My middle-grade seafaring adventure, Dugongs of the Sky, will be published with Wombat Books in April 2026! This story is about friendship, magic, and the meaning of courage, and is the kind of book I would have loved as a kid.

I look forward to announcing the details for a book launch, so watch this horizon.

A big thanks to everyone who came along to my worldbuilding workshop at Redcliffe Library yesterday. We had a fully booked session, and it was wonderful to share ideas and writing.

Here are some pictures before the event:

Thank you to Karen Bleakley for writing a lovely article about my upcoming writing workshop at Redcliffe Library, QLD. Here’s a link: https://redcliffeguide.com.au/stories/elements-of-writing-world-building-with-emily-larkin/

Want to play god? For any writers out there wanting to work on their worldbuilding, I’m running a FREE workshop on this very topic at Redcliffe Library, QLD, on Sunday 24 August. By the way, I’m here for all you fantasy and science fiction writers, but I want to support and guide writers who set stories in the real world, too. Worldbuilding applies to all genres, so hope to see you there! Here’s a link for more information: http://mbrc.link/elements-of-writing-world-building

#worldbuilding #writingcommunity #moretonbay #redcliffe #libraries #getcreative #writing

A huge congratulations to Jeanette O’Hagan for winning the Best Young Adult Short Story category in the 2024 Aurealis Awards! It was a pleasure to edit her work in the Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk and Dystopia anthology. Jeanette has created a very determined heroine who readers can cheer on, and the worldbuilding in her work is immersive.

My short story ‘Time’s Key’ didn’t win, but I’m happy to have been shortlisted in the Young Adult Short Story category, and it was great to attend the event on Zoom, celebrate writing, and listen to Garth Nix’s antics.

Congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted authors!

Hi everyone,

My short story ‘Time’s Key’ is a finalist in the 2024 Aurealis Awards for the Best Young Adult Short Story category. Exciting stuff! I’m delighted to also announce that Jeanette O’Hagan’s short story ‘In a League of Her Own’ has also been shortlisted. My short story and Jeanette’s were both published in Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia (Rhiza Edge), an anthology I co-edited with Lynne Stringer. To read ‘Time’s Key’ and ‘In a League of Her Own’, you can find the anthology here.

The Aurealis Awards are Australia’s premier speculative fiction awards, and I’m honoured to be a finalist. Wish Jeanette and me luck!

Animals get a bad rap when it comes to English expressions. If you call someone a snake, you’re calling them treacherous or untrustworthy. Call someone a cow, and you mean that they’re petty or nasty. If someone eats like a pig, they’re messy. Someone called a dog behaves badly.

None of this really makes sense. Snakes give some people the creeps, sure, which might have something to do with a certain Bible story, and humans having legs and expecting other living creatures to also have legs. We tend to look more favourably on animals we think resemble us in more obvious ways (which seems sort of arrogant). Anyway, maybe it would be better to see snakes as resourceful than unlikeable.

The truth is cows are gentle and cute.

Pigs are social, intelligent, and playful.

Dogs are–well, dogs are wonderful, aren’t they? Big-hearted. Sweet. Exuberant. Joyful. Loyal.

And when we call someone a turkey, we usually mean ‘idiot’. But the bush turkeys I cross paths with aren’t stupid–they’re daring. They’re scavengers, so they find treasure (food!) where others find nothing of value. And if you haven’t thrown away something that they want, they might just come and get it.

So the next time someone calls you a turkey, be just like one! Be undaunted. Go after what you want.

A beautiful book. Edwina Shaw writes with honesty and sensitivity about pain and letting go. Part self-help book, part memoir, part artist’s workshop, and part cookbook, this book feels like a friend coming to visit, wrapping you in a blanket, and pouring you a hot cocoa.