It's not all sunshine and roses over here

To be sung, mournfully, to the tune of Red River Valley...

From this office they say you are going.

We will miss your dry wit and great style.

For from us you are taking the sunshine,

that has brightened our workday a while.

Come and eat gluten-free cupcakes, if you love us.

Do not hasten to bid us adieu.

But remember this old terrace building,

and the Onions who love you so true.

Tracy O'Shaughnessy - publisher extraordinaire - is leaving us.

Even though she publishes books for grown-up people, Tracy is a kindred sprit, and we will miss her very much - especially her warmth and humour ... and her willingness to go on the coffee run, even in the vilest weather.

Tracy is moving on to exciting new things at RMIT, and we wish her the very very best, but we're just going to sing a few more cowboy dirges and stuff our face with cupcakes while we get used to the idea.

FAREWELL, TRACY!

Breaking news!

We don't have a town cryer, or a gilt easel, but we have news. 

Hear ye.... Hear ye...

A BABY! 

Not the royal one. Well, she's Fitzroyalty*, but not the other, more British, more expensive, more interesting to the newspapers kind.

HR** and her delicious new daughter celebrated five years (for mum) and almost-a-month (for daughter) of being an Onion and an Onion Sprout, respectively. Very good work, on all your productions, HR.

A DECADE!

JW has clearly reached the straight mile of her long and winding road, because she's been an Onion for ten years! Amazing. AMAZING. We're so pleased your perambulations brought you this way, JW.

A SESQUIDECADE!

Our Lovely Leader LB, has been keeping A&U on the cutting edge***  of marketing for 15 years! Congratulations and thank you, LB - for everything, but especially for telling our story so well.

So how to celebrate...? How to properly mark such an occasion...? Oh, who are we kidding. You know full well...

with three cakes of course.

And also with brownies.

You probably think you know brownies too - well, think again. These brownies had Caramello Koalas in them. 

Caramello.

Koalas.

In.

Them.

They came express from the kitchen of Amie Kaufman, and brought with them love from Meagan Spooner.  Amie and Meagan are the co-authors of These Broken Stars, which we are super super excited to be publishing in December this year, partly because we can use three of our favourite words to describe it: Thriller, Romance and Science-fiction.****

We've decided we are keeping them. Meagan and Amie, that is. The brownies are alllll gone.

Caramello koalas.

Inside the brownies.

All in all, it's been a very good day.

* Sorry everyone outside Melbourne, this is an inner-city elite gag.

** No, this is not short for Her Royal.

*** We know about the cutting edge because LB showed us the colour-photocopied, hand-cut, hand-assembled, recycled paper envelopes she made for booksellers circa 1999. CUTTING EDGE! (And very pretty.)

**** Okay - maybe we wouldn't normally hyphenate science fiction unless it was being an adjective, but then it would have been four words and that didn't scan so well. Editor's prerogative.