Michelle de Kretser has been named the winner of this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award for her sixth work of fiction, The Life to Come. This is the second time that de Kretser has won this prestigious award.

Set over Sydney, Paris and Sri Lanka, The Life to Come is a dazzling meditation on intimacy, loneliness and our flawed perception of other people. In its pages we meet a cast of flawed, relatable characters: Pippa is a writer who…

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In the month that we reveal the brilliantly eclectic shortlist for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, it is entirely appropriate that the 2015 recipient of that same prize should be publishing a new novel. Indeed, there could be no better Fiction Book of the Month than Man Out of Time, the new work from Stephanie Bishop. Bishop is a superb writer – one of our best. Bishop has also given us a beautiful glimpse into her…

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The cover of this month’s Readings Monthly features a picture of my son Joe and me in our newly refurbished Carlton shop, which Joe manages. It made me think of my own father, who’d died when I was 20 and had never been able to see a glimpse of what I would become; all he’d seen was a rather confused uni student who’d just failed his first year of medicine and was embarking on an arts degree (which was never…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.

Bronte Coates is reading Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty (available 18 September)

I was extremely excited last week to get my hands on an early copy of Liane Moriarty’s forthcoming novel. A group of strangers attend a wellness retreat where they find themselves exposed to some unusual treatment methods. To say much more would…

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Earlier this week we roadtested different recipes from Hetty McKinnon’s brand-new cookbook, Family, which featuring simple, mouthwatering recipes passed down through generations and shared among family and friends.

We invited Hetty to come in and select the best one! Here are the results…

Ellen Cregan made ‘Sushi Salad’ (pg. 68):

This recipe appealed to me because it uses edamame and avocado, two of my favourite things in the whole world. This recipe was easy to make up – the…

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In 2015, Stephanie Bishop was named the winner of the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction for her stunning second novel, The Other Side of the World. We’re thrilled that her new book, Man Out of Time, has arrived on our shelves.

Events manager Chris Gordon chats with Bishop about her inspiration behind the book and how her writing process works.

We are so thrilled that your third novel has arrived in-store. Congratulations! You always write with such…

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Sometimes a wave of fantastic picture books will arrive, reminding me how good they can be. Not only for kids, picture books can be objects of art, deeply philosophical, poetic in their use of language, or just downright silly and joyous.

Here are six picture books that have made me smile this month.

Puddle Hunters by Kirsty Murray & Karen Blair

Puddle Hunters follows siblings Ruby and Banjo on a very simple quest – the perfect puddle to splosh about…

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In 2018, the Readings Foundation is supporting the Banksia Gardens Community Services in delivering their Aiming High VCE Support Program. Here, our Grants Officer Gabrielle Williams shares some insight into this incredible project and who it supports.

The banksia plant is a bold, beautiful native of Australia with over 170 different species falling under its banner. The banksia plant is highly adaptable, but prefers well drained soil in a sunny position. The distinctive ‘candles’ of many varieties rise above…

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We’ve announced the shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2018. Here, we introduce the six shortlisted authors.

Find more information about this year’s shortlisted books (including the judges’ report) here.

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is a writer based in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. He has self-released several small books of fiction, and was editor of Crawlspace Magazine. The Town is his debut novel.

Read the judges’ comments for The Town here

Jennifer…

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Congratulations to the six authors shortlisted for The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2018. Now in its fifth year, the prize recognises exceptional new contributions to local literature.

Over the past twelve months, the judging panel considered more than ninety books which made for some difficult decisions. The six books listed here represent the most daring new voices in Australian literature. All six books challenge conventional ideas of what the contemporary Australian novel can achieve, whether via experimental prose…

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