Second book signed with University of Queensland Press

Sally Piper

I have signed a publishing agreement for my second novel 'The Geography of Friendship', with University of Queensland Press. Publication is set for July 2018.

Loved this book by @soniaorchard. Such a perceptive exploration of friendship - the loyalty and intimacy that bind them but also the casual cruelties and betrayals that break them. #intothefire #soniaorchard #booksiloved

Book loot from @brisbane_writers_festival. Can’t wait to dip in @lucytreloarwriter @leah_kam @soniaorchard #bwf2019

Listened to these three legends on a panel at #bwf2019 today - Leah Kaminsky, Steven Carroll and Kristina Olsson. Perfect end to a great festival. @brisbane_writers_festival @leah_kam #thehollowbones #stevencarroll #theyearofthebeast #kristinaolsson #shell

Happy Indigenous Literacy Day! It’s a day for celebrating books, reading and writing for all. Please support the @indigenousliteracyfoundation if you can. They do great work bringing books to some of Australia’s most remote communities and funding the publication of First Nations’ books that help preserve language, culture and connection to Country. #indigenousliteracyday #indigenousliteracyfoundation #booksforall

I’m going to miss checking in each evening from Australia to see how UK reviewers on the #blogtour for GRACE’S TABLE have received the story, as it finishes today. Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to share your thoughts about the story, for your honest and generous feedback, for being a part of the #blogtour and including so many great pics with your posts. It’s been a lot of fun! Happy reading everyone!🙏📚💙🧡 @legendpress @bookmadbarlow @escapetothebookshelf @wearethecuriousbookclub @rhirhireader @somewhereinabook @jesikasbookshelf @bookcoffeeandfun @mrsbrownsbooks @bookish_spoonie @the_big_fat_bookworm @jodie.loves.books @my.bookworm.life @cenbookfairy_tylwythtegyllyfr @head_in_the_pages @rina1986_reads @whatjasread @justanotherpageturner @stories_with_hope @artbreaker.bookclub @alwaystimeforbooks

Repair. Two years later 🌿

Grace is still finding love in the UK on her Blog Tour. I feel so grateful to all the readers here who have taken the time to review the book. Heartfelt thanks to @rina1986_reads for this review. 🙏 Posted @withrepost • @rina1986_reads Book review! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Out of 5! Today's my stop on the blog tour for this wonderful book! So here's my review! 😁 As a massive foodie I had a sneaky feeling this book would be great and I was definitely not wrong! Its Grace's 70th birthday and she's hosting a dinner party for 12 guests, friends, family and loved ones are all around that table but where there's family there's normally tension and a few hidden secrets and this story is no different! This book is such a beautiful read. The way food brings people together is really the theme and it's done in such a clever, heartwarming way. I loved the way that the timeline flits between Grace being with her family and reminiscing on her own childhood and family life and how cooking and food played such a massive part of that. I related to this story on so many levels as I show a lot of love through food and cooking and my children would always say it's a huge part of their lives. Some of the plot is heartbreaking going through Graces past she's been through so much and this has had an effect on her children. It was really interesting to observe that family dynamic I found it really true to life which to me just made the book better! Yes not all of the characters are super likeable but are they in any family! I know there's a couple of members in my family that I try not to spend an awful lot of time with 😂🙈 Overall this is genuinely an uplifting read about love, friendship and the joy of sharing and cooking food! Id recommend this book to everyone! A huge thank you to @legendpress for this gifted copy in exchange for an honest review! And also to @sally.piper.writer for such a wonderful book!

At the footy. No idea what’s going on, but Charlie Cameron #23 looks to be playing up a storm. #brisbanelions #thegabba #afl

I wish scents could be shared on Instagram because the bush smelt gorgeous this afternoon, like violets💜

I’m just so pleased with how GRACE’S TABLE is being received by UK readers. Thanks so much @mrsbrownsbooks for your kind words and for being a part of the #blogtour @legendpress Posted @withrepost • @mrsbrownsbooks Today at mrsbrownsbooks.wordpress.com is our stop on the blog tour for #gracestable. It’s a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ corker and I am so grateful to have been able to review this gem of a read. Come on over to see why this should move onto your TBR pile! @mrsbrownsbooks @legendpress @sally.piper.writer #booknerd #booklover #bookreview #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #fivestarreview #foryourtbr #glidesintothepast #lotsoflovelyfoodinthisbook #mustreadbook

Happy #loveyourbookshopday to the legends @avidreader, my local and much loved bookshop in Brisbane! The top pic is from the launch of The Geography of Friendship last year where someone had clearly cracked a good joke. Which just proves Avid Reader don’t only bring you great books, years of book selling experience and knowledgable recommendations, they also bring you great times at the many events they host. #morethanabookshop #lybd19 @uqpbooks

It’s #loveyourbookshopday this Saturday and it’s made me think even more about all those bookshops that have supported me as a writer, either recommending and hand selling my books or hosting an author event on my behalf. Just over a year ago @betterreadthandead_ bookshop in Newtown did just that. The second pic is of me and the ever generous and all round great gal @emilymaguirewriter who chatted with me at Better Read about THE GEOGRAPHY OF FRIENDSHIP soon after it’s release. I love this community. Please support it on Saturday. Visit a bricks and mortar bookshop and show them some love by buying a book. @uqpbooks

So grateful for this generous review of the UK edition of GRACE’S TABLE. Not to mention the gorgeous pic! It’s made my weekend. Thank you @escapetothebookshelf. Posted @withrepost • @escapetothebookshelf WHAT A BOOK!! 5 STAR READ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Today is my stop on the blog tour for Grace’s Table by @sally.piper.writer and wow I adored this book. Thanks to @legendpress for a copy. . . . The story is told over the course of Grace’s 70th dinner party, flashing back to different times in Grace’s life. I really don’t want to say much more about the plot as I thought it was beautiful how it all unfolded seamlessly amongst the events of the dinner party, but I will just say this is a story that excellently captures the difficulties of family relationships. . . . Piper’s writing style was fabulous. I loved the descriptions of the cooking and the food at the dinner party, especially when the atmosphere at the party or in a flashback was reflected in these descriptions. I also loved the diverse range of characters that featured in the story, for me this made the family dinner party so realistic - all family members have their own quirks and foibles! . . . Some of the emotions explored, like guilt and anger, for me are two common emotions within families that do not get spoken about enough. I appreciated this authenticity a lot and this carried throughout the story. A few things hit close to home but it was so comforting reading something that did not shy away from the issues families can experience when there is little communication. . . . I couldn’t recommend this book enough, it was a really quick read for me but I didn’t want it to end at all. Loved it. . . . #legendpress #sallypiper #gracestable #booksoutside #5starreads #5starread #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookblogger #bookblog #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookpost #booknerd #bookish #bookishpost #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #prettybooks

I went to the most amazing nature writing workshop today run by Lisa-Ann Gershwin as part of @byronwritersfestival. Lisa-Ann is a world leader in jellyfish studies but today we learnt to write about nature from four zones of the body: the fact and data-led head, that most often used by scientists, the emotion of the heart, the fear, dread or rage of the gut and the passion and sensuality of the groin. Nothing boring about being a writer! #lisaanngershwin #byronwritersfestival2019

Just picked up my author copies of the UK edition of Grace’s Table from @uqpbooks on the eve of Grace being brought to UK readers by @legendpress. So grateful to @evawoodsakaclairemcgowan (How to be Happy) and @sarahjhaywood (The Cactus) for their generous endorsement of my book. Writers supporting writers is clearly a universal thing! The Blog Tour for Grace’s Table starts tomorrow, which leaves me all kinds of nervous and excited! #gracestable #blogtour #booksofinstagram #legendpress

Contributor copies!😍 I’m absolutely loving the contributions in this issue of @griffithreview 65: Crimes and Punishments. To have an extract from my next novel in it is both frightening (because it’s not close to finished yet) and humbling because it sits alongside writers I admire. The official publication day is 6th August and it will be launched @avidreader on 8th August. After that, it’s available at all good bookstores! #griffithreview65 #CrimesandPunishments

Food is a character in itself in GRACE’S TABLE. I took a number of the old fashioned recipes in the novel from this hard-to-find 1968 secondhand edition cookbook by Australia’s original domestic goddess Margaret Fulton, who died today aged 94. Vale Margaret Fulton.

GRACE’S TABLE is going on a #blogtour throughout August! I’m absolutely thrilled that the story of Grace and her challenging family and past will find a UK readership when it is published there by @legendpress on 1st August. Go Grace! #gracestable #legendpress @uqpbooks

I also found this treasure on the library shelf at Arvon. Extraordinary storytelling about a young girl’s often extreme (and sometimes evil) ways of gaining attention from her father and maligning her mother. Every chapter is exactly one page long, which must have called for some courageous restraint by the author, but also meant that every word used on that single page had to earn its place. #booksiloved #reasonsshegoestothewoods #deborahkaydavies

I stumbled across this superb novella in the library of the Arvon writing centre I recently stayed at in Shropshire. It’s a sparse, honest, raw and heartbreaking account of humanity in tatters in occupied Poland during WWll. It spans just one day and one meal, but infers generations of consequences. #booksiloved #amealinwinter #hubertmingarelli