PHILIP FITZPATRICK

Crown Lane: A rural boomer’s tale by Robert Forster, UK Book Publishing, Whitley Bay, 2024. Available from Amazon Australia for $21.99 plus postage

TUMBY BAY - Although born in the heart of it, I’ve never been able to truly fathom the feudal but still very much extant English class system.

From the bone-headed parasites and inbreeds in the royal family to the lowliest members of the working class the existence of the archaic system and its acceptance by both its beneficiaries and victims is truly mystifying.

JAMES KOYAPO *

Colonel (ret) Reginald Renagi (left) receives a copy of Bitcoin Dream from Peter Kinjap

PORT MORESBY - 'Bitcoin Dream: Hope Hype and Chaos' by Peter Solo Kinjap is interesting, catchy and of educational benefit not only to Papua New Guineans readers but to readers everywhere.

Its purpose is to educate people about the facts underpinning society’s attitudes towards money and recent developments in how our conception of money is changing.

BAKA BINA

Baka Bina with fellow authors Daniel Kumbon and Jimmy Drekore

PORT MORESBY – “I want to write but I don’t have the time to write,” is a sentiment I hear over and over again.

There are several ways of stating these words over and over – a procrastinating trait we all have.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

Baka Bina (Artwork by Laben Sakale John)

Resis long KSSP (Komonwelt Sot Stori Prais) by Baka Bina, Independently Published, November 2024, ASIN ‏B0DMFK4K83, 388 pages. Paperback available from Amazon Australia for AU$41.88 (plus postage)

This is a collection of short stories written in English and translated into Papua New Guinea’s creole language, Tok Pisin. The stories were either entered into the Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition ('Resis long KSSP') or written for the competition between the years 2020 and 2027. There are two iterations of each story, one in English and one in Tok Pisin.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

The cover of Windward Leeward features artwork by the late Dick Roughsey of Mornington Island

Windward Leeward: The people of Gununa (Mornington Island) by Douglas Belcher, Independently Published, 2024, ISBN 979-8329693263, 338 pages. Paperback available from Amazon Australia for AU$18.11 plus postage

TUMBY BAY, SA - When I decided to retire Pukpuk Publications I was aware that it wouldn’t be easy. There would still be writers out there looking for a publisher and it would be hard to turn them down.

I had to be pragmatic however and think about myself and my wife Sue’s health as we drifted into old age and the problems that brings. Suffice to say, a couple of books slipped past the net.

JUDITH WHITE
| Culture Heist

TWEED HEADS - Here is a new book that has to be one of the finest of the year. It takes us to the heart of Gaza and to incontestable truths about the suffering and resistance of the Palestinian people.

Cactus Pear for my Beloved (Penguin Australia) is by playwright and poet Samah Sabawi. It reads like a novel but is in fact the story of her family.

MIKE JELLIFFE

BRISBANE - I’ve continued to plug away with publishing Nenge Books and this year celebrate 10 years since I self-published The People of the Bird and started the Nenge Books publishing journey.

I now have over 60 publications, including novels, children books, autobiographies a number of tok ples publications, reprinting literacy primers, a hymn book and a number of training books ranging from management to rural airstrip operations to Christian and Bible teaching books.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

The Chinese in Papua New Guinea: Past, Present and Future, Edited by Anna Hayes, Rosita Henry and Michael Wood. Published 2024 by ANU Press, Australian National University, Canberra.  Free PDF can be downloaded here. Paperback version also available for $60 plus postage

TUMBY BAY - My first extended encounter with the Chinese in Papua New Guinea was in Mount Hagen in 1967.

There were several Chinese stores in the town, and a great restaurant. I think the Chinese community also had something to do with the picture theatre that was built around 1968-69.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK
| Illustrations generated by Copilot

TUMBY BAY - Humans have always told stories. It’s something that distinguishes us from our animal peers and contributes to our inflated perception of ourselves as special beings.

Our stories are an essential part of our character and personality.

PREVIEW
| Amazon Books

Edgar and Eve by Philip Fitzpatrick, Independently Published, April 2024, 344 pages. ISBN-13:‎ 979-8323956722.  Available here from Amazon Australia Services Inc. Kindle $1.53. Paperback $18.32.

SYDNEY - Just imagine, the world in turmoil, not with war but something much more terrible.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Over the last few of years I’ve been trying out different genres for the novels I write.

I mainly write to entertain myself but every now a then someone actually buys one.

KEITH JACKSON

Pacific Odyssey: The Curious Journey of Lew 2.0 by Chet Nairene, Banana Leaf Books, March 2024, paperback, 392 pages. ASIN‎ B0CYLXCGW7. Available here as ebook or paperback from Amazon Books

NOOSA – After five years of what he admits has been especially hard work, Chet Nairene (a nom de plume) has published his second novel, Pacific Odyssey - The Curious Journey of Lew 2.0, which I hope will soon be reviewed in PNG Attitude.

Chet tells me that Pacific Odyssey is “a quirky mashup, something like Poltergeist meets Wall Street in rural Asia.

BARRY TAVERNER

Barry in PNG's uplands - the cover of his 2014 book

ADELAIDE - In March of 1970 I was sent by Dave Schupp, Assistant District Commissioner, Wabag, to try to stop a war between the Ambulin and the Wabulin clans whilst ensuring that I did not get killed myself.

I was shot at numerous times during that rather fateful day but not by men with guns, they had bows and arrows.

JOHN W KURI

John Kuri, holds 'Porugl - The Atrocity of Kerwanba', the second work of his Porugl trilogy and now a First Nations award winner

PORT MORESBY - A lot of things happened to keep me busy in 2023. One of them was the completion of my second book in the Porugl trilogy.

Phil Fitzpatrick gave a great review of the first book, Porugl - Son of the Underworld, which is on Amazon.

In the Bougainville News, 1970, when the ABC was 38 and I was 25

KEITH JACKSON

I wrote this last year and, feeling it both unfinished and too personal, decided not to publish. It’s still unfinished … but life is too short, and long ago I learned not to waste content

NOOSA – The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, desperate for respect, in 2022 marked its 90th year of broadcasting.

There is nothing really special about 90 except it’s a big number. For we humans, as distinct from many of the organisations we temporarily occupy, 90 is the start of really old age but no telegram from the King. The ABC, however, after being pummelled by conservative governments for a decade, needed a celebration. It needed some better news, even if it had to provide its own.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

The Kiap's Wife by Philip Fitzpatrick, independently published, July 2023, paperback, 370 pages. ISBN-13:‎ 979-8850819989. Purchase here from Amazon: paper $19.36, kindle $1.00
| BONUS: You can follow Phil Fitzpatrick here and take a free wander through his virtual library

EXTRACT FROM CHAPTER 1 - The two girls on the verandah of the missionary’s house looked down over the shimmering green coconut palms, over the rust-tinged roof of the sub-district office and across to the airfield.

The morning air was fresh with no hint of the heat that would come later in the day.

BAKA BINA

PORT MORESBY - What the heck is a crocodile walk? Commenting on the First Nations Writers Festival, I blurted out the words originally said in passing during my short stint in the Army.

I had used them in my book, ‘Operesin Kisim Bek Lombo’, published in 2020 by Amazon KDP.  I have since been asked what it means one time too many.

EDITORIAL
| PNG Post-Courier *

A Post-Courier newsboy on the streets of Port Moresby - a reminder
that parliament belongs to the people whose voice must be heard

PORT MORESBY - Mister Speaker, our collective question without notice is to you mister Speaker. We want the Prime Minister and his deputy to take note Sir.

Our question from the Media Gallery is specifically directed to you, Mr Speaker, because of events that have transpired in the last 48 hours in which the freedom of the media in the people’s House has been once again curtailed.

DUNCAN GABI

A story from Papuan Vagabond, a collection of short stories by Duncan Gabi, Independently Published, June 2023, 80 pages. ISBN 13: 979-8396667426. Available here from Amazon Books. Hardcover $32.54. Kindle $4.45

KAINDI - In late November 2020, I ventured to the East Sepik Province to join a courageous group dedicated to protecting the Sepik River from the proposed Frieda River gold and copper mine.

Our mission took us on a patrol to the headwaters of the Sepik River in December, where we aimed to raise awareness and reinforce the community's opposition to the destructive mining activities.

From Pagwi, we embarked on a day-long journey upstream to Iniok village, situated at the mouth of the Frieda River.

MARISA HOWDEN

A Dangerous Land by Marisa Jones, Trade Paperback ‘Jonesing for Books’, 349 pages. ASIN B0C57YPF3C. Paper $25.30. Kindle $2.99. Available here from Amazon

LAE - I’m nearly at a loss for words (nearly) and can hardly believe that after all these years, my debut novel is being published.

A Dangerous Land, to be launched later this month but already available, is a work of historical fiction-; a novel about love and acceptance set in Papua New Guinea in World War II.

Marcel Ezra Mapai - thinker, author and speaker

MARCEL EZRA MAPAI
Ples Singsing - A PNG Writers Blog

PORT MORESBY - My name is Marcel Ezra Mapai. I was born in Inauaia village, Central Province - a member of the Mekeo trib,.  

My middle name is actually Efi, but I decided upon Ezra as I wanted a Biblical name.

I have a degree studies in business management from Divine Word University and a Certificate in Ministerial Studies from the Bible College.

Pro-independence t-shirts on sale at Bel Isi Park,  Buka,  Bougainville,  2019 (Gordon Peake)

STEPHEN HOWES
| DevPolicy Blog

Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation: Journeys in Bougainville by Gordon Peake, ANU Press, December 2022, 158 pages. ISBN 9781760465438. Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation is not for sale but link here for a free download

CANBERRA - Gordon Peake’s marvellous new book Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation is based on the four years he spent in Bougainville as an Australian aid-funded adviser, from 2016 to 2019. It is both entertaining and insightful.

Peake is a brilliant writer. He writes movingly about Arawa, Bougainville’s once booming, now decaying mining town.

EDITED STATEMENT
| Pacific Media Watch

AUCKLAND - The New Zealand-based media research and publishing group, Asia Pacific Media Network, has called for an “urgent rethink” on Papua New Guinea’s draft media development policy.

The Network said the PNG government’s proposed regulation plan for the country’s media council and journalists threatened a free press.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

The Maliau Caves Adventure by Peter Comerford, Austin Macauley Publishers, London, 2023, 86 pages. Available here from Amazon Books Australia, paperback $17.12, ebook $6.37

TUMBY BAY - Limestone sinkholes and caverns are common in Papua New Guinea and feature in many legends and myths.

The foundation mythology of the Faiwolmin people of the Star Mountains features travels underground by their female creation hero, Afek.

The frequency shown on the receiver dial was used by Radio Australia until its closure when it was quickly grabbed by China Radio International

PETER MARKS
| ABC Alumni

Australia Calling - The ABC Radio Australia Story by Phil Kafcaloudes, commissioned and published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2022, paperback, 224 pages $27.75. ISBN 0646852434, 9780646852430. Available here from Booktopia for $27.75

MELBOURNE - Radio Australia was founded in 1939 by prime minister Robert Menzies to project the perspective of Australia during World War II.

At the time propaganda, what we might now call ‘fake news’, was being broadcast in our region by the Japanese, Russians and Germans.

PETER KRANZ

MORRISET – ‘Aus dem Leben der Kate auf Deutsch-Neuguinea’ (‘From the life of the Kate in German New Guinea’ may well be the first moving film made in what is now Papua New Guinea.

It was the creation of Professor Richard Neuhauss (1855-1915), an ethnologist from Berlin on an expedition to German New Guinea in 1909.

I was very excited to find this 114 year old 16mm film about Kate’s life in German New Guinea.

TONY SULUPIN

Beauty of Enga Culture: Untold Stories by Tony Sulupin, Edited by Daniel Kumbon & Barry Taverner, Independently Published, 2022, 206 pages. ISBN: 9798364376510. It is available from Amazon in the USA for US$13.78

LAGAIP – After I completed my schooling in 2007, a new chapter in my life began when New Britain Palm Oil Limited in Kimbe hired me as a plantation supervisor.

I completed my industrial training with the company and enjoyed the work immensely but a nagging thought kept disturbing me.

I wanted to do something personally that would yield benefits for my marginalised people in the central Highlands. So I resigned from NBPOL and returned home.

This book is for you who are struggling to get out of your abusive situation and escape the wounds of the past, Survive and Thrive will help disentangle you from victimhood. For you are not a victim but a survivor, a victor, a warrior

Lydia Gah - mediator, counsellor,  family law consultant, author, speaker

LYDIA GAH
| Ples Singsing

Survive and Thrive: My Courageous Journey Out of Domestic Violence by Lydia Gah, Holistic Journeys, March 2020, 112 pages, paperback. ISBN-10: 1925884988. Purchase here from Amazon, $31.05

MOOROOBOOL, QLD - Don’t just survive through life – thrive in your life. In August 2020, I published Survive and Thrive, my account of surviving domestic violence.

Discover the secrets to living a life you desire – during and after your journey of abuse.

Three families, seeking new lives of adventure and fulfilling careers, look for a paradise and find it in Papua New Guinea, experiencing the best and worst of times

HANS VON CHRISMAR

Papua and New Guinea Life Stories by Hans von Chrismar, edited by Rita Spence. Windmill Publishing, 2022, 246 pages. ISBN-10.‎ 0645522007. Purchase here from Amazon: Paperback $77.04. Kindle $9.99

SYDNEY – ‘Life Stories’ traces the lives of three families that came to the then Territory of Papua and New Guinea: a Chinese family, a Dutch family and a British family.

It describes the traumatic effects of the Japanese occupation, which isolated the Chinese family for three years on a small island off the coast of Wewak.

“I believe that those of us with a stake in PNG's history have a responsibility to call out this book. It is not history. I would ask that you consider publishing my review at PNG Attitude and reach an informed audience who may further spread the word” - Neil Gow

NEIL GOW

REVIEW - Presumably Daniel Lane’s book, ‘The Digger of Kokoda’, has been written and published to praise the qualities of the Australian soldiers involved in the Papuan campaign in 1942 and highlight these qualities through one man’s story.

These qualities are enshrined on the Isurava Memorial on the Kokoda Trail – courage, mateship, sacrifice and endurance.

The power elites in Western countries resort to self- delusion, distortion, evasion, lies and hypocrisy to justify and defend policies and actions they believe or pretend are in the national interest

CHRIS OVERLAND

‘The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: A History of Now’ by Michael Burleigh
Pan, July 2018, 432 pages, paperback. Available here from Amazon Books $9.99

ADELAIDE - I have just finished Michael Burleigh’s acclaimed book, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: A History of Now’ (Macmillan, 2017).

Burleigh is a distinguished academic specialising in the Nazi era, and he has held teaching positions, including professorial roles, at New College, Oxford, the London School of Economics and the universities of Cardiff and Stanford.

‘Foreign media must understand that the manner in which journalists are allowed to conduct themselves in other countries does not give them the right to operate in the same manner in the Pacific’

Solomons journalists at a training workshop in March 2021

NEWS DESK
| Pacific Media Watch

AUCKLAND - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the Solomon Islands government for threatening to ban or deport foreign journalists “disrespectful” of the country’s relationship with China.

The IFJ said this was a “grave infringement on press freedom” and called on prime minister Manasseh Sogavare to ensure all journalists in the Solomon Islands remain free to report.

Veterans in Pacific media must be in a strange position. To see a space so often ignored suddenly taken over by a cacophony of clueless commentators

Jacinda Ardern talks to journalists in Suva - the Murdoch press perceived
the New Zealand prime minister as confrontational, and called her 'hostile'

PRIANKA SRINIVASAN
| Twitter @iamprianka

MELBOURNE - Being part of Pacific media is amazing. So many talented, supportive journalists, doing great work for the love of a region so often under-resourced by world press

But I've noticed this love can sometimes spoil into an awful territorialism. And I want to talk about it.

It is important that media criticism of the government is based upon facts and constitutes fair comment. This is vital to preserve the credibility of the media

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - Requiring the media to 'instil unity amongst our people' – as the Solomons prime minister proposes - is all too often code for 'do not criticise the government even if this is warranted'.

In Australia, the Liberal-National Party governments have been notoriously critical of the ABC because, as they see it, the management and journalists are biased against the conservative side of politics.

“We struggle to hold this country together,” Sogavare said, stating that SIBC had been broadcasting news based on misinformation and deliberate lies that had caused anxiety in the public

The newsro/om at Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation

PITA LIGAIULA
| Island Sun - Pacnews

SUVA, FIJI - Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has accused the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) of deviating from its purpose of uniting the country.

Responding to a question in the Solomons parliament, Sogavare said SIBC is a statutory body and service provider that continues to receive funding from the government.

Challenges to popular and cherished notions are features of poetry that often bring poets into conflict with the champions of modern-day philosophies (or fads). In my view, that’s exactly the right position for a poet to take: truth-telling to the wise

Huli father teaches his son the intricacies of hunting (PNG Stock Image Science Library)

MICHAEL DOM

Cry My Beloved Country, Collection of Poems and Prose, 1998–2018 by Telly Orekavala, JDT Publishing, Port Moresby, February 2019, 76 pp. ISBN-10: ‎1797082752. Paperback $3.60 available here from Amazon

LAE - THERE are many different ways to interpret collections of poems and prose.

For me, writing about a collection of poetry is an attempt to make sure that what I take away from it is more than only what I have read into it myself.

Warrant Officer Ryan did not blame the Papua New Guineans for prevaricating about which side to choose when they sometimes preferred to help neither. Even when betrayed to the Japanese, Ryan understood that the same dynamic was at work

Peter Ryan - a young man, just 18, when he was called to war

CHRIS OVERLAND

Fear Drive My Feet by Peter Ryan, Text Publishing Company, new edition with introduction by Peter Pierce, 2015, 336 pages. ISBN: 9781925240054. Purchase from Booktopia: paperback $13.50 (ebook) $12.75

ADELAIDE - I have just finished reading Peter Ryan’s book ‘Fear drive my feet’, first published in 1959.

Ryan tells the story of his nearly two years patrolling in the mountainous country adjacent to the Markham Valley as an intelligence operative during World War II.

A communications response to the challenges of life in rural Papua New Guinea uses storytelling to change attitudes and behaviour.
“My daughters have no mother. My son has no mother. I have no wife”

A scene from It Takes A Village

GRACE HEAOA

PORT MORESBY - ‘It takes a village’ is a five-part Papua New Guinean television drama drawing attention to the plight of pregnant women and the risks of childbirth.

Rex is an emerging rugby league star in his local village and his wife, Miriam, is expecting their third child.

Pearls & Irritations is particularly noteworthy for gathering together a ‘stable’ of former senior public servants who bring great weight and understanding to their observations

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - John Menadue’s began publication of his daily newsletter, Pearls & Irritations, at about the same time as Ingrid and I made Noosa our retirement destination.

Now in its tenth year, Menadue started the blog as a platform for independent policy discussion in the face of the general failure of Australia’s mainstream to cover issues with calm and authoritative analysis.

Initially only four bookshops around the country stocked Grimmish, but Winkler also sent it to a few ‘influential readers’ who started enthusing about it on social media

Michael Winkler says his book was a difficult one to explain to publishers and bookshops (Justin McManus)

JASON STEGER
| Sydney Morning Herald

Link here to Michael Winkler’s Grimmish website

SYDNEY - Michael Winkler is a bit resigned about his writing career: “It has been one of defeat really, but it’s chop wood, carry water, isn’t it?”

When he finished his novel Grimmish, he and his agent offered it to publishers they thought might be interested.

In Amazon’s early days there was a hint of a benevolent and philanthropic spirit in its business model, but the ogre of profit at all costs has overtaken all other considerations

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Michael Dom and I have just endured an incredibly dispiriting battle with Amazon Kindle over an extremely trivial matter of copyright involving the Ples Singsing anthology of student essays from the 2020 competition.

This issue has thankfully now been resolved and the anthology is available on Amazon as both an eBook and a paperback.

The Solomons both lost and found its way politically and economically. Part of its journey were mismanagement and corruption, and the ‘tension years’, when the nation came to the brink of anarchy

Honiara is a corruption of the Malaitan word, nahona`ara, meaning facing the place where the southeast winds meet the land (Jenny Scott)

CLIVE MOORE
| DevPolicy Blog

Honiara: Village-City of Solomon Islands by Clive Moore, ANU Press, May 2022. More information here. ISBN 9781760465070 (online). Download or read the book free online here

BRISBANE - Like most cities, Honiara is bound by its geography, history and culture. In my new book, I explore these relationships and how they have created the city we see today.

Military bases in the Solomon Islands are in the news, although most people seem to have forgotten that Honiara began as a World War II battle ground and military base, initially Japanese and then American.

The ABC’S international media development unit supports democratic governance by strengthening public interest journalism capable of holding Asia-Pacific institutions to account

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - Like so many people before him, Daniel Mee stumbled by accident upon PNG Attitude –and liked what he saw.

Not just a treasure trove of information but a network of many hundreds of people who maintain a close affiliation with Papua New Guinea.

Being an agitator can come at a high cost. In many instances, society may not be ready for the solutions the media provides. The media itself may not be ready

Scott Waide - "The role of the media as a guardian of democracy comes to the fore when people go to the polls"

SCOTT WAIDE
| My Land, My Country

LAE - It has been a hectic three months working around the clock running pre-election workshops for journalists in all four regions through the media development initiative of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The most important part of the training for many of those journalists who attended has been the discussion around the role of the media in Papua New Guinea.

The National Geographic, always a product of its time, remains an amazing pictorial record of Papua New Guinea over nearly 100 years

E Thomas Gilliard's 'Miramar children' (or were they?) of 1955 (National Geographic)

PETER KRANZ

MORISSET – The photograph above was taken during E Thomas Gilliard's bird hunting expedition to the Papua New Guinea Highlands in 1955.

The story of the expedition, together with many spectacular photographs, was published in National Geographic magazine in the same year under the headline, 'To the Land of the Headhunters'.

Given Facebook’s domination of social media in Papua New Guinea, it was concerning that researchers found strong indications of organised, politically motivated activity using inauthentic accounts to impersonate incumbent politicians

CAITLYN MCKENZIE & BEN CONNABLE
| DT Institute  | Lowy Institute 

WASHINGTON DC - How many Facebook accounts and pages claim to belong to Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape?

Between 20 and 35, depending on the point in time and your definition, none verified by the platform.

Following the Chinese foreign minister's media-unfriendly 10-day tour, frustrated Pacific journalists hope that in future "there will be a more concerted effort to defend media freedom against creeping authoritarianism"

DAVID ROBIE
| Pacific Media Watch | Edited

AUCKLAND - Timor-Leste, the youngest independent nation has the most fledgling media in the Asia-Pacific region.

But the country’s president has just offered a big lesson to its Pacific Island neighbours in tackling Chinese media gatekeepers and the creeping authoritarianism that is threatening journalism in the region.

We saw many lights shine brightly during the years of the Crocodile Prize only to fade away and never be seen since

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Tingting Bilong Mi: 2020 Essay Competition edited by Michael Dom & Ed Brumby, Pukpuk Publications (May 2022), 195 pages. $1.00. Kindle edition available from Amazon Books

TUMBY BAY - I’ve got a confession to make, I like reading Papua New Guinean literature.

I’ve probably learnt more about the country and its people through reading its writers than I have living and working there.

That isn’t the only reason I like its literature. I also like the idea of Papua New Guinea, and that idea is best reflected in its writers.

Lydia Gah is a Nakani woman from West New Britain

BRENDAN MOUNTER
| ABC Far North

Following her divorce, Lydia pursued her education and went on to become a counsellor and social worker

TOWNSVILLE – Born prematurely in a remote village in New Britain, Lydia Gah learnt to survive from her very first breath.

But it’s her story as the survivor of a 12-year abusive marriage that she’s determined to share with the world.

Anthony (Tony) English - ex-kiap is “erudite in his exploration of unusually difficult issues and ideas"

KEITH JACKSON

Death of a Coast Watcher by Anthony English, Monsoon Books, Burrough on the Hill Leics UK, 2020, 479 pages. Kindle $9.56, paperback $22.75 from Amazon Books

NOOSA – A psychological thriller with a strong connection to wartime events in Papua New Guinea has been shortlisted by the London-based Society of Authors for an award for a first novel by a writer aged over 60.

Death of a Coast Watcher, by Australian author Anthony English, reviewed early last year in PNG Attitude, has made it to the top niche of entries for this year’s Paul Torday Memorial Prize which will be announced on 1 June.