The team at UWAP have you sorted for gifts this holiday season! Enjoy our staff recommendations below and a curated list of unique and popular titles to please the most discerning book lovers on your Christmas list.
STAFF PICKS
Kate (Publishing Manager)
Kate recommends Naturalist on the Bibbulmun by Leigh W. Simmons (2021). 'Leigh’s book provides an amazing scientific insight into one of the world’s greatest walking tracks. I have had the privilege of walking parts of the Bibbulmun and this has inspired me to do more!'
Nicole Van Kan (Sales Coordinator)
Colin (Store person)
Colin recommends Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties (edited by Jeremy Green and Alistair Paterson, 2021) for its fascinating research into the shipwrecks that litter the coast of Western Australia.
Eleanor Hurt (Publishing Officer)
Ella recommends Where the Fruit Falls by Karen Wyld (2020). 'This book feels like getting a beautiful, warm hug from your grandma. It’s lyrical and magical and teaches you about both the hard parts and the sweeter parts of the people who make up Australia’s history. I can feel the glow of the campfire that kept Brígid and her daughters cosy now just thinking about it.'
Laura (Communications Officer)
Laura recommends Fish Work by Caitlin Maling (2021). 'Fish Work is poetry for lovers of language and the natural world. Caitlin dissects the world of marine biology, allowing readers a glimpse into the lives of the scientists whose work is often hidden and thankless. The Great Barrier Reef comes alive in surprising descriptions that cast it as not only vulnerable but cheekily resilient.'
Other titles that we think will make impressive gifts:
Balgo: Creating Country by John Carty. This big, beautiful clothbound linen book will delight the art lovers on your list. With its full-colour photographs of paintings by the Warlayirti Artists, it tells the story of the Balgo art movement, one of the most vibrant, colourful and influential schools of Western Desert painting in Australia. Royalties from the book will be donated to Purple House, a dialysis treatment charity.
Good for the Soul: John Curtin's Life with Poetry by Toby Davidson. As Australia’s fourth wartime Prime Minister, Labor's fifth Prime Minister, and the first Prime Minister from a Western Australian electorate, John Curtin's passion for verse was such that he held to a Sunday night poetry ritual. The author, an esteemed scholar and poet, is Curtin's great-grandson, which makes this an especially tender biography of one of our greatest leaders.
Marine Plants of Australia by John M. Huisman spotlights over 600 species of Australia’s underwater plant life, mostly using underwater photographs that reveal the amazing colours and intricate patterns found in this largely unknown realm of life. Imagine plants with blue foliage that turns red in the dark, or iridescent plants, or plants that look like rocks painted in shades of pink. These plants have evolved a startling myriad of shapes, colours and patterns that will impress everyone who views them — underwater, or through the pages of this book.