UWA Publishing acquires N. J. Madden's goldrush novel Laughing River

UWA Publishing has bought world rights to the debut novel, shortlisted for the 2025 Dorothy Hewett Award, and will publish it in April 2027.

UWA Publishing has acquired world rights to Laughing River, the debut novel by Naarm (Melbourne) writer N. J. Madden, and will publish it in April 2027. The acquisition was announced on 2 September 2026.

Set in Victoria's goldrush era, the novel follows a boy who grows up to become a feared bushranger and then faces a moral and spiritual crisis. It explores what becomes of people held together only by the instinct to survive. The publisher describes its narration as tightly controlled and its tone as restrained.

The manuscript was shortlisted for the 2025 Dorothy Hewett Award and for the Unpublished Manuscript Award at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. UWA Publishing publisher Kate Pickard said the Dorothy Hewett judges had been "captivated" by what she called an atmospheric historical road novel.

Madden has been a featured artist at the Emerging Writers' Festival and held a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship in 2025, during which he worked on his second novel. He said he had long thought UWA Publishing would be the right home for the book.

Brendan Fredericks PR will run a national publicity campaign for the release.