Big Ideas Press
Clutterbugs
Fragments The Book
Fragments The Play
Fragments The Web Series
The Wellbeing Toolbox
ABOUT BIG IDEAS PRESS
All my life I’ve been grappling with big ideas. This is one of the many reasons
I gravitated to philosophy as a source of insight, personal fulfilment and growth.
Now more than ever, we need critical thinking skills to tackle community challenges
and uncertainty in a way that promotes reason, compassion and understanding
– skills far too often lacking in public debate.
Big Ideas Press offers new ideas, initiatives and resources,
helping people to find a common ground and sense of connection.
Each week, The Book Bench Project leaves books on benches throughout Canberra for people to take home. The designated suburb and titles are posted in advance on Instagram and Facebook.
FOLLOW @thebookbenchproject
Clutterbugs (2025)
Fragments – Hybrid YA Novella (2023)
Fragments – Playscript (2021)
New wellness title (2026) – Stay tuned!
Maura Pierlot – Author & Playwright
I’m a Canberra-based artist who creates across art forms for children and adults. My work typically has an existential bent, exploring the nature of self, belonging, identity and ethics – perhaps not surprising for a lifelong philosophy-lover (Ph.D. Phil). I’m the author of four picture books: Clutterbugs (Big Ideas Press, 2025), Alphabetter – A Better You and Me, from A to Z (Affirm Press, 2024), What Will You Make Today? (Storytorch Press, 2023) and The Trouble in Tune Town (Little Steps Publishing, 2017). My young adult titles with Big Ideas Press include The Lies We Tell Ourselves (YA novel) and
Fragments: Journeys from Isolation to Connection, now an award-winning web series and feature-length film anthology.
I’m actively embedded in community initiatives, running The Book Bench Project in Canberra, working with Books in Homes Australia as a Role Model and Sponsor, an ACT Branch Ambassador for Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) and a reviewer for CBCA’s online magazine, Reading Time.
When I’m not doing writerly things, I enjoy spending time at our farm in Jamberoo, where we grow walnuts, macadamia nuts, avocados and more.