Shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction in 2019! The Flight of Birds is a novel in twelve stories, each of them compelled by an encounter between the human and animal worlds. The birds in these stories inhabit the same space as humans, but they are also apart, gliding above us. The Flight of Birds: A Novel in Twelve Stories explores what happens when the two worlds meet. Joshua Lobb’s stories are at once intimate and expansive, grounded in an exquisite sense of place. The birds in these stories are variously free and wild, native and exotic, friendly and hostile. Humans see some of them as pets, some of them as pests, and some of them as food. Through a series of encounters between birds and humans, the book unfolds as a meditation on grief and loss, isolation and depression, and the momentary connections that sustain us through them. Underpinning these interactions is an awareness of climate change, of the violence we do to the living beings around us, and of the possibility of transformation. The Flight of Birds will change how you think about the planet and humanity’s place in it.

Djalkiri are footprints, ancestral imprints on the landscape that provide the Yolŋu people of eastern Arnhem Land with their spiritual foundations. This book explores Yolŋu art and material culture through the voices of those who have been involved with Yolŋu collections over time. With contributions from Yolŋu elders and artists, art historian and museum curators, it describes how communities and museums have worked together in the past, how the relationship has changed, and how Yolŋu philosophies can guide how we engage with Yolŋu art. Some of the collections featured here were created almost 100 years ago and have rarely been on public display. In Djalkiri, members of the Milingimbi/Yurrwi Island, Ramingining and Yirrkala communities offer insight into their historical, contemporary, and deeper time meanings. Djalkiri is being published in conjunction with a landmark exhibition of Yolŋu art and culture at the new Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, which will open in November 2020.

The issue of animal welfare has attracted much attention in Australia in recent decades. Activists and welfare organisations have become increasingly vigorous in promoting a new ethical relationship between humans and animals, and in challenging practices they identify as inhumane. In 2011 this agitation culminated in the temporary suspension of cattle live exports, with significant economic and political implications for Australia. Similar campaigns have focused on domestic food production systems and the use of animals in entertainment. Yet despite this increased interest, the policy process remains poorly understood. Animal Welfare in Australia is the first Australian book to examine the topic in a systematic manner. Without taking a specific ethical position, Chen draws on a wide range of sources – including activists, industry representatives and policy makers – to explain how policy is made and implemented. He explores the history of animal welfare in Australia, examines public opinion and media coverage of key issues, and comprehensively maps the policy domain. He shows how diverse social, ethical and economic interests interact to produce a complex and unpredictable climate. Animal Welfare in Australia will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of public policy, those interested in issues of animal welfare, and anyone wishing to understand how competing interests interact in the contemporary Australian policy landscape.