May Monthly Wrap-Up 2026
Was it just me or did May give us time to take a breath and get our bearings for the first time this year? Or did it just feel that way because I unplugged and read great books instead of keeping an eye on the news? Two books stand out, John of John by Douglas Stuart (he of Shuggie Bain fame) and Whistler by Ann Patchett. Both utterly involving but for very different reasons. John of John was like a blast from the past when authors gave us room to live and breathe in their novels. While Whistler waltzed me around and around and left feeling hopeful, which is quite the achievement.
May is also the month when writers dust themselves off, put on grown up clothes and appear in public at the many literary festivals here and in NZ. International visitors included R.F. Kuang, Mick Herron, Lily King, Yann Martel and Niall Williams to name a few.
And May is the month for awards, including the Australian Book Industry Awards, a real star studded event which I put a suit on to attend. We congratulate all the winners (we didn’t win, obvs).
Bye for now!
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John Purcell
Author of The Girl on the Page & Head of Books Australia at The Nile
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The literary world has been absolutely buzzing with major book awards this month.
From the Australian Book Industry Awards 2026 and the International Booker Prize 2026 to the 2026 Stella Prize, the 2026 Pulitzer Prize winners, and the highly anticipated Miles Franklin Literary Award 2026 Longlist, some of the most celebrated books of the year have officially stepped into the spotlight.
These are the books about to take over everyone’s feeds, group chats, and weekend reading stacks.
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Internationally bestselling crime novelist Dervla McTiernan sits down with host John Purcell to discuss her latest thriller, Three Reasons for Revenge. In this episode, Dervla delves into the dark and intricate plot of her new book, which centers on three mysterious parcels leading to the "tailored destruction" of three unrelated individuals.
Discover how McTiernan navigated shifting between multiple perspectives while anchoring the story with her detective, Judith Lee, and why she chose Melbourne, Australia, as the setting for the first time. The author shares her unique writing habits (including removing her phone from the room and listening to music) and offers a peek into her "folder of stuff" hinting at a potential sequel to What Happened to Nina? and other future projects.
Tune in for an insightful conversation about creativity, balancing legal and literary careers, and finding home in a new country.
Watch the full episode now or listen wherever you are.
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Seriously, what's in the water this year? The 2026 fiction line-up is bordering on the bizarre. We’ve got an unprecedented deluge of heavy hitters dropping books in the same year, including several big-name authors who haven’t published a single page in years.
It’s the kind of once-in-a-blue-moon line-up readers dream about, packed with long-awaited returns, buzzworthy new stories, and the books everyone will be talking about.
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