Kirsten Krauth, Paul Dalgarno and Andrew Wear reflect on the process of pivoting their book launches online. Pictures by Penny Ryan, Giulia McGauran and author supplied respectively.
If you’re lucky enough to have a book published in the last 18 months and unlucky enough to be caught within the pernicious reaches of COVID, chances are you have or are considering launching your work online. Yes, it’s not the same as drinking wine and nibbling on cheese with your cheer squad in the same room but having a book launched digitally does have its own benefits.
‘I roped my two kids into doing readings with me. I pre-recorded bits and pieces of video including songs and chats to camera and Lady Fun Times dancing, and edited them together, and dressed up all dazzle.’
Thuy On is the former Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025).
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
