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Stories to explore

State Library is a home for readers and writers, literature and storytelling. Want to search the latest issue of a journal or magazine? Desperate to find your next favourite book or essay? Need a podcast to listen to while you write? Here, staff from Stories and Ideas and black&write! share the stories they love each month. You’ll also find our latest interviews with local writers and creatives.

A photo of a carboard cut-out of a witch

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August marks 125 years since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum was published. 

In this essay for LitHub, Ed Simon argues the novel's enduring appeal is because its "milieu isn’t just of children’s literature, but the dream vision. A distinctly American dream vision." 

Been a while since you watched Wizard of Oz? You can borrow a copy from State Library today.   

Read it here
Image of Siang Lu who is wearing a black suit with a white shirt. He is smiling.

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The Miles Franklin Literary Award – widely considered Australia's most prestigious prize for literature – was first awarded in 1957. 

Brisbane author Siang Lu is the 2025 winner for Ghost Cities. Big congratulations to Siang, whose debut won the 2021 Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer, generously supported by Jenny Summerson. 

This year's longlist is also a great place to start if you're looking for diverse and exciting stories by debut and established authors. 

Listen to a conversation with Siang, about his win, via ABC Radio National

Listen here

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What are Stories and Ideas staff reading now?

Cover of The Sun Was Electric Light by Rachel Morton which shows an artwork of a bed with striped linen.
book cover The Burrow
book cover The Eagle and the Crow
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Explore your favourite journals

Griffith Review
Griffith Review
Griffith Review is a literary and current affairs journal that offers fresh takes on big ideas.
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Meanjin Quarterly
Meanjin Quarterly
Meanjin was founded in Brisbane by Clem Christesen (the name, pronounced Mee-an-jin, is the word in the Turrbal language for the finger of land on which central Brisbane sits) in 1940.
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Overland
Overland
Overland – Australia’s premier radical literary magazine – has been showcasing brilliant and progressive fiction, poetry, nonfiction and art since 1954.
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Australian Book Review
Australian Book Review
Australian Book Review (ABR), one of Australia’s major cultural magazines, presents high-quality journalism and new writing for the widest possible audience.
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