Australian fiction
Australian fiction titles to pick up this month
Little Plum by Laura McPhee-Browne
Coral discovers she is pregnant, and decides to keep the baby, just shy of her thirtieth birthday. Although the result of a casual sexual encounter, she has always wanted to be a mother and considers herself in an okay place in life to take this new step independently. Throughout her pregnancy she, like many expectant mothers, is also scared of what is to come. Her feelings of untetheredness and fear are further complicated by her…
Winners of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2023
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards!
WINNER OF FICTION AND WINNER OF THE OVERALL VICTORIAN PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
Cold Enough For Snow BY Jessica Au
At just under 100 pages, the premise of the book is deceptively simple: a mother and daughter travel a rain-misted Japan together, revealing gaps in their ability to communicate. Into these gaps, Au writes tenderly of mother-daughter relationships, of the immigrant experience of dislocation and of a profound love…
The 100 bestselling books of 2022
We’ve run the reports and done the math. Here are our 100 bestselling books from the past year.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (trans.)
Bulldozed by Niki Savva
Exiles by Jane Harper
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Lessons by Ian McEwan
Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down
Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Old Vintage Melbourne, 1960-1990 by Chris Macheras
Around the Table by Julia Busuttil Nishimura
Love & Virtue by…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Bulldozed by Niki Savva
Exiles by Jane Harper
Lessons by Ian McEwan
Quarterly Essay 88: Lone Wolf by Katharine Murphy
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
RecipeTin Eats: Dinner by Nagi Maehashi
Willowman by Inga Simpson
Old Vintage Melbourne, 1960–1990 by Chris Macheras
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Our bestseller from the past week is the final instalment in Niki Sava's bestselling political trilogy. With Sava's usual access…
Best Australian fiction of 2022
Every year our staff vote for their favourite books of the past 12 months. Here are the best Australian fiction books of the year, as voted for by Readings’ staff, and displayed in alphabetical order by author.
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott
When Ned’s two brothers are away at war, and his older sister and reserved father are his only company, he finds himself hunting for rabbits to sell their pelts; partly an endeavour for distraction, somewhat an attempt to do…
Must-read Australian debut fiction from 2022
2022 was a stellar year for Australian fiction, and we saw many debut local authors experimenting boldly with various literary forms: speculative dystopia, Gothic psychodrama and riveting page-turning mysteries. If you’re looking for a new writer to fall in love with, or just want to catch up on some of the most talked-about new Australian fiction of the year, here are just a few highlights. And don’t forget to stay tuned to part two of our debut spotlight, where we…
Australian fiction titles to pick up this month
Seeing Other People by Diana Reid
After two years of lockdowns, there’s change in the air. Eleanor has just broken up with her boyfriend, Charlie’s career as an actress is starting up again. They’re finally ready to pursue their dreams-relationships, career, family-if only they can work out what it is they really want.
When principles and desires clash, Eleanor and Charlie are forced to ask: where is the line between self-love and selfishness?
'Seeing Other People explores the value…
Announcing the 2022 winners of the Readings Prizes
We are thrilled to announce the three winners of our 2022 Readings Prizes! The prizes support emerging Australian voices across three separate categories of fiction: Children’s, Young Adult and New Australian Fiction, with only debuts and second works eligible for entry. This year's winners include an evocative debut novel about a mother-daughter relationship, a moving graphic novel inspired by true events, and a riveting mystery that brings to mind classic children's adventure novels. The winner of each prize will receive…
The Readings Prizes — pathway to publishing
The winners of the Readings Prizes will be announced later tonight. Below, a number of this year's shortlistees discuss their pathways to publishing.
Anna Zobel (Little Gem, shortlisted for the Children’s Prize):
I began writing and illustrating in earnest during my teaching degree. I wrote a pretty horrid historical fantasy novel in 2017, which was maybe the second full-length novel I’d written, and I shopped it around to a few agents and publishers. I sent an email…
Q&A with Readings Prize Australian Fiction shortlisted authors
With the upcoming announcement of this year’s winner, our New Australian Fiction Prize shortlist authors talk about their inspiration, their creative process, the ideal soundtrack for reading their books and what they hope readers take away.
Want to know more about each shortlisted title? Explore the shortlist here.
What was the initial inspiration for this story?
Robert Lukins (Loveland): I was camping on the side of a mountain in Tasmania and one morning I walked to the…
Recommended reading: short story collections
We love short stories and their unique ability to distill so much insight and entertainment with artful brevity and fervour. This month we’re highlighting six collections that have recently hit our shelves.
Between Two Worlds selected by Tara June Winch and Behrouz Boochani
Offering a snapshot of contemporary Australia, this diverse collection of stories explores sense of place, family, loss, culture, sexual awakening and the abiding connections to people and place that make us who we are. Told with utterly…
The 2022 Age Book of the Year winners
The 2022 Age Book of the Year winners have been announced! This year the award once again encompassed a prize for nonfiction as well as for fiction.
Miles Allinson has won the Fiction prize for his sophomore novel, In Moonland, while Bernadette Brennan has won the Non-fiction prize for her work of biography, Leaping Into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears. Each winner receives $10,000 thanks to the Copyright Agency. The winners were announced during last night’s Melbourne Writers…
Our top picks of the month for book clubs
For book clubs who are fans of Black Mirror …
Every Version of You by Grace Chan
In late twenty-first century Australia, Tao-Yi and her partner Navin spend most of their time inside a hyper-immersive, hyper-consumerist virtual reality called Gaia. They log on, go to work, socialise, and even eat in this digital utopia. Meanwhile their aging bodies lie suspended in pods inside cramped apartments.
When a new technology is developed to permanently upload a human brain to Gaia, Tao-Yi…
Debut fiction to read this month
Hydra by Adriane Howell
Anja is a young, ambitious antiquarian. When her career goes awry, Anja finds herself adrift. Cast out from the world of antiques, she stumbles upon a beachside cottage that the neighbouring naval base is offering for a 100-year lease. The property is derelict, isolated, and surrounded by scrub. Despite of, or because of, its wildness and solitude, Anja uses the last of the inheritance from her mother to lease the property. Yet a presence –…
The Readings Prize: New Australian Fiction shortlist
The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize is presented to the best new contribution to Australian literature. Our 2022 staff judges are: Christine Gordon (community engagement and programming and chair of judges), Carolyn Watson (Readings Doncaster), Susan Stevenson (Readings Malvern) and Tye Cattanach (schools and libraries specialist).
Discover the six shortlisted titles below.
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
A daughter arranges to meet her mother in Japan; a reunion of sorts. As they travel through art galleries and temples…
The 2022 Age Book of the Year shortlists
The 2022 Age Book of the Year Shortlists have been announced! This year the award will once again include a prize for works of nonfiction as well as for fiction.
Fiction
In Moonland by Miles Allinson
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
After Story by Larissa Behrendt
The Signal Line by Brendan Colley
Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down
Love & Virtue by Diana Reid
Nonfiction
Whole Notes by Ed Ayres
Leaping Into Waterfalls by Bernadette Brennan
Debut fiction to read this month
The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach
A queer, Maori-inspired debut fantasy about a police officer who is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new power, and tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it.
Basin by Scott McCulloch
A nomad swallows poison and drowns himself. Resuscitated by a paramilitary bandit named Aslan, Figure is nursed back into a world of violence, sexuality and dementia. Together, Figure and Aslan traverse a coastline erupting…
Australian fiction titles to pick up this month
The Diplomat by Chris Womersley
1991, Fresh out of detox and five years after his involvement in the theft of Picasso’s masterpiece The Weeping Woman from the NGV, Edward Degraves - art forger and drug addict - returns to Melbourne for a new start. All he needs to do is make one last visit to The Diplomat, a seedy motel renowned for its drug dealers and eccentrics.
‘What is most remarkable about The Diplomat is the prose. It is beautiful…
Jennifer Down wins the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award
Jennifer Down has been named the winner of this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Bodies of Light. The Miles Franklin Literary Award recognises a novel of the highest literary merit that presents Australian life in any of its phases.
A profound book about the effect childhood trauma can have on a life, Bodies of Light cements Down as one of the most accomplished writers of her generation.
Bookseller Bec Kavanagh says of the work: ‘Down has…
Our top picks of the month for book clubs
For book clubs who love dining out…
Raised by Wolves by Jess Ho
Growing up Cantonese in the racist outer suburbs was hard enough for Jess Ho, but add in a dysfunctional family who only ever made peace over food (and then only until the bill arrived), and it was clear that a normal life was never on the menu. She emerged from her childhood with two important traits: a major psychological complex, and a kick-arse palate. Both would help…
Petite novels for distractible minds
For those who are struggling to hold the threads of longer narratives right now, we recommend these six short novels for their brevity and staying-power. You’ll be thinking about each of these stories long after their final page.
At 112 pages:
Assembly by Natasha Brown
A blistering and unignorable literary debut about Blackness and whiteness in modern Britain.
Over the course of twenty-four hours, the whip-smart young narrator of Assembly receives a cancer diagnosis, decides not to tell her posh…
The Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist 2022
The 2022 shortlist for the Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced!
The Miles Franklin Literary Award was celebrates novels of the highest literary merit that tell stories about Australian life, shining a light on some of the country’s most talented writers. Each of the 2022 shortlisted authors will receive $5,000.
Below are the five shortlisted titles:
One Hundred Days by Alice Pung
The Other Half of You by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Basin by Scott McCulloch
An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life by Paul Dalla Rosa
Sunbathing by Isobel Beech
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentil
Eat Weeds by Diego Bonetto
Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper
Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen
Our bestselling book this week is the debut novel by Scott McCulloch, which was launched at the Carlton shop on…
Debut fiction to read this month
Sunbathing by Isobel Beech
After weeks of grieving, a woman books a plane ticket, bound for an old villa in the mountains of Abruzzo. Invited to stay with her friends Giulia and Fab - in the weeks before they marry in a village orchard - she lives for a summer in the house’s Birthing Room, where generations of women once had their babies. More often, though, she lives in her head: in the past, trying to make sense…
An extract from the anthology This All Come Back Now
This All Come Back Now is an anthology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander speculative fiction edited by Mykaela Saunders. Below is an extract from the short story Terranora written by Mykaela Saunders, which appears in the new collection.
‘Wake up! Wake up, everyone! Ocean Bikies are coming!’ The summons ripples throughout the sleeping camp, waking us all up in waves. I shake my two younger siblings awake and we drag ourselves up to the riverbank. The sun is still…
Australian fiction titles to pick up this month
Sunbathing by Isobel Beech
‘Sunbathing is the stunning debut novel from Melbourne writer Isobel Beech. It follows the story of a young woman who is invited to stay with her friends Giulia and Fab at Fab’s family home in Abruzzo, in the month prior to their wedding. The village is an oasis, untouched by tourism. The narrator spends lazy days with Giulia and Fab, cooking, gardening, and caring for a stray cat that wanders onto the property, in a gorgeous…
Bestselling books from Clunes Booktown
After predictions of dire storms and a torrential downpour on the Friday night, we weren’t sure what to expect for our first post-Covid Booktown. But the sun shone brightly all weekend as thousands of book lovers descended upon the picturesque town of Clunes to hear authors speak and fossick through the many pop-up bookshops and local stores. Visiting authors came to the Readings marquee to sign their books after their talks, with the following books becoming our top sellers:
The Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist 2022
The shortlist for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced!
The Women’s Prize for Fiction celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world. The winner receives a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze figurine known as a ‘Bessie’, created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven. Both are anonymously endowed.
Below are the six shortlisted books for the 2022 prize.
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
The life of Marian Graves has always…
Favourite first lines in literature
There’s something intangible yet immutable about a great opening line. Below are some of our favourite opening lines from contemporary novels, though – of course – a few classics have snuck in too.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
‘The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.’
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an…
Debut fiction to read this month
These outstanding debuts are written by some of the most exciting emerging voices in fiction. Explore a selection of April highlights below or browse our ongoing collection for debut fiction in 2022 here.
No Hard Feelings by Genevieve Novak
Penny can’t help but compare herself to her friends. Annie is about to be a senior associate at her law firm, Bec has just got engaged, Leo is dating everyone this side of the Yarra, and Penny is just ……
Our top picks of the month for book clubs
For book clubs drawn to queer retellings…
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry…
Eight Australian fiction titles to pick up this month
Australiana by Yumna Kassab
This is Yumna Kassab’s second novel and, as the name suggests, it is a collection of stories and ideas from an assembly of characters that together represent a narrative of rural Australia. Like a kaleidoscope scanning the drought-stricken landscape of a small town, the stories come in interconnected fragments. Kassab uses both prose and poetry and often gives the reader different reflections on the same scene.
Read Kara Nicholson’s full review
Loveland by Robert Lukins
Loveland…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
The Competition by Katherine Collette
The Shortest History of the Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick
Give Unto Others by Donna Leon
First Astronomers by Duane Hamacher
Love Stories by Trent Dalton
When We Fall by Aoife Clifford
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Bob Hawke by Troy Bramston
Son of Sin by Omar Sakr
The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly
Our best-seller from the past week is Katherine Collette’s novel, The Competition. The story follows Frances who is drawn…
Debut fiction to read this month
These sparkling debuts are written by some of the most exciting emerging voices in fiction. Browse some of our March highlights below or browse our ongoing collection for debut fiction in 2022 here.
Hovering by Rhett Davis
Alice stands outside her family’s 1950s red brick veneer, unsure if she should approach. It has been sixteen years, but it’s clear she is out of options. Lydia opens the door to a familiar stranger - thirty-nine, tall, bony, pale. She knows…
The Women's Prize for Fiction longlist 2022
The longlist for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced!
The Women’s Prize for Fiction celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world. The winner receives a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze figurine known as a ‘Bessie’, created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven. Both are anonymously endowed.
Below are the sixteen longlisted books for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
…
Prose by your favourite poets
These poetic novels and works of non-fiction and memoir are from some of our most beloved and revered poets!
Son of Sin by Omar Sakr
An estranged father. An abused and abusive mother. An army of relatives. A tapestry of violence, woven across generations and geographies, from Turkey to Lebanon to Western Sydney. This is the legacy left to Jamal Smith, a young queer Muslim trying to escape a past in which memory and rumour trace ugly shapes in the…
Mark's Say: Readings Foundation
Around 2008, when it became apparent that thanks to the community’s support, Readings would survive the onslaught of Borders, we decided we needed to acknowledge that support and the efforts of our staff in a tangible and ongoing way. We resolved to give a total of 20% of our profits to the community and staff each year. A year later in 2009, we established the Readings Foundation to support literacy and the arts in the Victorian community.
Since that time…
The Stella Prize longlist 2022
The longlist for this year’s Stella Prize has been announced! The Stella Prize seeks to elevate the work of Australian women writers – cis, trans, and non-binary inclusive. The $50,000 prize is awarded annually to one outstanding book deemed to be original, excellent, and engaging.
Below are the 12 longlisted books for the 2022 Stella Prize.
Coming of Age in the War on Terror by Randa Abdel-Fattah
We now have a generation - Muslim and non-Muslim - who have grown…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
The Future Is Fungi by Michael Lim & Yun Shu
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Still Life by Sarah Winman
On Reckoning by Amy Remeikis
The Big Switch by Saul Griffith
Love Stories by Trent Dalton
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Making Australian History by Anna Clark
Black and Blue by Veronica Gorrie
Maid by Nita Prose
Our best-seller from the past week is the wonderful The Future Is Fungi, an informative and richly illustrated guide to…
Recommended reading: short story collections
We love short stories and their unique ability to distill so much insight and entertainment with artful brevity and fervour. This month we’re highlighting six collections that have recently hit our shelves.
Send Nudes by Saba Sams
A motherless teenage girl, daughter of the town butcher, falls into a relationship with a much older boy, but realises she’d rather have the love of his dog. A directionless university student is taken up by beautiful, chaotic party girl Lara, who moves…
What we're reading: Keyes, Smith & Dahl
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Julia Jackson is reading Cooper Not Out by Justin Smith
I’ve read many a cricket book in my lifetime, from the Iceman’s Captain’s Diaries right through to Duncan Hamilton’s erudite biography of cricket laureate Neville Cardus, but I haven’t read a cricket book as downright fun as Cooper Not Out.
Here, Justin…
Six Australian fiction titles to pick up this month
It’s been a slow beginning for locally published works this year but we’re so excited to finally see a flurry of new local releases hitting our shelves. Below are six excellent titles that landed this February.
28 Questions by Indyana Schneider
When first-year music student Amalia stumbles into her Oxford college bar, she has no idea that everything is about to change. Seated across from her is Alex, a velvety-voiced fellow Australian with eyes the colour of her native sky…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes
Violeta Isabel Allende
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
On Reckoning by Amy Remeikis
Love and Virtue by Diana Reid
Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
All About Love by Bell Hooks
Our best-seller from the past week is Jessica Au’s, Cold Enough for Snow. Our reviewer and Readings Monthly editor Jackie Tang says of…
ICYMI 50 – some recommendations to help you choose your next read
There’s still time to discover your next read within the excellent range of titles that make up the ICYMI 50: Must-read new Australian books you might have missed collection.
To celebrate our brilliant local authors (and ensure that you don’t miss out on their wonderful books) we’re offering 20% off fifty recent releases that might have flown under your radar. From brilliant short story collections, we highly recommend trying Hold Your Fire, She is Haunted, or Born into…
What we're reading: Norman, Au & Reilly
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Karl Sagrabb is reading Permafrost by SJ Norman
This debut collection of short stories is striking and incisive, exploring desire and loss, and playing with, subverting, and inverting classic traditions of literature like the Romantic and the Gothic.
I absolutely adore work that plays around with Gothic traditions and, having written my thesis…
The most anticipated books of 2022
Dare I say it: here we go again? With another Covid-dominated year on the horizon, it is easy to feel not a little despondent: I don’t mind admitting, dear reader, that I’m very, very tired, and after a particularly difficult but still pretty fun Christmas trading period following our 2021 lockdown (like retailers across the land, I could recount a gripping, personal account of the infamous supply chain issues, but I’ll save that for my memoir…), I am sure I’m…
Best-selling books celebrating 10 years
These best-selling books are currently celebrating 10 years since their local publication!
A decade on, it’s incredible to see how these works have endured and heartening to know how many of these authors have continued to produce fantastic literature. How many of the below blockbuster books have you read?
Blood by Tony Birch
Jesse has sworn to protect his sister, Rachel, no matter what. It’s a promise that cannot be broken. A promise made in blood. But, when it comes…
Our top picks of the month for book clubs
For book clubs interested in who writes history…
Learwife by J. R. Thorp
Word has come. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived: Lear’s queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten. Now she can tell her story. A breathtaking novel of loss, renewal and how history bleeds into the present.
For book clubs who relish subversive stories of complex friendships…
…
The Prime Minister's Literary Awards winners 2021
The winners for this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced! The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards celebrate outstanding literary talent in Australia and the valuable contribution Australian literature and history makes to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life.
Fiction winner:
The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey
Non-fiction winner:
The Stranger Artist by Quentin Sprague
Australian History winner:
People of the River by Grace Karskens
Poetry winner:
The Strangest Place by Stephen Edgar
Young Adult winner:
Metal Fish, Falling Snow by…
LGBTQIA+ fiction favourites for 2021
It’s been a sparkling year for LGBTQIA+ stories in fiction! Below, you’ll find some of our 2021 fiction favourites that centre and celebrate a multiplicity of LGBTQIA+ experiences within their pages.
Nothing But My Body by Tilly Lawless
Nothing But My Body is an eight-day journey through the mind of a young woman, a queer sex worker in Australia, as she navigates breakups and infatuation across just over a year. The unnamed narrator’s voice is both fierce and vulnerable, defiant…
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