The most anticipated Australian books of 2020

It’s already shaping up to be a big year in Australian books so literary journalist Thuy On has shared her list of must reads that will be filling your bookshelves.

There’s plenty to look forward to in Australian fiction publishing in 2020, so time to make room for some new titles on your bookcases. Here are some books I’m personally waiting to hit the shelves:

Arguably the most anticipated novel for 2020 is Trent Dalton’s second effort, All our Shimmering Skies (HarperCollins, June). His first book, Boy Swallows Universe  scooped up a slew of awards and charmed readers and a critics alike. Dalton and his publisher would be rightly nervous about the relative success of this follow-up effort, set in Darwin 1942. According to the early press releases its about “motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger’s daughter, who, along with her travelling companions actress Greta and fallen Japanese fighter pilot Yukio, is seeking out a sorcerer who put a curse on her family.” HarperCollins has waxed lyrical that it’s a story, ‘about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves’.

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Thuy On is Reviews 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. Her debut, a collection of poetry called Turbulence, came out in 2020 and was released by University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). Her second collection, Decadence, was published in July 2022, also by UWAP. Her third book, Essence, will be published in 2025. Twitter: @thuy_on Instagram: poemsbythuy