Books published by publisher Currency Press Pty Ltd

Adapted by Vanessa Bates from Gabrielle Wang’s award-winning novel, A Ghost in my Suitcase is an action-packed adventure story that crosses cultural and spiritual worlds. Twelve-year-old Celeste -- 'half French, half Chinese and all Australian' -- travels to China to scatter her mother’s ashes. There she meets her grandmother, Por Por, a quirky and wise woman with an unusual skill. Por Por is a ghost-hunter and her services are much in demand. When Celeste learns she may have inherited her grandmother’s talent, she must decide whether to acknowledge her gifts and use them to save her family and friends -- and if she has the strength needed for the job. Filled with fantastical characters from this world and the next, A Ghost in my Suitcase is a beautifully told tale of mystery, grief, difference and acceptance.

Inspired by true events that occurred in a south-western NSW town, Skate is about a group of kids battling their local council to get a skate park built in their home town of Narragindi. In the midst of this struggle they are forced to deal with the sudden death of one of their friends. They attempt one final stand; the skate park holds the promise of renewing local youth pride and self-esteem.Skate is a turbo-charged, moving and funny account of the mates, mothers, tricks and traumas of a group of young skaters. Enhanced by live skateboarding, the play is full of the emotional awkwardness of adolescence, its adrenaline, compassion and humour, and reflects the hopes and aspirations of young people in regional Australia.

In this delightful adaptation of the classic tales, Donna Abela brings centuries-old tradition into the modern era with a play that is timeless yet utterly contemporary.Young courtier Shahrazad poses as a ‘Smuggle’ (a refugee) about to be executed by the despotic King Shahrayar. To save her life, she tells the king a story he can’t resist. It’s a tale of magic and transformation, demons and lovers, adventure and terror.Delaying her fate by one more night each time, Shahrazad weaves the story into another and then another until turn by turn she finds a way into the king’s heart. His defences are breached and the results offer fresh hope for the whole kingdom.Abela has created an imaginative and playful piece of theatre for young people that poses many questions and longer discussions.Donna Abela's Tales from the Arabian Nights is a powerful allegory for our times and a great afternoon for an audience … [Tales From The Arabian Nights] effortlessly tell us much about human nature, morality, kindness and contemporary Australia.— NSW Premier’s Literary Awards judges (shortlisted)

King Hit examines violence amongst young people, the perpetrators, victims, witnesses and the so-called ‘innocent bystanders’ and offers alternative perspectives to reckless and abusive behaviour. It’s Tula’s birthday party and the theme is a Blues Brothers Pizza Night. Heaps of people arrive, the music is pumping and everyone is having a great time. When Tula’s parents leave the party, things change. Two boys begin a feud and what starts as a bit of fun quickly escalates into an alcohol-fuelled war reaching a shocking climax.

‘I loved the idea of being grown up, you know? And I’m not. To anybody. Not to parents, not to kids. All the burden and none of the respect. That middle ground is really hurting me… I think I killed Benny.’In a small town, a young woman applies make-up like layers of defence, preparing to go into battle. On top of the town tip, two friends stand guard as some home truths emerge. At the local arcade, a grotesque ritual sacrifice is taking place. And a young woman obsessed with Stevie Nicks thinks she’s solved the mystery about the blood on the silo just out of town…Intersection 2018: Chrysalis is a collection of short plays written by some of the most exciting emerging playwrights in the country. At the meeting point of young lives travelling very different routes, Intersection offers a unique snapshot of modern Australia.Each year ATYP brings together 20 young writers from across the country and challenges them to create stories that speak to the experience of being seventeen years old in Australia, here and now, creating a compelling, complex mosaic of modern life. Critically acclaimed in its first incarnation, it returns to explore the excitement, terror and electricity of being seventeen.The plays featured in this volume are for one and two actors.

Sixteen-year-old Connor is angry. He doesn’t know why, and he doesn’t know where to direct it. People and things he once liked annoy him. His parents, his best friend, his once-cool uncle now officially suck. Then, the outburst. Connor is dropped in a forest … for a week … by himself … to calm down. But his anger has travelled with him.Then a girl called Lotte walks into the woods.And she is angry too …From Inaugural Sydney Myer Creative Fellowship recipient Finegan Kruckemeyer comes this smart, sweet and fiery tale about two offbeat kids who, at war with the world, find a moment’s peace with each other. It’s a reminder of the impatient impulse in all of us to kick and scream at the universe, and the equally impatient impulse to lie in a forest glade and plan for the future.For a study guide from Melbourne Theatre Company: https://res.cloudinary.com/mtc-2018/image/upload/g_auto,q_auto/The_Violent_Outburst_That_Drew_Me_to_You_Education_Pack_-_Part_A.pdf

The Voices Project 2014: Bite Me is a collection of seven-minute monologues tailored for young adult actors.Thirteen delicious tales by some of the country’s best emerging playwrights, Bite Me is the latest instalment of the Voices Project—the overwhelmingly successful annual program of monologues developed by ATYP, written by young people, performed by young actors around the country, and seen by over a million people globally online. This collection of thirteen monologues serves a mouth-watering banquet of work exploring our relationship with food. Funny, warm, irreverent and cheeky, this is a celebration of the complexity and contradictions of young lives. Bite Me is a feast for the senses.Featuring: Pip Nat Georgie by Jory Anast; Tell Me by Jake Brain; Sweet Sour by Sophie Hardcastle; The Language of Love by Kim Ho; Sweet in the Savoury by Tasnim Hossain; Something I Prepared Earlier by Julian Larnach; Dig in Dean by Zac Linford; Facon by Felicity Pickering; Hunger by Brooke Robinson; Eating Sunshine by Emily Sheehan; That Daniel by Joel Tan; Food Baby by Kyle Walmsley and George by Kier Wilkins.

Since its inception in 2011, ATYP's Voices Project has been cultivating the talents of the best young Australian actors and writers. Every year, twenty young Australian writers are chosen to each write a seven-minute monologue for a young actor, bringing to audiences the cutting edge of Australian theatre.This selection of seventeen monologues takes the reader through the themes that have been explored in the Voices Project over the years, varying from first love to food, telling the stories of Australia.By turns witty, touching and chilling, the monologues of the Voices Project explore, deconstruct and subvert our perceptions of modern Australian life.