13 New Books Recommended for January

A curated list of thirteen new titles highlights recent releases from Australian and New Zealand authors. The selection includes Meg Mason’s novel Sophie, Standing There, which follows a sound‑technician’s obsession with a writer, and Ryan Butta’s historical work Blackbirding, recounting the forced recruitment of Pacific Islanders for Queensland sugar farms. Jaclyn Moriarty returns with Time Travel for Beginners, a story about a single mother who becomes a time‑travel agent after a car accident. Political analyst Amy Remeikis critiques “civility politics” in her book Screw Nice, drawing on examples from Australia and the United States. The roundup also features other titles spanning punk music, experimental narrative forms, and one‑sentence novels.