Jenny Valentish
Journalist Jenny Valentish is best known for her deep dives into the human psyche.
The Introvert’s Guide to Leaving the House (Affirm Press) is a more introspective successor to Everything Harder Than Everyone Else (Black Inc), which explored the fine line between hedonism and endurance, and her mea culpa memoir Woman of Substances (Black Inc) which was nominated for a Walkley. She has also written a novel, Cherry Bomb (Allen and Unwin), about a DUI girl band, and co-edited an anthology called Your Mother Would Be Proud (Allen and Unwin).
She writes for the Guardian, the ABC and The Age, and teaches memoir and journalism as a guest lecturer at universities, for literary events, and through her own workshops.
Her preferred form of social medi
If you like author Jenny Valentish here is the list of authors you may also like
Buy books on AmazonTotal similar authors (21)
-
Torrey Peters
Torrey Peters is the author of the novel Detransition, Baby, published by One World/Random House, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is also the authors of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker. She has an MFA from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. Torrey rides a pink motorcycle and splits her time between Brooklyn and an off-grid cabin in Vermont.
Buy books on Amazon -
Lech Blaine
Lech Blaine is a writer from Toowoomba, 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 and he was an inaugural recipient of a Griffith Review Queensland Writers Fellowship.
Buy books on Amazon -
Kristin Newman
This is a "25 Things About Me" exercise I did for Facebook about five years ago that Facebook recently regave me. I provide it to you now:
Buy books on Amazon
1.) I am doing this exercise solely to procrastinate. Other activities done for this purpose today: plucking eyebrows, walking to Pinkberry rather than driving, making a To Do List when I really only have like 3 things to do, which doesn't require a list to remember.
2.) I've spent most of my life careening between having the highest self-esteem in the world, and the lowest.
3.) I have been more peaceful for the last two months than ever before in my life.
4.) When I decided to become a comedy writer, my uncle said, "Huh. I never thought of you as funny."
5.) This week I had a fantasy about Barack and Michell -
Fiona McFarlane
Fiona McFarlane grew up in Sydney, Australia. She studied English at Sydney University and completed a PhD on nostalgia in American fiction at Cambridge University. She spent 3 years at writing residencies in the US - at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts and Philips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire - before studying for a Masters of Fine Arts in Fiction at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin.
Buy books on Amazon
Fiona's first novel, The Night Guest, will be published in 19 countries and 15 languages, and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Stella Prize, an LA Times Book Review prize, an INDIE Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and an Australian Book Industry Award. The Night -
Hannah Kent
Hannah Kent's first novel, the international bestseller, Burial Rites (2013), was translated into 30 languages and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award. It won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Indie Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year and the Victorian Premier's People's Choice Award, and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Buy books on Amazon
Hannah's second novel, The Good People was published in 2016 (ANZ) and 2017 (Feb, UK; Sept, North America). It was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, the Indie Book Award for Fiction and the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year. It has been translated into 10 languages.
Hannah’s original feature fil -
Jane Caro
Jane Caro wears many hats; including author, lecturer, mentor, social commentator, columnist, workshop facilitator, speaker, broadcaster and award-winning advertising writer. Jane runs her own communications consultancy and lectures in Advertising Creative at The School of Communication Arts at UWS. She has published three books: The Stupid Country: How Australia is dismantling public education co-authored with Chris Bonnor (2007), The F Word. How we learned to swear by feminism co-authored with Catherine Fox (2008), and Just a Girl (UQP, 2011). She has also appeared on Channel 7’s Sunrise, ABC’s Q&A and ABC’s The Gruen Transfer.
Buy books on Amazon -
Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay OBE (born 21 May 1967), is a British author and broadcaster.
Buy books on Amazon -
Debra Oswald
Debra Oswald is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She is a two-time winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award and author of the novels Useful (2015), The Whole Bright Year (2018) and The Family Doctor (2021). She was creator/head writer of the first five seasons of the successful TV series Offspring.
Buy books on Amazon
Her stage plays have been performed around the world and published by Currency Press. Gary's House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Award. Debra has also written four plays for young audiences—Dags, Skate, Stories in the Dark and House on Fire. She has written three Aussie Bites books and six children's novels, including The Redback Leftovers.
Her television credits include award-winning -
Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li is the author of seven books, including Where Reasons End, which received the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; the essay collection Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life; and the novels The Vagrants and Must I Go. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and Windham-Campbell Prize, among other honors. A contributing editor to A Public Space, she teaches at Princeton University.
Buy books on Amazon -
Markus Zusak
Markus Zusak is the author of five books, including the international bestseller, The Book Thief , which spent more than a decade on the New York Times bestseller list, and is translated into more than forty languages – establishing Zusak as one of the most successful authors to come out of Australia.
Buy books on Amazon
To date, Zusak has held the number one position at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, the New York Times bestseller list, as well as in countries across South America, Europe and Asia.
His books, The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, When Dogs Cry (also titled Getting the Girl ), The Messenger (or I am the Messenger ) and The Book Thief have been awarded numerous honours ranging from literary prizes to readers choice awards to prizes -
Shelley Burr
Shelley Burr works at the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment in Canberra, Australia. She grew up splitting her time between Newcastle and Glenrowan, where her father's family are all sheep farmers.
Buy books on Amazon -
Amani Haydar
Amani Haydar is an artist, lawyer, mum and advocate for women's health and safety based in Western Sydney. Amani's writing and illustrations have been published in ABC News Online and SBS Life and her self-portrait Insert Headline Here was a finalist in the 2018 Archibald Prize. Amani uses visual art and writing to explore the personal and political dimensions of abuse, loss, identity and resilience.
Buy books on Amazon -
Tim Duggan
Tim Duggan is an optimist who loves thinking about big ideas. He has co-founded several digital media ventures, most notably Junkee Media, one of the leading publishers for Australians.
Buy books on Amazon
His first book, Cult Status: How To Build A Business People Adore, was awarded the Best
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Book at the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards, and his second book on creativity, ‘Killer Thinking: How To Turn Good Ideas Into Brilliant Ones’, was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by Apple Books.
Tim is the Chair of the Digital Publishers Alliance, an industry body that represents over one hundred and fifty titles from leading independent digital publishers. He began his career as a music journalist for Rolling Stone, and lives wit -
Jacinda Ardern
The Right Honourable Dame Jacinda Ardern was elected the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand at the age of thirty-seven, becoming the country’s youngest Prime Minister in more than 150 years. Since leaving office, Ardern has established the Field Fellowship on empathetic leadership. She is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University, continues to work on climate action, and is the Patron of the Christchurch Call to Action to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. Ardern also works on a number of projects that support women and girls, but considers her greatest roles to be those she will hold for life, including that of mum and proud New Zealander.
Buy books on Amazon -
Bruce Nash
I have always written.
Buy books on Amazon
For three decades, I taught English in Secondary Schools throughout Queensland.
I survived.
I now live and write and make habitat on the far south coast of New South Wales, on Djiringanj Country by the shores of Wallaga Lake, with my partner Deborah, our dogs Finnegan and Rupert, numerous chooks, a Satin Bower Bird called Lord Byron, a Diamond Python who shall remain nameless, and numerous Wattlebirds, Lorikeets, Galahs, White-headed Pigeons, Whipbirds, King Parrots, Crimson Rosellas, Black Cockatoos, Eastern Spinebills.......
All the Words We Know is my most recent novel, published by Allen & Unwin in 2024.
My previous novel was The Long River of Cat Fisher, published in 2020 by Australian Scholarly Publishing (Arden -
Kirstin Ferguson
Dr Kirstin Ferguson is a company director, columnist, keynote speaker and executive coach. Beginning her career as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, Kirstin has held roles that have included chief executive officer of an international consulting firm, and acting chair and deputy chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She has sat on boards of both publicly-listed and privately-listed companies for more than a decade.
Buy books on Amazon
Kirstin has a PhD in leadership and culture, as well as honours degrees in Law and History. She is an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology Business School, where she was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2020, and is a Sir Winston Churchill Fellow. She was included on Thinkers -
Grace Chan
I’m a speculative fiction writer and doctor. My writing explores brains, minds, technology, space, and identity.
Buy books on Amazon
My debut novel, Every Version of You, uses virtual reality and mind-uploading to explore identity, love, migration, change, and the future of humanity.
My short fiction can be found in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Fireside, Space and Time Magazine, Black Cranes, Going Down Swinging, Aurealis, Andromeda Spaceways, and many other places.
I have been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards, Norma K Hemming Award, and Viva la Novella VII.
My other interests include salt-and-vinegar anything and secretly filming my friends’ NYE karaoke highlights. I am terrible at conveying sarcasm. In a decaffeinated state, I may cease to exist. -
Glennon Doyle
Glennon Doyle is the CEO and Founder of Treat Media, an award-winning media company that makes art for humans who want to stay human. She is an author, podcaster, producer, and philanthropist. Her books include the #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed, which has sold more than three million copies; the #1 New York Times bestseller Love Warrior, an Oprah’s Book Club selection; the New York Times bestseller Carry On, Warrior; and Get Untamed: The Journal. Glennon, named one of the “50 Most Powerful People in Podcasting,” is co-host of the chart-topping podcast We Can Do Hard Things, which has received over a half billion plays. She is an executive producer of the Sundance award-winning film Come See Me in the Good Light. Glennon was Founder a
Buy books on Amazon -
Mark Brandi
Mark Brandi's bestselling novel, Wimmera, won the coveted British Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger, and was named Best Debut at the 2018 Australian Indie Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime.
Buy books on Amazon
Mark's second novel, The Rip, was published to critical acclaim in 2019, and his third novel, The Others, was shortlisted for the Best Fiction prize in the 2022 Ned Kelly Awards. His fourth novel, Southern Aurora, was Highly Commended in the 2024 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. His fifth novel, Eden, was published in July 2025.
Mark's shorter work has appeared in The Guardi -
Kirstin Ferguson
Dr Kirstin Ferguson is a company director, columnist, keynote speaker and executive coach. Beginning her career as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, Kirstin has held roles that have included chief executive officer of an international consulting firm, and acting chair and deputy chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She has sat on boards of both publicly-listed and privately-listed companies for more than a decade.
Buy books on Amazon
Kirstin has a PhD in leadership and culture, as well as honours degrees in Law and History. She is an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology Business School, where she was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2020, and is a Sir Winston Churchill Fellow. She was included on Thinkers -
Tim Duggan
Tim Duggan is an optimist who loves thinking about big ideas. He has co-founded several digital media ventures, most notably Junkee Media, one of the leading publishers for Australians.
Buy books on Amazon
His first book, Cult Status: How To Build A Business People Adore, was awarded the Best
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Book at the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards, and his second book on creativity, ‘Killer Thinking: How To Turn Good Ideas Into Brilliant Ones’, was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by Apple Books.
Tim is the Chair of the Digital Publishers Alliance, an industry body that represents over one hundred and fifty titles from leading independent digital publishers. He began his career as a music journalist for Rolling Stone, and lives wit