, with 65 friends, family and book lovers attending. It was great having a full house and meeting everyone.
We have signed copies available at Bookness of all three books, so if you couldn't make it on the night drop by and pick up a copy.
Bookness will also be the bookseller when Stacey attends Beaudesert library this week if you would like another chance to meet her.
We look forward to following Stacey's writing and publishing journey with her.

Reminder for those who have purchased tickets.
Stacey McEwan Event - 13 Sept 2024 - SOLD OUT
We are super excited to welcome Stacey & Michael this Friday for the launch of 'Valley'. The event is sold out so will be a fun night for our fantasy book lovers. 'Valley' has now arrived in store and will be available for purchase on the night along with Ledge and Chasm.
Doors open at 5pm for food (savoury grazing boxes & sweets), drink (hot/cold and alcoholic), and book purchases.
Look forward to seeing our ticket holders.

Congratulations to the winners of the Bookness Creative Writing Competition.

Poetry - Athena Law for Rural Devotional

Short Story - Jay Mackenzie for The Free School Meal Kids Got A Complimentary Trip to the Woods.

The winning and long listed entries are available for viewing at Bookness.

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon with the winners, long listers and their family and friends.

A big thank you to Gina from Hughes Lawyers for sponsoring the competition and Dr Michael Brohier for judging the entries and hosting the event.

It was a pleasure to attend the Gold Coast Elanora Library event for author Melanie Saward to learn about her journey to releasing her new book 'Love Unleashed'.
It's always so inspiring to listen to their journey as authors and what prompted the storyline for their books.
Bookness has signed copies available online and in store now.

Love Unleashed
A fresh friends-to-lovers romcom from a dazzling new Australian talent
'The romcom the Australian literary landscape has been waiting for.' Anita Heiss

When Bigambul woman Brynn Wallace leaves Brisbane to pursue her dreams in the Big Apple, she imagines herself landing a fabulous career at a New York City publishing house and acquiring shelves of Louboutin shoes, not working in a doggy daycare with a boss from hell and a wardrobe from her nightmares.
Yet good things are always possible in New York, especially when you believe in them hard enough. And Brynn has a collection of NYC Missions to set her on her way- challenges from her mother, whose death she is still getting over, to help Brynn rejoice in the city that never sleeps.
Brynn soon finds herself making meaningful friendships, engaging in flirty flings, and meeting the gorgeous Sienna, also known as dancer Scarlett Belle. And when she stumbles on a handsome, single dog-dad who just happens to be a literary editor, she decides that if she can convince him she's more than just a dog-sitter, her dreams will finally come true. But Sienna has other plans, and as Brynn's NY ride begins to stall, the city shows her just how full of surprises it is.

The Death of Dora Black by Lainie Anderson.

Available in store or online at Bookness now. Or comment yes please in the comments section and we'll hold one in store for you to collect.

A charming, uplifting 'cosy' murder mystery inspired by the true story of Australia's pioneering policewoman Kate C***s. In 1915, F***y Kate Boadicea C***s became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary as men. This novel is a rich exploration of that little-known chapter of Australian history.

Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate C***s might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don't let that fool you. She's a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.

When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss C***s and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora's workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and determine to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss C***s?

Fathers Day is just around the corner. Drop into Bookness and pick from a lovely selection of gifts for dad.

A big thank you to Karen McKinley for visiting Bookness on Wednesday for Book Week, hosting story time and doing a reading of her new children’s book for the lovely children and staff from The Young Ones Early Learning Centre. We loved having you all
visit us.
Copies of ‘My Dog Bruiser Swallowed a Scooter’ are available for purchase online and in store at Bookness.

Local author AJ Wilton was at Bookness last Saturday doing a meet and greet and signing his new book ‘Mortice In America’. Signed copies are available online and in store at Bookness now.

On the lookout for a legendary gift this Father’s Day? Why not pre-order a copy of John Farnham’s memoir THE VOICE INSIDE?
Hachette Australia is running a pre-order promotion this Father’s Day In conjunction with bookstores. All you need to do is pick up a John Farnham gift card from Bookness, and then, when the book is released on 30 October, collect it from in store.

Our Creative Writing Competition is in the final stages, and our Long List has been judged and selected.

The competition had a significant number of outstanding entries and although we would love to acknowledge every entrant, if your work has been unsuccessful this year, we would like to thank you very much for participating. This competition is an annual event for us, and we do hope you will consider submitting an entry next year.

We will be presenting awards at a special ceremony on Saturday, 17th August, at which time we will announce the Short List and Winners.

We also want to publicly thank our principal financial sponsor, Gina Hughes, of Hughes Lawyers, for her generous commitment to fostering literature in our very special hinterland community.

Congratulations to our Long Listed writers on such a wonderful achievement. Here they are, in no particular order;

Poetry

To Know Fire - Greg Sheehan
Three Glasses Deep – Annabel Teate
Hannah Found a Baby – Nikki McCahon
From Different Cloth – Marj Osborne
The Tide will Always Bring you Back to Me – Jacqueline Henry
The Kookaburra Tree – Erin Davies
Hono – Rose Baker
Rural Devotional - Athena Law
The Nest – Marj Osborne
Pink – Emmeline Anthony

Short Story

Slipping Away – Selena Budgen
The Free School Meal Kids Got a Complimentary Trip to the Woods – Jay McKenzie
The Prize – Adrienne Easton
Therapy – Lizz Curry
The Day Nobody Died – Renee Mangan

Drop by Bookness on the 17th August 2024 at 10.30am and say hello to AJ Wilton. He will be in store to have a chat too and sign his latest book ‘Mortice in America’.

Spent a lovely day at the Botanical Bazaar promoting all things Bookness. We’ll be there again tomorrow. If you are looking for something to do tomorrow, there is great market stalls, talks and music to keep you occupied.

Bookness was so thankful to have authors Michael Robotham and JP Pomare drop in store and sign copies for their new releases ‘Storm Child’ & ‘17 Years Later’.
Signed copies are now available for purchase in store and online.

Sorry Cancelled Kids Story Time 31st July 2024 - the book fairy is unavailable tomorrow.

Last days - closing this Wednesday 31st July 2024. Get your entries in.

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY HUGHES LAWYERS

Bookness is inviting entries again this June /July for our annual creative writing competition.

Poems must be at least 16 lines in length and no longer than 50 lines. Short Stories must be a maximum of 500 words.

Participants may submit more that one Poem or Short Story, but each new entry must have a separate entry form and is $5.50 per piece.

A maximum of 10 Longlisted Poems and 5 Longlisted Short Stories will be selected and Judge’s comments will be provided for these works. There will be 3 Shortlisted Poems and 3 Short Stories selected from this Longlist. There will be one overall winner for Poetry and one overall winner for Short Story writing.

All longlisted winners will be invited to the Presentation Afternoon to be held at Bookness, Shop 1, 60 Railway Street, Mudgeeraba on Saturday 17th August 2024 from 3 pm. Entry winners are cordially invited to bring friends and family to this event.


For further information and to buy entry tickets on Eventbrite (one ticket for each piece) please follow the link here:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/bookness-creative-writing-awards-2024-registration-911299831327