As Australian students and teachers return to school, one of the remotest publishing houses in the world, Magabala Books in Broome (WA) is gearing up to bring new Aboriginal perspectives to primary school classrooms all over the country.

With a grant of $33,550 from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, Magabala Books will soon deliver specially created teaching resources for 15 Indigenous stories, via the agency’s Reading Australia website.

Here we chat with Edie Wright, Chairperson of Magabala Books, about the…

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A Rightful Place edited by Shireen Morris

After more than two centuries, Australians are soon to decide if and how Indigenous Australians will be recognised in the constitution. In this essential book, several leading Indigenous writers and thinkers provide a road map to recognition. These eloquent essays from contributors such as Noel Pearson, Stan Grant, Rachel Perkins, Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Pat Dodson show what constitutional recognition means, and what it could make possible. With clarity and power, they traverse law…

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The 2017 longlist for the International Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced, including a short story collection from Australian author Fiona McFarlane.

This Prize is run by Swansea University and is awarded to the best literary work in the English language written by an author under 40. The winning author will receive £30,000 (A$49,155).

The 12 longlisted titles for this year are…

The High Places by Fiona McFarlane

Pigeon by Alys Conran

The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk…

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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.

Ellen Cregan is reading Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land

I’ve just polished off Ali Land’s extremely chilling novel. While this book is intensely disturbing, it’s very hard to put down. When it comes to crime fiction, I much prefer psychological thrillers over action-packed titles. As such, I like to think I’ve become pretty…

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Galentine’s Day is a holiday that Amy Poehler’s Parks and Recreation character Leslie Knope invented that occurs every year on 13 February, the day before Valentine’s Day. Galentine’s Day is kind of like Valentine’s Day – but instead of celebrating ‘romantic’ love, you celebrate your love for your best girlfriends.

In anticipation of Galentine’s Day, our booksellers share stories of how books have played a role in their own friendships.

‘A dear friend of mine is a wonderful and generous…

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We’re thrilled to reveal the three guest judges for our Readings Prizes in 2017.

Readings runs three annual literary prizes: The Readings Children’s Book Prize, The Readings Young Adult Book Prize and The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Each year, a shortlist of six titles is selected for each prize by a revolving panel of Readings staff. Once the shortlist has been decided, a guest judge then joins the panel to select a winner. The winning author…

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This month we have two special offers available on a range of award-winning and popular non-fiction titles from Penguin Random House, including books from Don Watson, Bill Bryson, Naomi Klein, Robert Forster, Susan Cain, Helen McDonald and James Rebanks, among others.

ONLINE OFFER

We’re offering online customers 25% off the full price of any of the selected non-fiction titles found here.

To receive the 25% discount, please apply the promo code 25OFF to…

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It’s been a big month for local YA fiction so prepare for your bedside reading stacks to start tottering. We’ve also got some recommended books for teens interested in sport, mental health and real-life stories, as well some youth literature awards announcements.

(Find our best recommendations for kids’ books this month here.)

LOVEOZYA IN FEBRUARY

Debut novelist Jodi McAlister brings us the funny, action-packed and heart-pounding (in more ways than one) Valentine. Sinister events are occuring in an…

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School is back, summer is in its final month, and there are plenty of new books to read. This month, we celebrate the start of the AFL Women’s league, appreciate the beauty of birds, and ponder the merits of canine crime-fighters.

(Find our best recommendations for teen books this month here.)

KIDS LIT NEWS

I’ve been ingesting a lot of news recently, mostly through online sources, but how about the old sort of news, the sort that CRINKLES?

…

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The longlist for this year’s Stella Prize has been announced. This $50,000 prize is awarded for the best work of literature, fiction or non-fiction, published in 2016 by an Australian woman.

The 12 longlisted books are:

Victoria by Julia Baird

Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain (Read our review)

The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Read our review)

Poum and Alexandre by Catherine de Saint Phalle

Offshore by Madeline Gleeson

Avalanche by Julia…

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