Booked for summer: UOW alumni reads to get lost in

Whether you’re soaking up the sun at the beach, hiding out under the air-con, or curled up in your favourite reading nook, this year’s summer reading list has something for everyone: a memoir that feels like a conversation with an old friend, poetry that stirs the soul, a gorgeous children’s book celebrating the birds in our own backyards, a love story that will keep you make you laugh out loud and a powerful collection capturing a pivotal moment in our nation’s history.

So pour an iced tea, find a comfortable spot and get ready to meet your summer must-reads for 2026.

The Good Daughter – Kumi Taguchi

Kumi Taguchi has always preferred telling other people’s stories. But The Good Daughter kept calling to be written. Her memoir is gentle, honest and deeply considered. After years of false starts, Kumi finally wrote the story the way she needed to: quietly, thoughtfully, and on her own terms. What the book means to her is difficult to pin down; perhaps that’s the point. It carries the weight of moments, memories and the people she felt compelled to honour on the page.

The book’s earliest chapters are dedicated to important people in her life, ‘Scott’ focuses on her time at UOW and is a tribute to her late friend and the unexpected role he played in charting her path to university. “He spoke with unbridled enthusiasm about the uni and campus that had a mountain as its backdrop and green lawns and the ducks that roamed there. And he told us about the residential colleges and the uni bar and the band nights and the beaches, and every word seemed genuine and full of a life I had never even considered. And after the 40 minutes ended, I knew I had to go there because I wanted just a sprinkle of what he had.”

It’s a chapter that will resonate deeply with UOW alumni, an intimate reminder of how a single conversation or friendship can gently alter the course of a life.

UOW remains a place of grounding for Kumi. A physical space she returns to, but also a memory-space. One tied to community, clarity and early adult formation. Her memoir carries that same sense of quiet possibility. It invites you into the moments that shaped her, without spectacle, just honesty.

Follow Kumi on Instagram @kumikotag, where she shares updates and connects with readers.

Arsenic Flower – Dakota Feirer 

One of the most powerful books to be released this year is Arsenic Flower, the breathtaking debut poetry collection by First Nations author Dakota Feirer. Intimate, unflinching and beautifully crafted, it explores generational trauma, cultural memory, masculinity and the enduring wisdom of First Nations people.

Dakota grew up in rural NSW, where life revolved around rugby league and a particular kind of masculinity that didn’t leave much space for poetry. It wasn’t until halfway through his undergraduate degree that he began writing as a form of healing, a way to document thoughts and feelings he hadn’t felt permitted to voice. 

The poems in Arsenic Flower span the last decade of his life. They are rooted deeply in Country, its history, its scars, and its capacity for renewal. These works honour kin, confront inherited silences and transform lived experience into something medicinal, powerful and beautifully defiant.

Dakota hopes this book represents his community with truth and care, and makes visible a lived experience he can proudly hand to his cousins as they grow. He wants it to “bolster their agency and their identity as they confront the world and its sharper edges.”

His craft has been shaped not only by his time at UOW’s Woolyungah Indigenous Centre finishing assignments and raiding the instant noodle stash – but also by his recent fellowship in New York. Immersed in the cultural legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, he found new ways to locate his own story, and the Indigenous Australian experience, within a global movement of creativity and liberation. His time in New York reaffirmed the importance of nuance, compassion and community, and inspired his wish for this book to foster “understanding for the weight and complexity of our history as something very thick, alive and affecting us all in the everyday.”

Arsenic Flower is a mosaic of poems that hold space for healing, caretaking and strength. A stunning debut and a meaningful, heartfelt gift this Christmas for readers who value truth, beauty and courage on the page.

You can follow Dakota’s work on socials @dakotafeirer or on his website dakotafeirer.com.

In Spite of You – Patrick Lenton

Patrick Lenton’s debut novel is sharp, funny, heartfelt and quietly momentous. For Patrick, In Spite of You represents not just a book, but a reflection of an entire lifetime of work to get to this point. It captures a younger, messier era of his life, distilled with love, humour and just enough mayhem to feel universal.

Lenton says that the move from journalism to fiction was a seismic shift. In journalism the gratification is immediate; in novels it comes slowly, after years of drafting, endless editing, second-guessing, and waiting. But for Patrick, that long wait for his debut novel made the gratification even sweeter. 

In Spite of You is a queer rom-com about grudges, reinvention and unexpected love. It features carefully crafted revenge plans, a reunion and a fake boyfriend. It’s a story about choosing growth over grudges and the beautiful chaos of getting there.

Patrick reflects that studying creative writing gave him years of experimentation, wide reading and generous teachers who helped shape his voice. He still remembers a spring day when a creative writing class moved outdoors, only to be chased back inside by a furious goose. Ever since, Patrick jokes that all existential novels are secretly about geese.

This book is as witty and self-aware as the author himself. A delight for summer, and especially for anyone who has ever been infatuated, slightly unhinged and grateful later in life for the perspective that age brings.

Follow his work on Instagram @patrick_lenton or via his newsletter Nonsense.

This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds – Astred Hicks and Holly Parsons 

This Bird is a celebration of the wildness that exists right outside your door. Grounded in science yet full of heart, the book introduces children to the fairy-wrens, magpies, lorikeets and even powerful owls that share our suburbs.

Holly Parsons was brought into the project by CSIRO as the subject-matter expert, Holly worked alongside the talented author and illustrator Astred Hicks to create a book that is both beautifully illustrated and wonderfully accurate. It’s the perfect invitation for families to slow down, look up, and discover the magic of the natural world right outside their door.

“Studying at UOW gave me the foundations not just in knowledge, but in confidence and curiosity. I had lecturers who encouraged critical thinking, pushed me to communicate clearly, and modelled what it looks like to turn passion for the natural world into meaningful work. The skills I developed in writing, research, and working across disciplines, have been essential in my career and ultimately in my role in bringing This Bird to life” Holly says. 

The book distils years of work in community engagement, research and advocacy from urban bird conservation from leading programs like Birds in Backyards into something warm, accessible and full of wonder. The book is designed to spark curiosity, help families appreciate the “wildness” woven into everyday life.  

This Bird deserves a place in every child’s stocking this year. It’s joyful, clever, and brimming with the kind of magic that inspires lifelong nature-lovers.

You can find Holly’s work through BirdLife Australia’s Urban Bird Program, as well as @birdsinbackyards on social media. 

We Voted Yes: The Wollongong Voice Referendum Story – Various authors, supported by Woolyungah Indigenous Centre

Authors: Jeremy Lasek, Jaymee Beveridge, John Corker, Sally Stevenson, Russ Couch

We Voted Yes is more than a book, it is a collective act of remembering – a time capsule of courage, heartbreak, and incredible community spirit. Created over twelve months by the people who powered the Illawarra’s Yes23 campaign, the book captures the full emotional landscape of this moment in our local history: the joy, the solidarity, the exhaustion, the grief, and the fierce hope that brought hundreds of strangers together for a common purpose.

The authors describe the process as deeply cathartic. Many had never been activists before, yet found themselves organising events, knocking on doors, hosting community conversations and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people they’d only just met. Writing the book allowed them to reclaim the bright, powerful memories of the campaign, the friendships formed, the optimism shared, the moments of cultural connection and unity. But it also required returning to the darker edges: the lies and misinformation, the personal attacks, the exhaustion of explaining and re-explaining truths, and the heartbreak of watching the national vote unfold on referendum night.

This book shows how it happened and why local stories matter. It documents the humanity behind the headlines: the people who held banners in the rain, the grandparents who baked for volunteers, the students who hosted forums, the Elders who guided the way, and the multicultural communities who turned up again and again to stand in solidarity. 

This book is a reminder that local action matters. That community movements can change conversations. And that even in disappointment, there is dignity, connection and legacy.

All the funds from the sale of this book will go directly to the Woolyungah Indigenous Student Success Fund, to support students experiencing financial hardship.

Where to buy:

Summer reading list books are available to purchase from the publishers and local booksellers.