Jodi McAlister
@jodimca.bsky.social
Romance author, romance scholar. Senior Lecturer in Writing, Literature & Culture at Deakin (Naarm/Melbourne). My newest rom-com, An Academic Affair, is out now.
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Jodi McAlister
@jodimca.bsky.social
· Oct 22
Okay USA, I know you have plenty of other things going on at the moment, but my new book An Academic Affair will be released in your country in only a few weeks (11 November!!), and if you wanted to pre-order it, I would simply love that.
www.simonandschuster.com/books/An-Aca...
www.simonandschuster.com/books/An-Aca...
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
She made the call to withdrawal. Absolutely huge. The headline of the festival.
This decision has destroyed the reputation of the Adelaide Writers Week, and sadly I doubt it will recover.
This decision has destroyed the reputation of the Adelaide Writers Week, and sadly I doubt it will recover.
January 9, 2026 at 2:43 AM
She made the call to withdrawal. Absolutely huge. The headline of the festival.
This decision has destroyed the reputation of the Adelaide Writers Week, and sadly I doubt it will recover.
This decision has destroyed the reputation of the Adelaide Writers Week, and sadly I doubt it will recover.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
The Board can’t claim they didn’t see this coming after this happened at Bendigo.
The Board’s job is to protect the org first and foremost.
The Board has decided to kill the event, hurting the org and the org’s reputation, costing the org money.
This Board has to go. Not fit for purpose.
The Board’s job is to protect the org first and foremost.
The Board has decided to kill the event, hurting the org and the org’s reputation, costing the org money.
This Board has to go. Not fit for purpose.
people are withdrawing from Adelaide writers week faster than can be reported. In addition to the names listed here are Ren Wyld, Emma Shortis, and Fiona Katsaukas. Important detail: the only creative, Stephen Page, has left the Adelaide Festival board.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Authors withdraw from festival after Palestinian Australian author dropped
After Randa Abdel-Fattah was dropped from Adelaide Writers' Week by the Adelaide Festival Board, a slew of authors, including Michelle de Kretser, have withdrawn from the event.
www.abc.net.au
January 8, 2026 at 11:52 PM
The Board can’t claim they didn’t see this coming after this happened at Bendigo.
The Board’s job is to protect the org first and foremost.
The Board has decided to kill the event, hurting the org and the org’s reputation, costing the org money.
This Board has to go. Not fit for purpose.
The Board’s job is to protect the org first and foremost.
The Board has decided to kill the event, hurting the org and the org’s reputation, costing the org money.
This Board has to go. Not fit for purpose.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Richard Flanagan on point: "But with this act of utter folly and appalling weakness, the Adelaide Festival board – and the politicians who direct it – have, by scapegoating a Palestinian writer, now destroyed Adelaide Writers Week for the foreseeable future..." www.smh.com.au/national/if-...
If Tony Abbott is welcome at Adelaide Writers’ Week, Randa Abdel-Fattah should be too
Australia’s best writers festival could collapse within days as international and local writers boycott it in protest at the removal of Randa Abdel-Fattah.
www.smh.com.au
January 9, 2026 at 7:00 AM
Richard Flanagan on point: "But with this act of utter folly and appalling weakness, the Adelaide Festival board – and the politicians who direct it – have, by scapegoating a Palestinian writer, now destroyed Adelaide Writers Week for the foreseeable future..." www.smh.com.au/national/if-...
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Bendigo Writers Festival, Meanjin, now Adelaide Writers … powerful vested interests would rather destroy the cultural institutions they are supposedly responsible for than allow certain voices to be heard
Adelaide Festival board facing a stark choice: Are they willing to sacrifice the entire festival to prevent a single Palestinian-Australian author from speaking?
January 9, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Bendigo Writers Festival, Meanjin, now Adelaide Writers … powerful vested interests would rather destroy the cultural institutions they are supposedly responsible for than allow certain voices to be heard
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Translation: we cannot keep up
January 9, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Translation: we cannot keep up
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
with a classic Letteism (“the pen is mightier than the Board”) Kathy Lette withdraws from AWW unless Randa Abdel Fattah is reinstated. She is “heartened that so many writers are taking a stand for free speech together”.
January 9, 2026 at 8:23 AM
with a classic Letteism (“the pen is mightier than the Board”) Kathy Lette withdraws from AWW unless Randa Abdel Fattah is reinstated. She is “heartened that so many writers are taking a stand for free speech together”.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
I guess we're not just allowed to have grown-up Writers' Festivals or independent literary prize judges any more. The Adelaide Festival Board must've known its cowardice would ruin the Writers' Festival, presumably now selling tickets to Bob Carr & Tony Abbott gossiping in a 2-man tent.
January 9, 2026 at 8:25 AM
I guess we're not just allowed to have grown-up Writers' Festivals or independent literary prize judges any more. The Adelaide Festival Board must've known its cowardice would ruin the Writers' Festival, presumably now selling tickets to Bob Carr & Tony Abbott gossiping in a 2-man tent.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
feels like a good time to remind the universe at large that I have two high heat romance novels about queer ice skaters ready to go WHENEVER
December 14, 2025 at 9:20 AM
feels like a good time to remind the universe at large that I have two high heat romance novels about queer ice skaters ready to go WHENEVER
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Victoria: the garden state
January 9, 2026 at 8:46 AM
Victoria: the garden state
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
I count around 30 withdrawals by now. And that’s before most of them have even been announced.
Good luck to festival publicists and organisers for the next 8 weeks…
Good luck to festival publicists and organisers for the next 8 weeks…
More withdrawals from Adelaide Writers Week reportedly include:
Bri Lee
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Clare Wright
Paul Daley
Hannah Kent
Robbie Arnott
Walter Marsh
Jennifer Mills
Hannah Ferguson
+ at least 5 others to add to yesterday’s lot
Bri Lee
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Clare Wright
Paul Daley
Hannah Kent
Robbie Arnott
Walter Marsh
Jennifer Mills
Hannah Ferguson
+ at least 5 others to add to yesterday’s lot
January 8, 2026 at 9:47 PM
I count around 30 withdrawals by now. And that’s before most of them have even been announced.
Good luck to festival publicists and organisers for the next 8 weeks…
Good luck to festival publicists and organisers for the next 8 weeks…
cool cool cool cool cool
(if you're in the Melbourne CBD today and need to get out of the heat and into the cool, I'll be at Dymocks on Collins St with a bunch of other romance authors from 12-3, but absolutely do not go out into the heat if you don't have to!!)
(if you're in the Melbourne CBD today and need to get out of the heat and into the cool, I'll be at Dymocks on Collins St with a bunch of other romance authors from 12-3, but absolutely do not go out into the heat if you don't have to!!)
Live: Town of Ruffy 'severely' impacted by bushfire, as thousands lose power across Victoria
Victorian and South Australian authorities are bracing for "catastrophic" and "extreme" fire conditions as Australia continues to swelter through a heatwave. Follow live.
www.abc.net.au
January 8, 2026 at 10:10 PM
cool cool cool cool cool
(if you're in the Melbourne CBD today and need to get out of the heat and into the cool, I'll be at Dymocks on Collins St with a bunch of other romance authors from 12-3, but absolutely do not go out into the heat if you don't have to!!)
(if you're in the Melbourne CBD today and need to get out of the heat and into the cool, I'll be at Dymocks on Collins St with a bunch of other romance authors from 12-3, but absolutely do not go out into the heat if you don't have to!!)
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Libraries, museums & festivals getting trashed by cuts & because so many boards now stacked with business people, ex-politicians, incompetents & toadies & one or no arts reps. More & more public & iconic cultural institutions have been taken over, charters abandoned; now being wrecked from the top.
This is just the start of the backlash
Authors withdraw from festival after Palestinian Australian author dropped
After Randa Abdel-Fattah was dropped from Adelaide Writers' Week by the Adelaide Festival Board, a slew of authors, including Michelle de Kretser, have withdrawn from the event.
www.abc.net.au
January 8, 2026 at 6:58 AM
Libraries, museums & festivals getting trashed by cuts & because so many boards now stacked with business people, ex-politicians, incompetents & toadies & one or no arts reps. More & more public & iconic cultural institutions have been taken over, charters abandoned; now being wrecked from the top.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Bravo to the writers already pulling out of Writers' Week!
I think any show associated with the broader Adelaide Festival should also reconsider their participation in the line-up. Let's not split hairs, it's the AF Board who have done this. They should feel the boycott across the Festival.
I think any show associated with the broader Adelaide Festival should also reconsider their participation in the line-up. Let's not split hairs, it's the AF Board who have done this. They should feel the boycott across the Festival.
This is just the start of the backlash
Authors withdraw from festival after Palestinian Australian author dropped
After Randa Abdel-Fattah was dropped from Adelaide Writers' Week by the Adelaide Festival Board, a slew of authors, including Michelle de Kretser, have withdrawn from the event.
www.abc.net.au
January 8, 2026 at 7:13 AM
Bravo to the writers already pulling out of Writers' Week!
I think any show associated with the broader Adelaide Festival should also reconsider their participation in the line-up. Let's not split hairs, it's the AF Board who have done this. They should feel the boycott across the Festival.
I think any show associated with the broader Adelaide Festival should also reconsider their participation in the line-up. Let's not split hairs, it's the AF Board who have done this. They should feel the boycott across the Festival.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Not the main thing of course, but almost 18,000 books were sold last year at Adelaide Writers Week. So this will represent around a 1/2 million dollar loss at retail for the OZ book industry.... www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/202...
Brooks memoir tops chart at 2025 Adelaide Writers’ Week | Books+Publishing
Purchase a subscription to view job ads and other premium content on Books+Publishing.
www.booksandpublishing.com.au
January 8, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Not the main thing of course, but almost 18,000 books were sold last year at Adelaide Writers Week. So this will represent around a 1/2 million dollar loss at retail for the OZ book industry.... www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/202...
Firstly, did they learn nothing from Bendigo?? Not one single solitary thing??
Secondly, the lack of artists on boards of arts organisations like this one is a big, *big* problem.
Secondly, the lack of artists on boards of arts organisations like this one is a big, *big* problem.
Authors withdraw from festival after Palestinian Australian author dropped
After Randa Abdel-Fattah was dropped from Adelaide Writers' Week by the Adelaide Festival Board, a slew of authors, including Michelle de Kretser, have withdrawn from the event.
www.abc.net.au
January 8, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Firstly, did they learn nothing from Bendigo?? Not one single solitary thing??
Secondly, the lack of artists on boards of arts organisations like this one is a big, *big* problem.
Secondly, the lack of artists on boards of arts organisations like this one is a big, *big* problem.
Today is the release day for mine and @dramyburge.bsky.social 's new book! The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s is now out with Bloomsbury, focusing on the glitzy, glamorous novels of authors like Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, Shirley Conran and Judith Krantz.
The Bonkbuster
What were women reading in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s? This book presents a major study of the “bonkbuster,” an incredibly popular genre of women's fiction in t…
www.bloomsbury.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:41 PM
Today is the release day for mine and @dramyburge.bsky.social 's new book! The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s is now out with Bloomsbury, focusing on the glitzy, glamorous novels of authors like Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, Shirley Conran and Judith Krantz.
This sale is still ongoing! If you're in Australia, you can currently get all four of my adult rom-coms for under twenty bucks total in ebook.
ahem if you are Australian and looking for summer reading...
Amazon: www.amazon.com.au/stores/autho...
Kobo: www.kobo.com/au/en/search...
Booktopia: www.booktopia.com.au/search?autho...
Apple: books.apple.com/au/author/jo...
Amazon: www.amazon.com.au/stores/autho...
Kobo: www.kobo.com/au/en/search...
Booktopia: www.booktopia.com.au/search?autho...
Apple: books.apple.com/au/author/jo...
January 6, 2026 at 9:58 PM
This sale is still ongoing! If you're in Australia, you can currently get all four of my adult rom-coms for under twenty bucks total in ebook.
Really glad to see this romance anthology from Magabala getting some attention!
A world-first blak love anthology is coming — and it's about joy
An anthology of love stories written by First Nations people is in the works with stories of blak love, joy, and connection capitalising on the fastest growing literary genre in the world.
www.abc.net.au
January 6, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Really glad to see this romance anthology from Magabala getting some attention!
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Train back to wangaratta. Finishing @jodimca.bsky.social 's fantastic book. Will be back for a proper visit Sydney, I swear.
January 5, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Train back to wangaratta. Finishing @jodimca.bsky.social 's fantastic book. Will be back for a proper visit Sydney, I swear.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Spotted in the wild (at Bargoonga Ngangin library Fitzroy North) - new and shiny! @jodimca.bsky.social
January 5, 2026 at 7:15 AM
Spotted in the wild (at Bargoonga Ngangin library Fitzroy North) - new and shiny! @jodimca.bsky.social
It's 2026, so that means it's time for a new thread of Sunday romance recs! I've been doing this for several years now - brief thoughts here, longer thoughts on Instagram.
As always, my goal is to make sure at least a third of my romance reading is by authors from Australia and Aotearoa.
As always, my goal is to make sure at least a third of my romance reading is by authors from Australia and Aotearoa.
My Sunday romance recs are back for 2025! I do this every year - brief thoughts here, more extended ones on Instagram.
As with last year, in 2025, I'm aiming for at least one third of my romance reading to be by authors from Australia and Aotearoa. #Romancelandia
As with last year, in 2025, I'm aiming for at least one third of my romance reading to be by authors from Australia and Aotearoa. #Romancelandia
My Sunday romance recs are back for 2024! This is something I've been doing for a few years now - the quote post below is my complete list of recs for 2023.
Let's see if Bluesky's terrible threading will let me keep all my 2024 recs in the same place. 🧵
#Romancelandia
Let's see if Bluesky's terrible threading will let me keep all my 2024 recs in the same place. 🧵
#Romancelandia
January 4, 2026 at 5:41 AM
It's 2026, so that means it's time for a new thread of Sunday romance recs! I've been doing this for several years now - brief thoughts here, longer thoughts on Instagram.
As always, my goal is to make sure at least a third of my romance reading is by authors from Australia and Aotearoa.
As always, my goal is to make sure at least a third of my romance reading is by authors from Australia and Aotearoa.
So: my local wine bar has a bit of a Cheers vibe, in that if you're a regular, everyone knows your name. A couple I met there are having a big wedding overseas, but needed to do the legal ceremony in Australia, and wanted to do it somewhere meaningful.
Yesterday, they got married in the bar.
Yesterday, they got married in the bar.
January 2, 2026 at 10:35 PM
So: my local wine bar has a bit of a Cheers vibe, in that if you're a regular, everyone knows your name. A couple I met there are having a big wedding overseas, but needed to do the legal ceremony in Australia, and wanted to do it somewhere meaningful.
Yesterday, they got married in the bar.
Yesterday, they got married in the bar.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
I have three books out in 2026, and the first of them arrived bright and early! Meet The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s, cowritten by @dramyburge.bsky.social and me. www.bloomsbury.com/au/bonkbuste...
December 31, 2025 at 9:45 PM
I have three books out in 2026, and the first of them arrived bright and early! Meet The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s, cowritten by @dramyburge.bsky.social and me. www.bloomsbury.com/au/bonkbuste...
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
No prizes for guessing what my number one accomplishment of the year was.
An Academic Affair is by far the biggest book of my career. It's been unbelievable to see how Sadie and Jonah and their totally just professional marriage have travelled. bookshop.org/p/books/an-a...
An Academic Affair is by far the biggest book of my career. It's been unbelievable to see how Sadie and Jonah and their totally just professional marriage have travelled. bookshop.org/p/books/an-a...
December 31, 2025 at 8:33 AM
No prizes for guessing what my number one accomplishment of the year was.
An Academic Affair is by far the biggest book of my career. It's been unbelievable to see how Sadie and Jonah and their totally just professional marriage have travelled. bookshop.org/p/books/an-a...
An Academic Affair is by far the biggest book of my career. It's been unbelievable to see how Sadie and Jonah and their totally just professional marriage have travelled. bookshop.org/p/books/an-a...
I have three books out in 2026, and the first of them arrived bright and early! Meet The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s, cowritten by @dramyburge.bsky.social and me. www.bloomsbury.com/au/bonkbuste...
December 31, 2025 at 9:45 PM
I have three books out in 2026, and the first of them arrived bright and early! Meet The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s, cowritten by @dramyburge.bsky.social and me. www.bloomsbury.com/au/bonkbuste...