Since Roland Fishman founded The Writers’ Studio in Sydney in 1992, he has taught creative writing to thousands of students, some now published authors. Meanwhile, everyone who knows the former Fairfax journalist has been waiting to see his own talents in the novel he was quietly working on. He had published two books on cricket in 1986 and 1991 but, until now, nothing more. So I was pleased to receive a copy of No Man’s Land, the first in a series about Russell Carter, surfer and special operative, who must stop a planned terrorist attack on Sydney Harbour. Fishman (pictured) spent years on a literary grunge novel, a caper novel and a romantic comedy before finding his genre, inspired by the TV ninjas of his childhood and the books he liked to read. No Man’s Land took about four years to write, he says, partly because ‘‘I wanted to establish a larger-than-life character with the depth and mythic quality to carry a thriller series’’. He felt the pressure of wanting to present a good example for his classes and found it hard to be objective about his own work. ‘‘The reason the Writers’ Studio courses work well is that I’ve made every mistake a writer can make, am extremely persistent and have always maintained a willingness to learn,’’ he says. Kathleen Allen, his partner in life and work, was ‘‘a tough critic’’ who helped ‘‘deepen the emotion and flesh out the love story’’. No Man’s Land is also the first title from The Writers’ Studio publishing arm, Rising Tide Books; the ebook is available from Amazon and the print edition is out in September. Fishman's writing blog is at rolandfishman.com.au.

BIRTH TO DEATH IN HISTORY AWARDS

There’s an astonishing range of unusual subjects on the shortlist for the NSW Premier’s History Awards. Finalists for the Australian history prize are Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War by Joan Beaumont, The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills edited by Ian Clark and Fred Cahir, and The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright, who has already won the Stella Prize for her detailed, lively reminder that women took part in the goldfields uprising. General history: Encountering the Pacific in the Age of Enlightenment by John Gascoigne, Antipodean America: Australasia and the Constitution of US Literature by Paul Giles, who makes the interesting argument that Australian writing influenced American writers from Benjamin Franklin to Henry Adams, and Lamaze: An International History by Paula Michaels, which traces the development of ‘‘natural’’ childbirth. NSW community and regional history: The Wallpapered Manse: The Rescue of an Endangered House by Peter Freeman, Coast: A History of the NSW Edge by Ian Hoskins, and Sydney Mechanic School of Arts: A History by Garry Wotherspoon. Young people’s history: The Road to Gundagai by Jackie French, Yoko’s Diary edited by Paul Ham, and Australians All by Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle. Multimedia history: Public Intimacies: The 1974 Royal Commission on Human Relationships by Michelle Arrow, Catherine Freyne and Timothy Nicastri, Persons of Interest: Gary Foley by Haydn Keenan, and The Reef by Iain McCalman. The awards, including a new Australian Military History Prize, will be announced on September 5 at the launch of NSW History Week.

JUDGE THESE BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS

If you love the look of books as much as the words inside, you can vote for the best Australian book cover in the first People’s Choice Award at the Australian Book Design Awards. Vote by Tuesday August 19 at bookworld.com.au/ABDA.