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BL ACK INC .
Rights Guide 2020
BL ACK INC.
Rights guide 2020
FICTION King of the Air 26
The Rome Zoo 4 True North 27
A World Without a Shore 5 Car Crash 28
The Inheritors 6 The Shortest History of China 29
Factory 19 7 The Shortest History 30
of Democracy
Act of Grace 8
The Shortest History of India 30
Melting Moments 9
The Shortest History of Europe 31
I said the sea was folded 10
On Thomas Keneally 32
One Hundred Days 11
On Helen Garner 32
NON-FICTION The Road 33
Recovery 13 See What You Made Me Do 34
Investing with Keynes 14
L A TROBE
We, Hominids 15
UNIVERSIT Y PRESS
Return to Uluru 16
After America 36
Currowan 17
China Panic 37
Everything Harder 18
Than Everyone Else Reset 38
The Winter Road 19 White Russians, Red Peril 39
Jacinda Ardern 20 Brothels of Little Lon 40
Muddy People 21 Inga Clendinnen 41
Shanghai Acrobat 22 Contest for the Indo-Pacific 42
You Don’t Belong Here 23
Co-agents details 44
Girt Nation 24
Black Inc. details 46
The Life of a Spy 25
FICTION
The Rome Zoo
Pascal Janovjak
Translated by Stephanie Smee
In Rome’s ancient heart set amidst 17 hectares of lush
gardens is the city’s extraordinary zoo, and the novel’s
chief protagonist. Since 1911 this eccentric institution
has been attracting a roll call of personalities, from
Mussolini and his tame lioness, to the Pope, from the
actresses of Rome’s famed film studios, Cinecittà, to
Salman Rushdie . . .
But this novel is far from being a mere nostalgic
meander along the boulevards of the zoo. In a present-
day reimagining, the author follows the fortunes of
Giovanna, the zoo’s Director of Communications, and
Chahine, an Algerian architect, each drawn to the
other, each fascinated by an anteater, the last surviving
member of its species, and the subject of the possessive
SEPTEMBER 2021 attentions of an unscrupulous vet and a keeper at the
FICTION
end of his career. All find themselves caught in the
Imprint: Black Inc. silent clash of interests generated by corruption, Italy’s
RRP: AU$27.99 collective political memory and the economic realities
Format: Paperback | 210 x 135mm | 256pp of the zoo’s outsized grounds, enduring far from any
Manuscript: November 2020 tourist’s itinerary.
Rights held: World English-language
For Pascal Janovjak: “The zoo is a sanctuary of
Other rights: Actes Sud
innocence.” But it is also a mirror reflecting a troubled
century, the measuring post of a fantasist humanity.
WINNER OF THE PRIX MICHEL DENTAN Against this bewitching backdrop, the author
AND PRIX DU PUBLIC DE LA RTS, 2020 seamlessly blends past and present, notoriety and
decadence, nostalgia and hope.
Born in Basel in 1975 to a French mother and Slovakian
father, PASCAL JANOVJAK studied comparative
literature and art history in Strasbourg before moving
to the Middle East. His works include: Coléoptères
(Beetles), L’Invisible (The Invisible One) and À Toi (To You),
which he wrote with Kim Thuy.
STEPHANIE SMEE left a career in law to work as
a literary translator. Recent publications include the
translations of Hannelore Cayre’s The Godmother,
Françoise Frenkel’s No Place to Lay One’s Head, which
was awarded the JQ–Wingate Prize, and Joseph Ponthus’
prize-winning work, On the Line (forthcoming).
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 4
A World Without a Shore
Hélène Gaudy
Translated by Stephanie Smee
Summer 1930, Svalbard: a walrus-hunting boat
sets sail for White Island, one of the last lands before
the North Pole. The melting of the ice has revealed
terrain that is usually inaccessible. As they move
across the island, the men discover bodies and the
remains of a makeshift camp. It is the solution to
a mystery that has hung in the air for 33 years: the
disappearance in July 1897 of Salomon August
Andrée, Knut Frænkel and Nils Strindberg as they
tried to reach the North Pole in hot air balloons.
Among the remains some rolls of negatives are found
and some one hundred images are retrieved.
Based on these lunar-like black and white photographs
and the expedition logbook, Hélène Gaudy retraces
FEBRUARY 2022 and re-imagines this great adventure that was blown
FICTION
off course. From the conquest of the skies to the
Imprint: Black Inc. exploration of the poles, this novel reflects on the
RRP: AU$27.99 human need to circumscribe, discover, describe,
Format: Paperback | 210 x 135mm | 320pp conquer and ultimately shrink the world.
Manuscript: July 2021
Born in Paris, HÉLÈNE GAUDY studied at the school
Rights held: World English-language
of decorative arts in Strasbourg. She is a member of
Other rights: Actes Sud
the Inculte collective and lives in Paris. She is the author
of six novels, and has also written some dozen books
“Some stories push us to go far before for children.
returning to the closest, to the most intimate.
The traces of these three men gradually
awaken the lack of those who leave and the FINALIST FOR THE JOSEPH KESSEL PRIZE AND
places of which we dream, the memory of a WAS LONGLISTED FOR THE PRIX GONCOURT
time when we still believed in the necessity of
adventure and the permanence of landscapes.
And the fascination turns into writing, and
the image leads the novel.”
—Hélène Gaudy
“Moving, poetic and brilliant.”
—Sophie Pujas, Le Point
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 5
The Inheritors
Hannelore Cayre
Translated by Stephanie Smee
An unforgettable new novel by the award-winning author
of the international French bestseller The Godmother.
“She had been dead now for four days and I had
become rich. Unimaginably rich.”
Blanche de Rigny has always considered herself the
black sheep of the family. And a black sheep on crutches
at that. But it turns out her family tree has branches she
didn’t even know existed. And many of them are rotten
to the core. As Blanche learns more about the legacy
left by her wealthy Parisian ancestors, she decides a
little family tree pruning might be in order.
SEPTEMBER 2020 But great wealth also brings great responsibility –
FICTION a form of richesse oblige, perhaps – and Blanche has a
plan to use her inheritance to cure the world of its ills.
Imprint: Black Inc.
RRP: AU$29.99 Spanning two centuries, from Paris on the eve of
Format: Paperback | 210 x 135mm | 240pp the Franco-Prussian War to the modern day, this
Manuscript: Available unforgettable family saga lays bare the persistent and
Rights held: World English-language poisonous injustice of inequality. In her trademark
Other rights: Editions Métailié razor-sharp style, Hannelore Cayre again delivers the
sardonic humour and devilish creativity that made
“ . . . Everything we love about [Hannelore The Godmother an international bestseller.
Cayre]; damaged but memorable characters,
HANNELORE CAYRE is a French writer, director and
sharp language, ferocious humour, an
criminal lawyer. Her previous work, The Godmother, won
undercurrent of political rage, a punchy
the European Crime Fiction Prize and the Grand Prix de
narrative and lashings of subversion.” —Lire
Littérature Policière and has been shortlisted for a
“[Cayre’s] language takes your breath away, Crime Writers’ Association Dagger award.
as the author so often does with her rapid-fire
style.” —Causette THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK, THE GODMOTHER,
SOLD OVER 40,000 COPIES IN FRANCE, WON THE
EUROPEAN CRIME FICTION PRIZE, WAS FEATURED
ON THE NEW YORK TIMES’ “100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF
2019” LIST, AND HAS BEEN MADE INTO A MAJOR FILM
STARRING ISABELLE HUPPERT
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 6
Factory 19
Dennis Glover
In the spirit of George Orwell’s Animal Farm comes a
darkly funny satire on technology, the gig economy and
the smartphone – and what would happen if we re-created
a world without them.
Hobart, 2022: a city with declining population, in
the grip of a dark recession. A rusty ship sails into
the harbour and begins to unload its cargo on the site
of the once famous but now abandoned Gallery of
Future Art, known to the world as GoFA.
One day the city’s residents are awoken by a high-
pitched sound no one has heard for two generations –
a factory whistle. GoFA’s owner, world-famous tycoon
Dundas Faussett, is creating his most ambitious
NOVEMBER 2020 installation yet. He’s going to defeat the internet’s
FICTION
dominance over our lives by establishing a new Year
Imprint: Black Inc. Zero: 1948. Those whose jobs and lives have been
RRP: AU$32.99 destroyed by Amazon and Uber and Airbnb are
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 368pp invited to fight back in the only way that can possibly
Manuscript: Available succeed: by living as if the internet and the
Rights held: World; film/TV smartphone had never been invented.
The hold over our lives by Gates, Bezos, Musk,
“Like Orwell, of whom he has written so Zuckerberg and the rest starts to loosen as the
brilliantly, Dennis Glover’s work is charged revolutionary example of Factory 19 spreads. Can
with courage, intelligence and purpose. He is nostalgia really defeat the future? Can the little people
the complete writer, and one made for our win back the world? We are about to find out.
times.” —Don Watson, award-winning
author of The Bush DENNIS GLOVER, the son of factory labourers, grew
up in a town just like Factory 19. Educated at Monash
and Cambridge universities, he has made a career as
THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK, THE
one of Australia’s leading speechwriters and political
LAST MAN IN EUROPE, WAS PUBLISHED
commentators. His first novel, The Last Man in Europe,
IN THE US (OVERLOOK PRESS) AND
UK (POLYGON)
was nominated for several literary prizes, including the
Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Factory 19 is
his second novel.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 7
Act of Grace
Anna Krien
An electrifying story of fear and sacrifice, and what
people will do to outrun the shadows.
Iraqi aspiring pianist Nasim falls from favour with
Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic son, triggering
a perilous search for safety. In Australia, decades later,
Gerry is in fear of his tyrannical father, Toohey, who
has returned from the Iraq War bearing the physical
and psychological scars of conflict. Meanwhile,
Robbie is dealing with her own father’s dementia
when the past enters the present.
These characters’ worlds intertwine in a brilliant
narrative of guilt and reckoning, trauma and survival.
Crossing the frontiers of war, protest and reconciliation,
Act of Grace is a meditation on inheritance: the damage
that one generation passes on to the next, and the
potential for transformation.
ANNA KRIEN is the author of the award-winning
Night Games and Into the Woods, as well as two Quarterly
Essays, Us and Them and The Long Goodbye. In 2014 she
won the UK William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award,
and 2018 she received a Sidney Myer Fellowship
“When it comes to the Australian writer Anna Krien’s debut
novel, Act of Grace, ‘ambitious’ feels like an understatement”
—Sunday Times
OCTOBER 2019 (ANZ)
AUGUST 2020 (UK) “It’s startling to read a first novel that gathers so much and
FICTION travels so far, yet flows so effortlessly” —The Guardian
Imprint: Black Inc.
RRP: AU$32.99 ▶ LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 MILES FRANKLIN
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 336pp LITERARY AWARD
Manuscript: Available ▶ UK EDITION OUT NOW WITH SERPENT’S TAIL
Rights held: World; film/TV
▶ NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS ARE AVAILABLE
Rights sold: UK/Comm ex ANZ (Serpent’s
Tail); ANZ audio (Wavesound)
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 8
Melting Moments
Anna Goldsworthy
A charming, sharply observed first novel from one
of Australia’s best writers
“Sometimes events occur as one might wish but
sometimes they do not.”
So says the ever-practical Ruby, always striving for
what is right and proper, from the time we meet her
as a striking soldier’s fiancée through to the rather less
steady years of her old age. With an eyebrow pencil
in one hand and gardening shears in the other, Ruby
navigates the intervening years doing her duty as a
woman, allowing marriage and motherhood to fill her
with purpose and pleasure – and only occasionally
wondering, Is this all there is?
MARCH 2020
FICTION In her moving, captivating fiction debut, award-
winning author Anna Goldsworthy recreates Adelaide
Imprint: Black Inc.
and Melbourne of half a century ago, bringing a
RRP: AU$29.99
family to life as they move through the decades,
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 240pp
challenging and caring for and loving one another,
Manuscript: Available
often in surprising ways. Charming and sharply
Rights held: World English-language
observed, Melting Moments is, like Ruby herself,
Rights sold: Audio (Ulverscroft)
a gentle powerhouse.
Other rights: Curtis Brown Australia
ANNA GOLDSWORTHY is the award-winning author
“A delightful and beautifully written book” of Piano Lessons and Welcome to Your New Life. Her writing
—Joan London, author of The Golden Age has appeared in The Monthly, The Age, The Australian,
The Adelaide Review and The Best Australian Essays.
“Melting Moments is a quiet masterpiece”
—Alex Miller, author of Journey to the
Stone Country THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK, PIANO LESSONS,
WAS PUBLISHED AROUND THE WORLD IN MULTIPLE
EDITIONS
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 9
I said the sea was folded
Erik Jensen
Jensen is an award-winning journalist, biographer
and screenwriter. These poems announce a new phase
in his work. They are startling in their simplicity and
their honesty – reminiscent of Mary Oliver, Emily
Dickinson and Seamus Heaney. The poems chart
the first three years of Jensen’s relationship with his
partner, a non-binary composer and musician. They
are love poems, written against the complexity of
understanding another person. Together they form a
fragmentary memoir of hope, disagreement and love.
MAY 2021
WAR AND OTHER COUPLES
POETRY
In the morning you said you dreamt
Imprint: Black Inc.
Of a piano with ceramic keys
RRP: AU$22.99
Resting in the hull of a ship.
Format: Paperback | 198 x 128mm | 96pp
You said there was war and other couples,
Manuscript: Available
That you were too embarrassed to play.
Rights held: World ex film/TV
The moon was very low and big
And when you showed it to me, it disappeared
“Like a Dickinson seedling.” As if behind an eclipse.
—Kate Jennings, award-winning poet
and author of Snake, a New York Times
ERIK JENSEN is the award-winning author of
Notable Book of the Year
On Kate Jennings and Acute Misfortune, the biography
of a painter who shoots him and throws him from a
motorbike. He is founding editor of The Saturday Paper
and editor-in-chief of Schwartz Media. He has won the
Walkley Award for Young Print Journalist of the Year
and the United Nations Association of Australia’s Media
Peace Award. His first film won The Critics’ Prize at the
Melbourne International Film Festival and was named
one of the best Australian films of the decade by
The Guardian.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 10YOUNG ADULT FICTION
One Hundred Days
Alice Pung
One day a boy in a nice silver car gives sixteen-year-old
Karuna a ride. So Karuna returns the favour, except she
doesn’t have a nice silver car . . .
Eventually, Karuna can’t ignore the reality: she
is pregnant. Incensed, her mother, already over-
protective, confines her to their fourteenth-storey
housing-commission flat for one hundred days, to
protect her from the outside world – and make sure
she can’t get into any more trouble.
Stuck inside for endless hours, Karuna battles her
JUNE 2021 mother and herself for a sense of power in her own
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
life, as a new life forms and grows within her.
Imprint: Black Inc.
One Hundred Days is a fractured fairytale exploring the
RRP: AU$29.99
fault lines between love and control. At times tense
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 224pp
and claustrophobic, it is nevertheless brimming with
Manuscript: Available
humour, warmth and character. It is a magnificent new
Rights held: UK/Comm; film/TV
work from one of Australia’s most celebrated writers.
Other rights: Curtis Brown Australia
ALICE PUNG is an award-winning writer, editor,
“Alice Pung is a gem. Her voice in the teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. She is author
real thing.” —Amy Tan, author of of the internationally bestselling memoirs Unpolished
The Joy Luck Club Gem and Her Father’s Daughter and the editor of the
anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First
Lesson.
THE AUTHOR’S FIRST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL,
LAURINDA, SOLD OVER 20,000 COPIES IN ANZ AND
WAS PUBLISHED IN THE US (KNOPF CHILDREN’S)
AND UK (LEGEND PRESS) AS LUCY & LINH
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 11NON-FICTION
Recovery
How to Build Back Better After a Crisis
Andrew Wear
We have recovered from many crises in the past: war,
depression, pandemic, natural disaster. Often, we’ve
bounced back from these challenges to build an even
better future. The Spanish Flu was followed by the
economic prosperity of the Roaring Twenties. In
the decades following World War II, the German
and Japanese economies grew into the world’s most
advanced. In the USA, the social and economic
policies responding to the Great Depression laid
the foundations for twentieth century prosperity.
SEPTEMBER 2021
SOCIETY AND CULTURE As we contemplate recovery from the current
health and economic crisis while confronting the
Imprint: Black Inc.
climate emergency head on, what can we learn from
RRP: AU$29.99
other recoveries? Through interviews with experts,
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 256pp
policymakers and community leaders, this book
Sample: October 2020
examines past recoveries and investigates implications
Manuscript: April 2021
for the future. It explores what went well, what we
Rights held: World ex film/TV
should do differently and what the implications
Other rights: Cameron’s Management
might be for the recovery ahead of us.
With governments prepared to lead, listen to expert
THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK,
SOLVED!, WAS PUBLISHED IN THE US advice and involve communities in decision-making,
AND UK (ONEWORLD); KOREA (VEGA not only is a successful recovery possible, we can also
BOOKS) AND PORTUGAL (PRESENCA) choose to re-evaluate many of the things that we
thought were fixed. The COVID-19 crisis gives us a
once-in-a-generation opportunity to build back better.
ANDREW WEAR is a senior Australian public servant,
who has worked for national, state and local governments.
He has degrees in politics, law, economics and public
policy, and is a graduate of the Senior Executive Fellows
Program at Harvard Kennedy School. A Victorian
Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration
Australia, he is also a director of Ardoch Ltd, a children’s
education charity.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 13Investing with Keynes
Lessons from the World’s Greatest Economist
Justyn Walsh
Keynes was a many-sided figure – world-changing
economist, architect of the post-War international
monetary system, bestselling author, a Baron in the
House of Lords, and key member of the Bloomsbury
group.
One of his lesser-known talents was the ability
to make vast sums of money on the stock market.
At the time of his death, Keynes’ net worth – almost
entirely built through successful stock investments –
APRIL 2021 amounted to the present-day equivalent of more than
BUSINESS AND FINANCE $30 million, and the college endowment fund he
managed had massively outperformed the broader
Imprint: Black Inc.
market over a two-decade period. Keynes was a
RRP: AU$32.99
member of that rare breed – an economist who
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 256pp
flourished not only in the rarefied heights of ivory
Manuscript: October 2020
tower academia, but also amidst the bustle and
Rights held: World ex Korea; film/TV
hubbub of the financial markets.
Other rights: Cameron’s Management
But can an analysis of this particular incarnation
of Keynes – the shrewd stock picker and star fund
▶ REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION
OF KEYNES AND THE MARKET FOR manager – be of any benefit to the modern investor?
THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE The answer is a resounding yes. In this volatile era,
DEATH OF KEYNES Keynes’ observations on stock market behaviour,
▶ RIGHTS SOLD TO PREVIOUS EDITION: in fact, are more relevant than ever.
WORLD ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EX ANZ
Accessible and informative, this book identifies
(WILEY); TRADITIONAL CHINESE
CHARACTER (DOMAIN PUBLISHING
what modern masters of the market have taken from
COMPANY); SIMPLIFIED CHINESE Keynes and used in their own investing styles – and
CHARACTER (CHINA CITIC PRESS); what you too can learn from one of the greatest
PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION economic thinkers of the twentieth century.
(EDITORA GENTRE)
JUSTYN WALSH is CEO of BridgeLane Agriculture
Partners, an asset management firm focused on the
conversion of large scale agricultural holdings to
organically accredited and regeneratively farmed
operations. Prior to his present position, he worked
in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia as an
investment banker and corporate lawyer.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 14We, Hominids
Frank Westerman
Translated by Sam Garrett
A roving philosophical field trip into what makes us human
In We, Hominids, one of Holland’s greatest non-fiction
writers hunts down answers to anthropology’s most
fundamental questions: Who are we? What makes us
different from animals? With an ancient skull as his
starting point, he travels the globe, tracing the search
for the first human being – the missing link between
humans and apes. The result is a compelling mixture
of reportage, travelogue and essay.
Westerman discovers a plethora of origin hypotheses;
introduces us to the world of skull hunters, leading
experts in our fossil ancestry; and critically reviews
AUGUST 2021
the work of illustrious anthropologists. He examines
ANTHROPOLOGY
the influence of new DNA technology and the rise of
Imprint: Black Inc. female scientists. The search for the first human picks at
RRP: AU$32.99 the dividing line between normalcy and anomaly. Any
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 284pp description of who we are and where we come from is
Sample: October 2020 coloured by the zeitgeist. The constantly changing
Manuscript: April 2021 theories of human evolution show that we are doomed
Rights held: World English-language to continuously review what we think we know. Still,
Other rights: Querido Fosfor Westerman emphasises the importance of evidence:
“The facts cling to me and I cling to the facts. I will
“This is Sapiens behind the scenes: continue to pick them up, turn them around and
exciting, shocking and real.” illuminate them with the headlamp of my imagination.”
—Dr. José Joordens, Naturalis
FRANK WESTERMAN is a highly acclaimed Dutch
“Overwhelming, dazzling” non-fiction writer. His work has been translated into
—Joep van Ruiten, Dagblad van het Noorden sixteen languages and has received numerous awards,
including the Kapuściński Prize (Poland), the Premio
Terzani (Italy) and the Prix du Livre du ReÅLel (France).
SAM GARRETT is an award-winning translator of over
thirty novels and works of non-fiction. He is the only
translator to have twice won the British Society of
Authors’ Vondel Prize for Dutch–English translation.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 15Return to Uluru
A killing. A hidden history. A story
that goes to the heart of the nation.
Mark McKenna
When Mark McKenna set out to write a history of
the centre of Australia, he had no idea what he would
discover. One event in 1934 – the shooting at Uluru
of Aboriginal man Yokunnuna by white policeman
Bill McKinnon, and subsequent Commonwealth
inquiry – stood out as a mirror of racial politics in
the Northern Territory at the time.
But then, through speaking with the families of both
killer and victim, McKenna unearthed new evidence
that transformed the historical record and the meaning
of the event for today. As he explains, “Every thread of
MARCH 2021 the story connected to the present in surprising ways.”
HISTORY/TRUE CRIME In a sequence of powerful revelations, McKenna
Imprint: Black Inc. explores what truth-telling and reconciliation look
RRP: AU$29.99 like in practice.
Format: Paperback | 210 x 135mm | 240pp Return to Uluru brings a cold case to life. It speaks
Manuscript: Available directly to the Black Lives Matter movement, but is
Rights held: World ex film/TV completely Australian. Recalling Chloe Hooper’s The
Other rights: Australian Literary Management Tall Man, it is superbly written, moving, and full of
astonishing, unexpected twists. Ultimately it is a story
“Mark McKenna sets the highest standard of recognition and return, which goes to the very
for truth-telling of the kind that Australians heart of the country. At the centre of it all is Uluru,
so urgently need if they are to live in this the sacred site where paths fatefully converged.
country with honour. I feel sure that this
book will become an Australian classic – not MARK McKENNA is one of Australia’s leading
the first of its kind, but certainly the most historians, based at the University of Sydney. He is the
powerful narrative I have read of frontier author of several prize-winning books, including From
injustice and its resonance in our lives today.” the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories, Looking for Blackfellas’
—Marcia Langton Point and An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark,
which won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for
“Mark McKenna has exposed the wounded non-fiction and Victorian, NSW, Queensland and
heart of Australia. Never has a history of our South Australian premiers’ awards.
country so assumed the power of sacred
myth. Return to Uluru is a spellbinding story
of death and resurrection that is Australian
to its core.”—James Boyce
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 16Currowan
The Story of Australia’s Great Fire
Bronwyn Adcock
In the words of people who experienced it,
Currowan tells the gripping story of the massive fire
that engulfed the south coast of New South Wales,
Australia, in 2019–20. Burning for seventy-four
days across nearly 500,000 hectares, it was part of
Australia’s “black summer”.
Journalist Bronwyn Adcock fled the fire herself,
with her children, while her husband went missing.
In Currowan, she tells her own story and those of
SEPTEMBER 2021 many others: what they experienced, saw, thought
CURRENT AFFAIRS and felt. This compelling narrative is braided with
larger themes – what we know about how fire behaves,
Imprint: Black Inc.
and how that is changing due to climate change.
RRP: AU$32.99
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 320pp Adcock writes: “Australia is (unfortunately) a poster-
Manuscript: June 2021 child for what happens in a climate-changed world.
Rights held: World; film/TV I want to convey what it is like to live in such a world:
the fear, the dislocation and the danger. What happens
when people are let down by governments and are
underprepared. And when a country disregards and
poorly manages its land. It is like a dystopian horror
story – except it is real.”
BRONWYN ADCOCK is an award-winning Australian
journalist and writer. She has worked as a radio current
affairs reporter and radio documentary maker for the
ABC, as a video journalist for SBS’s Dateline, and as
a freelance writer, including for Griffith Review and
The Monthly.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 17Everything Harder
Than Everyone Else
Jenny Valentish
People push the limits of their endurance for all sorts
of reasons: punishment, abstinence, ego, curiosity. But
what drives those who push themselves to extremes
in unconventional ways?
In Everything Harder Than Everyone Else, Valentish
interviews pro-wrestlers, bodybuilders, adult film
performers, iron women, performance artists and
extreme athletes, exploring what motivates some people
to adopt one seemingly extreme persona after another.
JUNE 2021
A curious Venn diagram can be drawn: retired porn
SOCIETY AND CULTURE
stars put on wrestling leotards; ex-wrestlers exploit
Imprint: Black Inc. their alter egos in adult films; dog-tired MMA fighters
RRP: AU$32.99 roleplay S&M. It seems the sense of self can be so
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 288pp shaky that if they quit one persona, they must leap to
Sample: October 2020 another or feel adrift.
Manuscript: January 2021
But these rambunctious examples provide a lens for
Rights held: World ex film/TV
our own lives and habits. Valentish explores relatable
Other rights: Jane Novak Literary Agency
themes, such as sensation-seeking and the role of
dopamine, impulsivity and instant gratification,
▶ THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK, steroids and body dysmorphia, competition and
WOMAN ON SUBSTANCES, WAS catharsis, self-sabotage, obsession, reinvention. By
PUBLISHED IN THE US AND UK understanding more about those who must always
(HEAD OF ZEUS) push the boundaries, we can recognise and illuminate
▶ WOMAN OF SUBSTANCES LONGLISTED our own motivations.
FOR THE 2017 WALKLEY BOOK OF
THE YEAR AWARD JENNY VALENTISH is the author of the acclaimed
Woman of Substances, a regular contributor to The
Sydney Morning Herald and The Saturday Paper, and
former editor of Time Out Melbourne and Triple J’s Jmag.
She grew up in Slough, a satellite town of London, and
moved to Australia in 2006.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 18The Winter Road
A Killing in Croppa Creek
Kate Holden
An epic true story of greed, power and a desire for legacy
from an acclaimed Australian storyteller.
July 2014, Croppa Creek, New South Wales: Ian
Turnbull is sowing his last crop before he retires. He’s
pushing eighty, and he’s embroiled in red tape. Glen
Turner at the Office of Environment and Heritage has
reported massive land clearing on Turnbull’s properties.
As night falls, the farmer confronts the environmental
officer on a nearby road. He pulls out a gun. He
MAY 2021
TRUE CRIME stalks his target, in a cat-and-mouse game lasting
twenty minutes.
Imprint: Black Inc.
RRP: AU$32.99 With the crack of a rifle, the explosive effects rip
Format: Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 336pp through the community, the courts and all who come
Manuscript: November 2020 into the story’s orbit.
Rights held: World; film/TV This brutal killing distils the story of our nation’s
relationship to the land. After generations of causing
“An incredible writer.” Books+Publishing damage, we are reaping what we’ve sown. And today, it
has become more urgent than ever to interrogate this
legacy. Can animosity between urban greenies and rural
THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK,
IN MY SKIN, WAS PUBLISHED AROUND farmers – between city and country – be overcome?
THE WORLD IN MULTIPLE EDITIONS, How do we sustain our dependence on agriculture in
INCLUDING BRAZIL, CZECH REPUBLIC, an age of environmental crisis? Could we learn to use
FINLAND, GERMANY, ITALY, the soil to which we belong without stripping it bare?
NETHERLANDS, NORTH AMERICA, Kate Holden brings her discerning eye to this gripping
TURKEY AND THE UK tale of law, land, retribution and clemency.
KATE HOLDEN is the author of two acclaimed
memoirs, In My Skin and The Romantic, and a regular
contributor to The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and
The Age.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 19BLACK INC. BESTSELLER
Jacinda Ardern
A New Kind of Leader
Madeleine Chapman
The fascinating story of an international icon –
one of the world’s most inspiring, progressive leaders
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern
is a leader for a new generation, one tired of inertia
in the face of pressing issues such as climate change,
immigration and the rise of far-right terrorism.
Ardern was catapulted onto the international stage
with her grace and compassion following the
Christchurch mosque shooting. Oprah Winfrey
invited us to “channel our inner Jacindas” as praise
for Ardern flooded headlines and social media.
The world’s youngest female head of government,
APRIL 2020
BIOGRAPHY and only the second elected world leader to give
birth while in office, Ardern describes herself as a
Imprint: Nero progressive and a social democrat. In this revealing
RRP: AU$34.99 biography, journalist Madeleine Chapman discovers
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 304pp the woman behind the headlines. Politically engaged
+ 8pp colour picture section from an early age, Ardern has encountered her fair
Manuscript: Available share of sexism, but rather than let that harden her
Rights held: World; film/TV she advocates “rising above” critics. In her first press
Rights sold: Hungary (Alexandra Kiado); conference, she announced an election campaign of
North America (Skyhorse Publishing); “relentless positivity”. The tactic was a resounding
UK/Comm audio (Ulverscroft); Traditional success: donations poured in and Labour rebounded
Chinese character (Domain Publishing in the polls.
Company); UK/Comm (The History Press)
But can Ardern live up to her promise? What does
her new style of leadership look like in practice?
And what can we learn from the world’s reaction
to this inspiring leader?
MADELEINE CHAPMAN is a New Zealand writer
of Sāmoan, Chinese and Tuvaluan descent. She is the
co-author of Steven Adams’ bestselling autobiography
My Life, My Fight and was a senior writer at The Spinoff
until 2020. Chapman was named the 2018 Young
Business Journalist of the Year and the 2019 Humour
Opinion Writer of the Year.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 20Muddy People
A Memoir
Sara El Sayed
A hilarious and heartwarming memoir of growing up
and becoming oneself in an Egyptian Muslim family
In the outer suburbs of Brisbane at the turn of the
millennium, Soos is growing up in an eccentric family:
her Baba, who thinks Islam forbids taking out life
insurance; her Mama, who is plotting divorce; her
Nana, who collects stray dogs and encourages small
lies; her infuriating older brother, Mohamed, and his
white girlfriend; and her can-do-no-wrong perfect
AUGUST 2021 sister, Aisha.
MEMOIR
Soos’ family is muddy. Their skin is brown – kids say
Imprint: Black Inc. Soos is mud-coloured. Their culture and religion are
RRP: AU$32.99 puzzling to those around them. In their white-
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 304pp majority neighbourhood, Soos, Mohamed and Aisha
Manuscript: February 2021 are bullied by racists. Their parents are discriminated
Rights held: World; film/TV against at work.
Soos, the baby of the family – her name means ‘little
“As an immigrant to Australia, my developing
tooth’ – is working out how to balance her parents’
identity is a constant wrestle between
strict rules with having friendships, crushes and a
resentment and reliance.” —Sara El Sayed
normal teenage life. As her dad is diagnosed with
“The Blind Pussy is brave, emerging Australian leukemia, the cancer cells clouding his blood, she comes
literature with a new voice that is energetic to see her parents as fallible, with morals based on a
and highly engaging.” —Judges’ comments, muddy logic. But they are also her strongest defenders.
2019 Richell Prize
For readers of Maxine Beneba Clarke’s The Hate Race
and Mishna Wolff ’s I’m Down, this quick, clever,
RECIPIENT OF THE 2020 QUEENSLAND warm-hearted book introduces a talented new voice.
WRITERS FELLOWSHIP
SARA EL SAYED was born in Alexandria, Egypt,
in 1995. She teaches at Queensland University of
Technology and is completing a master of fine arts.
Her work features in the anthologies Growing Up African
in Australia and Arab-Australian-Other, and in several
literary journals. She won the 2020 Queensland
Premier’s Young Writers and Publishers Award and
was shortlisted for the 2019 Richell Prize, and tweets
@sarakelsayed.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 21Shanghai Acrobat
An Orphan Boy’s Inspiring True Story of Courage
and Determination in Revolutionary China
Jing jing Xue
Translated by Bo Ai
For readers of Mao’s Last Dancer comes the inspiring true
story of a world-famous acrobat who escaped communist
China to begin a new life.
Jingjing Xue was born in China in the 1950s, during
one of the worst times in the reign of communist
leader Mao Zedong, or Chairman Mao. Mao’s
extreme five-year industrialisation plan – the Great
Leap Forward – left much of the population starving,
destitute and gripped with fear. Jingjing, abandoned to
an orphanage as a young boy, was destined to a life of
MARCH 2021 hardship before officials singled him out and enlisted
AUTOBIOGRAPHY him to train with the Shanghai Acrobatics School.
Imprint: Black Inc. This autobiography tells the moving story of his rise
RRP: AU$32.99 from poverty to become an admired performer in
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 336pp China and beyond – and of his extraordinary escape
Manuscript: Available from Mao’s repressive regime to secure his freedom.
Rights held: World ex film/TV Set in China from the early years of the communist
Other rights: Golvan Arts Management era, through the turbulent period of the Cultural
Rights sold: North America (Apollo Revolution, and to a new life in Australia, this is a
Publishers); ANZ audio (Wavesound) story of hope and perseverance, of overcoming
adversity and of finding a place to belong.
“A beautifully written book . . . a poignant,
riveting story of perseverance against the JINGJING XUE was a star performer with the Shanghai
odds. Jing jing Xue epitomises the utmost Acrobatic Troupe. Considered one of China’s best
qualities of human spirits of determination acrobats, from 1961 to 1987 he performed around the
and perseverance in facing the challenges of world with the Shanghai Circus. He trained performers
life, and the ability to hang onto hope. He has in China and, later, at the National Institute of Circus
certainly held his life in both hands as he sails Arts in Melbourne, the city where he now lives.
his own boat ‘in the endless ocean of suffering’
to a meaningful life that he so deserves. This NORTH AMERICAN EDITION TO BE PUBLISHED
book is a must read for all aspirants in their BY APOLLO PUBLISHERS IN MARCH 2021
chosen field whoever they are, and whatever
age they are.” —Andrew Kwong, author of
One Bright Moon
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 22You Don’t Belong Here
How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War
Elizabeth Becker
The never-before-told story of three women who
courageously reported from the frontlines of the
Vietnam War.
One spent twenty-three days in captivity. Another
jumped off planes to get the perfect aerial shot.
The other reported from war-torn slums and villages.
Catherine Leroy, Frankie Fitzgerald and Kate Webb
were the first female frontline journalists in the
history of US war reporting. Over the course of the
Vietnam War they challenged the rules imposed on
them, all in an effort to get the story right.
Using the stories of these three women, Elizabeth
MARCH 2021
HISTORY Becker traces the war in Vietnam from the Tet
Offensive to the revolution in Cambodia to the
Imprint: Black Inc. American defeat and aftermath. Kate Webb, an
RRP: AU$32.99 Australian reporter, was captured by the Vietcong
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 288pp only to continue her fearless reporting after her
Manuscript: Available release. American Frankie Fitzgerald’s powerful
Rights held: ANZ coverage earned her by-lines in The New Yorker, and
Other Rights: PublicAffairs she became the first female war reporter for the
magazine. And at only twenty-two, the French
“Because of the tenacity and bravery of Catherine Leroy was one of the only female
women like Leroy, Fitzgerald and Webb, photographers in Vietnam.
women report from the frontlines of the
In You Don’t Belong Here, Becker tells the story of
bloodiest conflicts . . .” —Tony Clifton,
how three women forged a place for themselves and
veteran Australian journalist
for generations of female reporters to come.
Award-winning journalist ELIZABETH BECKER began
her career as a war correspondent for The Washington
Post in Cambodia. The author of the definitive book on
the Khmer Rouge, When the War Was Over, she has
written regularly for a range of publications, including
The New York Times and Australian Foreign Affairs.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 23Girt Nation
The Unauthorised History of Australia
Volume 3
David Hunt
Following on from the award-winning and best-
selling volumes 1 and 2, Girt and True Girt, here
comes the highly anticipated third volume in David
Hunt’s beloved Australian history series, Girt Nation.
In this hilarious yet deeply researched book, David
Hunt tells how Australia became a nation. This is a
story of spiritualists, suffragettes and bush bards. Of
costermongers, mesmerists and larrikins. Hunt weaves
NOVEMBER 2021 a narrative that is both informative and delightful, as
HISTORY he explores the people and forces that helped turn a
Imprint: Black Inc. federation of colonial states into a distinctive nation.
RRP: AU$32.99 DAVID HUNT is an unusually tall and handsome man
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 288pp who likes writing his own bios for all the books he has
Sample: March 2021 written. David is the author of Girt: The Unauthorised
Manuscript: July 2021 History of Australia, which won the 2014 Indie Award
Rights held: World ex film/TV for non-fiction and was shortlisted in both the NSW
Other rights: film/TV retained by the author Premier’s Literary Awards and Australian Book Industry
Awards. True Girt, the sequel, was published in 2016,
PRAISE FOR GIRT AND TRUE GIRT as was a book for children, The Nose Pixies.
“An engaging, witty and utterly irreverent
take on Australian history.” —Graeme TOGETHER, GIRT AND TRUE GIRT HAVE SOLD OVER
Simsion, author of The Rosie Project 100,000 COPIES IN ANZ
“Very funny stuff, and I’m assuming it’s
all true? . . . It’s great! The footnotes are
consistently hilarious.” @Mr_Schofield,
Matthew Schofield, a director of
The Simpsons, on Twitter
“Unputdownable. I loved it.” —Paula Byrne,
author of the international bestsellers The
Real Jane Austen and Kick: The True Story
of JFK’s Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 24The Life of a Spy
The Remarkable Career of an Australian
Intelligence Officer
Rod Barton
I was certainly no James Bond with a licence to kill, but I
experienced some events that might have intrigued Bond.
I have worked with the British intelligence services and
for the CIA. I have had guns pointed at me, death threats
made, a price placed on my head.
In 1971, a young Rod Barton applied for a job as a
junior scientist with the Australian department of
defence. Little did he know that the role involved more
MAY 2021 than analysis of dry scientific data: as the Cold War
MEMOIR between Russia and the United States intensified,
Imprint: Black Inc. Rod found himself being inducted into the murky
RRP: AU$32.99 world of international espionage.
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 288pp Rod rose through the ranks, conducting fascinating
Manuscript: December 2020 research and chasing intelligence leads across South-
Rights held: World; film/TV East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. After the
9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, his life
changed again. One of few who knew enough about
the science behind Iraq’s alleged nuclear weapons
program, he became a special adviser to Hans Blix,
head of the United Nations Weapons Inspection
Commission. His clashes with the CIA and Australian
politicians over weapons of mass destruction and
prisoner abuse reveal the depths of the politicisation
of the War on Terror.
Told with passion and insight, this is an extraordinary
behind-the-scenes account of a world marked by risk,
secrecy and individual acts of courage. From the streets
of London to the deserts of Iraq, it will take you to the
front lines of politics and war.
ROD BARTON is a former Australian intelligence
officer. Since the first Gulf War, his unique expertise has
been sought by the CIA, the Australian government and
the United Nations. His previous book is The Weapons
Detective: The Inside Story of Australia’s Top Weapons
Inspector.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 25King of the Air
The Turbulent Life of Charles Kingsford Smith
Ann Blainey
A revealing portrait of a brilliant and troubled figure –
a daredevil of the skies – now available in paperback.
Charles Kingsford Smith was the most commanding
flyer of the golden age of aviation. In three short years,
he broke records with his astounding and daring
voyages: the first trans-Pacific flight from America
to Australia, the first circumnavigation around the
equator, the first non-stop crossing of the Australian
mainland. He did it all with such courage, modesty
and charm that Australia and the world fell in love
with him. He became a national hero, “Our Smithy”.
Yet his achievements belied a traumatic past. He had
AUGUST 2021
BIOGRAPHY witnessed the horror of World War I – first as a soldier
at Gallipoli, later as a combat pilot with the Royal
Imprint: Black Inc. Flying Corps – and, like so many of his generation, he
RRP: AU$34.99 bore physical and emotional scars. The public saw the
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 400pp derring-do; only those close to him knew the anxious
+ 16pp picture section man who pushed himself to the edge of health and
Manuscript: Available sanity. In November 1935, Kingsford Smith’s plane
Rights held: World; film/TV crashed and he was lost at sea near Burma, his body
never to be recovered.
“Crisply written . . .” —Jim Davidson,
This brilliant work from one of Australia’s foremost
The Sydney Morning Herald
biographers reveals the complicated, tumultuous life
“Brilliant . . . Blainey’s fascinating book of a fascinating figure, who pursued his obsession to
focuses on the inner as well as the outer man.” the greatest heights of fame and catastrophe.
—Ross Fitzgerald, The Age
ANN BLAINEY is the author of the acclaimed I Am
Melba, which won the 2009 National Biography Award
THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK, and was the most popular book in the 2009 State
I AM MELBA, WAS PUBLISHED IN THE Library of Victoria Summer Reads program. Her other
US AND UK BY ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD books include biographies of Leigh Hunt and the
Kemble sisters.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 26True North
A Memoir
Catherine Deveny
When the world you know shatters, how do you
remake yourself?
Comedian and commentator Catherine Deveny
knows a lot about break-ups – from emancipating
herself from the “toxic” Catholic belief systems of her
upbringing to ending a seventeen-year relationship
with the father of her children.
In this moving and funny memoir, Deveny shares
how she survived one of the hardest times in her life,
JULY 2021
MEMOIR opens up about her difficult childhood in Melbourne’s
working-class inner-north, and ultimately discovers
Imprint: Black Inc. that on the other side of grief and loss are freedom
RRP: AU$32.99 and self-fulfilment. From her “boy mad” teenage years
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 288pp and university sharehouses to life in Melbourne’s
Manuscript: December 2020 thriving cultural scene, Deveny’s life is at once highly
Rights held: World; film/TV relatable and utterly unique.
True North is an uplifting and cathartic read that will
PRAISE FOR USE YOUR WORDS
resonate with anyone who has gone through – or is
“As practical and profane as the woman currently going through – a major life crisis.
who wrote it.” —Benjamin Law, author
CATHERINE DEVENY is a writer, commentator and
of The Family Law
comedian. She is the author of eight books, including
“Everyone has a book in them. Before you Mental, Use Your Words, The Happiness Show, Free to
write yours, however, read this. It’s brilliant. a Good Home, Say When and It’s Not My Fault They
The world will thank you.” —Clare Bowditch, Print Them.
author of Your Own Kind of Girl
“Catherine Deveny’s no-nonsense attitude THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS BOOK, MENTAL, WAS
and comedic genius make learning fun” PUBLISHED IN THE US AND UK (HEAD OF ZEUS)
—Clementine Ford, author of Fight Like AND IN SIMPLIFIED CHINESE (CHINA RENMIN
UNIVERSITY PRESS)
a Girl
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 27Car Crash
A Memoir
Lech Blaine
Lech Blaine was just seventeen when he was in a crash
that killed his best friends and changed his life.
On an evening in 2009, seven teenage boys piled into
a car to go to a party. They never arrived. The driver –
who was not drunk or high – made a routine error and
then overcorrected. The vehicle flew off the road. One
passenger died on impact. Others were flung from the
car. Lech walked away uninjured. In the aftermath,
two more died in hospital and one was left disabled,
in an incident that convulsed their rural community.
Crippled by guilt, Lech turned to social media,
cultivating a persona as the ultimate “grateful survivor”.
APRIL 2021
MEMOIR Over time, he spiralled into risk-taking and
depression. His public bravado fell away as he tried
Imprint: Black Inc. to accept how an accident – one wretched error of
RRP: AU$32.99 youth and inexperience – had changed the trajectory
Paperback | 234 x 153mm | 304pp of so many lives.
Manuscript: Available
Rights held: World; film/TV How do we grieve in an age of social media? How
Rights sold: World English-language ex ANZ does tragedy shape a community? And how does a boy
(Greystone Books); ANZ audio (Bolinda) on the cusp of manhood develop a sense of self when
his world has exploded?
“A poetic, unflinching meditation on the This stunning memoir pulls no punches. It marks
exuberance of youth and the trauma of Lech Blaine as a writer to watch.
survival. It shines with a fierce intelligence.”
—Kristina Olsson, award-winning author LECH BLAINE is a writer from Toowoomba,
of Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir Queensland. His work appears in The Best Australian
Essays, Meanjin, The Guardian and The Monthly, among
others. His work has been nominated for several prizes
GREYSTONE BOOKS TO PUBLISH IN and he was an inaugural recipient of a Griffith Review
2021 (CANADA, THE US AND UK) Queensland Writers Fellowship.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 28The Shortest History
of China
Linda Jaivin
From kung-fu to tofu, silk to gunpowder, tea to trade
routes, ancient sages to contemporary poetry, China
has influenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy,
aesthetics and philosophy across the world for
thousands of years.
Chinese history is sprawling and gloriously messy.
It is full of heroes who are also villains, prosperous
ages and violent rebellions, cultural vibrancy and
censorious impulses, rebels, loyalists, dissidents and
wits. The story of women in China, from the earliest
warriors to twentieth-century suffragettes, is rarely
told. And historical spectres of corruption and
MAY 2021
disunity, which have brought down many a glorious
HISTORY
ruling house, continue to haunt the People’s Republic
Imprint: Black Inc. of China today.
RRP: AU$22.99
Modern China is, depending on whom you ask, an
Paperback | 198 x 128mm | 208pp
economic powerhouse, a beacon of urbanisation, a
Manuscript: Available
propaganda state and an aggressive geopolitical player
Rights held: World ex film/TV
seeking world domination. China expert Linda Jaivin
Rights sold: UK/Comm ex ANZ (Old Street
distils a vast history into a short, readable account that
Publishing)
tells you what you need to know about the Middle
Other rights: Left Bank Literary
Kingdom, from its philosophical origins to its political
system, to the COVID-19 pandemic and where
“A fast-paced and witty survey of China’s
China’s future is likely to take the world.
past, written with spirit and verve. Jaivin
knows her stuff but wears her erudition LINDA JAIVIN is an American-born Australian
lightly. Iconoclastic, informative and more translator, essayist, novelist and sinologist. She has
attentive to female figures than many written several works of fiction, non-fiction and criticism,
comparable works. Highly recommended.” and writes regularly for The Saturday Paper, The Monthly
—Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of Vigil: and Australian Foreign Affairs.
Hong Kong on the Brink
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 29The Shortest History
of Democracy
John Keane
The latest addition to this invaluable series is a very
timely distilled history of democracy, which traces it
from its beginning through to its current challenges.
Travelling from Ancient Greece to China, looking
closely at Europe and the US, this book explains how
democracy evolved and what is essential to know
OCTOBER 2021 about it.
HISTORY
JOHN KEANE is Professor of Politics at the
Imprint: Black Inc. University of Sydney and at the Wissenschaftszentrum
RRP: AU$29.99 Berlin (WZB), and is the co-founder and director of the
Format: Paperback | 198 x 128mm | 192pp Sydney Democracy Network. Among his many books,
Manuscript: February 2021 The Life and Death of Democracy was shortlisted for the
Rights held: World ex film/TV 2010 Non-Fiction Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
Other rights: AM Heath & Co
The Shortest History
of India
John Zubrzycki
India contains multitudes. Every reader will be
grateful for this entertaining yet authoritative
distillation, in which acclaimed popular historian John
Zubrzycki traces India from its beginnings through to
its current challenges. Encompassing north and south,
the mountains, desert and coast, religion and culture,
MAY 2022 this book captures the colour and conflict of a
HISTORY remarkable history.
Imprint: Black Inc. JOHN ZUBRZYCKI is a Sydney-based author,
RRP: AU$29.99 journalist and researcher, specialising in South Asia, in
Format: Paperback | 198 x 128mm | 192pp particular India. His latest book is Empire of Enchantment:
Manuscript: November 2020 The Story of Indian Magic. He is the bestselling author of
Rights held: World ex film/TV The Last Nizam: An Indian Prince in the Australian Outback
Other rights: Curtis Brown Australia and The Mysterious Mr Jacob: Diamond Merchant,
Magician and Spy.
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 30The Shortest History
of Europe
John Hirst
Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating
exploration of the qualities that made Europe a
world-changing civilisation.
The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid
overview of European civilisation, describing its birth
from an unlikely mixture of classical learning,
Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the
centuries, this unstable blend produced highly
distinctive characters – pious knights and belligerent
popes, romantics spouting folklore and revolutionaries
imitating Rome – and its coming apart provided the
dynamic of European history in modern times.
APRIL 2018
Accompanied by lively illustrations, The Shortest
HISTORY History of Europe is a clear, humorous and thought-
provoking account of a remarkable civilisation.
Imprint: Black Inc. This new edition brings the story into the present,
RRP: AU$22.99 covering the world wars and beyond.
Format: Paperback | 198 x 128pp | 192pp
Manuscript: Available JOHN HIRST was a member of the History
Rights held: World; film/TV Department at La Trobe University from 1968 to 2007.
Rights sold: Simplified Chinese character He has written many books on Australian history,
(Guangxi Normal University Press); Traditional including Convict Society and Its Enemies, The Strange
Chinese character (Domain Publishing Birth of Colonial Democracy, The Sentimental Nation,
Company); Germany (Hoffmann und Campe); Sense and Nonsense in Australian History and The
Finland (Kustantamo); Greece (Metaichmio Shortest History of Europe.
Publications); Sweden (Natur och Kultur);
UK & Comm. ex ANZ & Canada (Old Street “An entertaining, learned piece of historical compression”
Publishing); Saudi Arabia (Dar El Shorouk); —The Age
Italy (Giunti Editore Spa); Portugal “A wise, illuminating little book” —The Sydney Morning Herald
(Publicacoes Dom Quixote); Spain (RBA
Libros); Turkey (Say Yayinlari); Korea “Crisp, lucid and evocative” —Australian Book Review
(Wisdomhouse Publishing Co.); Brazil (Editores
Sextante); France (City Editions); Japan (Tokyo
OVER 500,000 COPIES OF THE SHORTEST HISTORY
Shoseki Co. Ltd.); ANZ & North America OF EUROPE SOLD ACROSS TWENTY TERRITORIES
audio (Tantor); Estonia (Eesti Raamat); Polish
(Polskie Wydawnictwo Naukowe); Russian
(Eksmo Publishing); Ukraine (Nash Format)
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 31In the Writers on Writers series, leading authors reflect on an Australian writer
who has inspired and influenced them. Provocative and crisp, these books start a
fresh conversation between past and present, shed new light on the craft of writing,
and introduce some intriguing and talented authors and their work.
On Thomas Keneally
Writers on Writers
Stan Grant
Thomas Keneally is a prolific Australian novelist,
playwright and essayist. He is best known for writing
Schindler’s Ark, the story of Oskar Schindler’s rescue
of Jews during the Holocaust, which won the Booker
Prize in 1982.
STAN GRANT is Indigenous Affairs Editor for the
MAY 2021 ABC and Chair of Indigenous Affairs at Charles Sturt
BIOGRAPHY University. He won the 2015 Walkley Award for
Imprint: Black Inc. coverage of Indigenous Affairs and is the author of
RRP: AU$17.99 The Tears of Strangers and Talking to My Country.
Hardback | 181 x 111mm | 96pp
Manuscript: December 2020
Rights held: World ex film/TV
Other rights: Curtis Brown Australia
On Helen Garner
Writers on Writers
Sean O’Beirne
From the author of the acclaimed A Couple of Things
Before the End comes an entertaining, perceptive and
altogether original account of one of Australia’s
greatest writers, Helen Garner.
SEAN O’BEIRNE is a bookseller and critic. He grew
up in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, and studied arts, law
OCTOBER 2021 and acting. A Couple of Things Before the End is his
BIOGRAPHY first book.
Imprint: Black Inc.
RRP: AU$17.99
Hardback | 181 x 111mm | 96pp
Manuscript: April 2021
Rights held: World; film/TV
BL ACK INC. BOOKS | 32You can also read
