Eagle Books (an imprint of Christmas Press) and Roffo Court Press (UK) are proud to announce that we have jointly acquired world rights in Life and Breath, a brilliant collection of short stories for upper middle-grade/YA readers by multi-award-winning author Ursula Dubosarsky. In a unique event, Life and Breath will be simultaneously published, in separate editions, in Australia and the UK in March 2026.

Discoveries from the past, hopes for the future – and the decisions we make on a knife edge that clarify our own sense of self. These elements inform Ursula Dubosarsky’s multi-award-winning novels and are in sharp, bright evidence in these thirteen beautifully crafted short stories, by turns poignant, funny, reflective and joyful – nearly always mercurial – previously published in anthologies and magazines but collected together for the very first time. Ursula Dubosarsky has written brand-new notes on the origins of each story.

Christmas Press publishing director Sophie Masson said, ‘This is such a special book, in so many ways—not only is it Ursula’s first collection of short stories and her first book for older readers in a while, but its publication is also the fruit of a decades-long friendship between Ursula, Jon Appleton of Roffo Court Press, and myself. At Christmas Press, we’ve previously published two of Ursula’s other books, Two Tales of Twins from Ancient Greece and Rome (illustrated by David Allan, 2014) and The Boy who Could Fly and other Magical Plays for Children (illustrated by Amy Golbach, 2019) and we are absolutely delighted to be collaborating with Ursula and Jon at Roffo Court Press on this wonderful book.’

Jon Appleton, publisher at Roffo Court Press, said, ‘A highlight of working in publishing is producing books you most want to read. I knew Ursula Dubosarsky’s short stories would be mini gems, as indeed her novels are, and so deserving to be united between covers in a brand-new publication, full of vitality and originality. It’s been exciting and rewarding working with Ursula and Sophie to bring this glorious book into being.’

Ursula Dubosarsky reflects on the book’s genesis: ‘It’s an uncanny feeling to look back over your writing life over a period of nearly 40 years. All these stories were written at very different times, for me, for publishing, for Australia and for the world. And yet, there it is, through them all, that continuous thread of something unmistakably me that’s been in my writing since childhood. I can hardly define what that something is – the writing “me”, I suppose it must be. Gathering the stories together has been like collating photographs together in an album, with all the mystery of your past, present and even future selves between the covers. I’m completely thrilled by this project – Jon, Sophie and I have known each other through all those years, warmly bonded by sincere friendship and a commitment to writing, especially writing for children and adolescents. I remember once my mother saying to me, “Ursula, someone should collect your short stories together in a book.” Well, now someone has, and I couldn’t be more grateful or honoured.’

A news article about it appeared in Books+Publishing yesterday.