It’s that time of year again when ‘Best of’ lists begin to dominate across the arts media, and the same names and productions are festooned with awards, leaving other equally deserving titles forgotten and trailing in their wake. Here, hence, is a selection of personally curated underrated books (a couple are even debuts) that have perhaps flown under the radar.
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025).
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
