News & Blog

Read the latest news and bulletins, essays, features, opinions from our bestselling authors. Find out what's being said, debated, and discussed in the world of books and ideas.

The young adult book series to be adapted for the silver screen

Alice-Miranda bubbled around in my head for a very long time before I knew exactly what to do with her.  I was working as the Deputy Head of a girls’ primary school when the idea of her first appeared, so I spent quite a lot of time talking with the students about the types of characters they liked – and what made them likable.  I knew in Alice-Miranda I wanted to create a character who was original,...

Sep 29

Anita Heiss Wins 2010 Deadly!

by Random House Australia on 29 September 2010

Heiss won for outstanding achievement in literature for MANHATTAN DREAMING.

Sep 29

The Power of Positive Writing

by Jacqueline Harvey on 29 September 2010

I’d always thought of myself as a pretty positive person until a couple of years ago when I read through a diary I’d been keeping.  It struck me that it was quite possibly the greatest whinge-fest in the history of the world.  That diary (and a number preceding) appeared to be the repositories of all manner of angst and worry – and self-indulgent miserablising (I know it’s not a real word, but I’m...

Random House to publish Mary McCartney’s latest book

TO THE END OF THE LAND receives great review from the NYT

Sep 28

The perfect place to write?

by Jacqueline Harvey on 28 September 2010

Is there such thing as a perfect place to write?  Roald Dahl, one of my literary heroes certainly thought so.  In a shed at the bottom of his garden.  Virginia Woolf favoured the room in the garden concept too, while other authors seem attached to their studies.  I was wondering what it would be like to have a dedicated writing space – somewhere to go every day and ponder my characters, write their...

Titled WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU CAN BE NORMAL is set to be published October 2011

Sep 27

Why do I write?

by Jacqueline Harvey on 27 September 2010

Stories have always been part of my life.  As a child I was an avid reader and grew up a big fan of the school and town libraries.  I particularly loved the smell.  There was something potent about opening a book and breathing in that very particular scent.  It was the whiff of adventure, of journeys into the unknown.  I regularly borrowed books and was smart enough to return them on time – the librarians...

Sep 24

Joanna Trollope Goes Digital

by Random House Australia on 24 September 2010

Fifteen favourites will be available as ebooks in October