Tess, firstly congratulations on taking the very humble smoothie to a whole new level. How did you find out that you had a passion for the drink to end all drinks?

Oh, thank you. It has been so much fun changing the way people think about smoothies with this book. I get messages from people all over the world who are making their way through every single recipe in the book. I love titles that re…

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There are not any other Australian books quite like Becoming Kirrali Lewis. What were the initial motives for writing this novel? What made you decide: “Okay, it’s time to write this story now”?

Great to know that the book is unique! I want to break into new areas, and explore new themes. I do think there is a hunger for Aboriginal stories and yet there is a bit of a gap in the market for contem…

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Antonia Hayes talks with Elke Power about relative truth and her debut novel, Relativity.

EP: Your debut novel, Relativity, has been likened to A Beautiful Mind and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. However, it seems likely that another comparison will be hard to avoid, and that is between Relativity and Christos Tsiolkas’ award-winning, bestselling novel The Slap. Without wan…

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Bronte Coates talks with Helen Macdonald about her award-winning memoir, H is for Hawk. In H is for Hawk, you decide to train a goshawk (Mabel) in response to the grief you felt at your father’s death. Would you now recommend this decision to others?

Ha! No, I don’t recommend it at all. Training and free-flying a captive-bred goshawk was my own rather eccentric way of dealing with bereavement…

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We interviewed all six of the six shortlisted authors for this year’s Readings Children’s Book Prize. The winner of the Readings Children’s Book Prize will be announced at midday on Tuesday 16 June! Meet A.L. Tait, author of The Mapmaker Chronicles: Race to the End of the World

What were you like as a kid?

“I think the best word to use would be ‘self-contained’. I was a skinny, freckled, …

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The Girl on the Train has been one of our bestselling books over the past few months. Here, we chat to the author Paula Hawkins about her popular novel. You said recently in a New York Times interview that this book was ‘a last roll of the dice for me as a fiction writer’. Can you tell us a little more about that – the feeling that it was now or never?

Before I wrote The Girl on the Train, I’…

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Emily Bitto has been named the winner of the 2015 Stella Prize for her debut novel, The Strays. Find out more here. What does winning the Stella Prize mean to you?

Winning the Stella Prize is one of the most incredible, life-changing things that’s ever happened to me. I’m only just beginning to contemplate what it will mean in terms of my career as a writer, but even being on the shortlist ha…

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Chris Gordon chats with local foodie Alice Zaslavsky about her new fact-filled, kid-friendly cookbook. Alice, it’s all going on for you! You must be super busy with your new book, your television show, your new business, being the face of Prahran Market – and goodness, do you have time to relax?

Ha! When you put it like that, it does sound like I should have way less time on my hands. I’m pre…

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Rebecca Starford’s Bad Behaviour: A Memoir of Bullying and Boarding School is generating much excitement at Readings. After numerous sleep-deprived staff members turned up to work unable to think or speak of anything else, Martin Shaw decided to go straight to the source for the story behind this fantastic debut. Here, Martin and Rebecca discuss how this extraordinary memoir came about.

MS: I’…

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Chris Gordon interviews Sofija Stefanovic about her new short book You’re Just Too Good To Be True (part of the Penguin Special series). You’re Just Too Good To Be True is an investigation into the world of online romance scams, specifically those that target lonely seniors.

I thought You’re Just Too Good To Be True was brilliant, and sad actually – a sad indictment on today’s society.

Thanks…

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