Our latest blog posts

Which recipe is the best from Hetty McKinnon's new cookbook?

Earlier this week we roadtested seven different recipes from Hetty McKinnon’s new cookbook, Neighbourhood and invited Hetty to come in and select the best one. Here are the results of the cook-off…

Jan Lockwood made ‘Israeli chopped salad with tomatoes, cucumber, radish and feta’ (pg. 123):

No cooking involved here, just chopping, chopping, chopping. You do need a great knife for chopping tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and radish. And another great knife for finely chopping fresh green chilli, Chinese shallots, and…

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The bestselling books at Melbourne Writers Festival 2016

We were delighted to be the official booksellers at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival, which finished up last Sunday. Congratulations to the Melbourne Writers Festival team on another amazing year!

Readings Managing Director Mark Rubbo says: ‘It was a very enjoyable festival and everything went well – we enjoyed ourselves. The program was strong and focused; Maxine Beneba Clarke’s opening address was particularly powerful, as was Richard Flanagan’s address. We were especially excited that Readings staff member Alec Patrić won…

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Books, music, film and TV from Indigenous Australians

In recognition of Indigenous Literacy Day, we’ve compiled some collections of our favourite books, music, film and TV from Indigenous Australians. Happy browsing!

Indigenous Australian picture books

Welcome to Country is one of our favourite Indigenous Australian picture book released this year; children’s specialist Angela Crocombe says it ‘belongs on every home bookshelf and in every library’. Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Joy Murphy and Indigenous artist Lisa Kennedy have crafted a spectacular celebration of Indigenous land and culture that takes…

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Today is Indigenous Literacy Day

by Mark Rubbo

Today is Indigenous Literacy Day.

Literacy unlocks the keys to learning; without those keys the choices available to children are severely limited. As the world becomes more complex and connected it is more important than ever that all our children have access to the education that will help them make the choices that are appropriate to them. Statistically, there has been no significant improvement between 2008 and 2014 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at or above the national…

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Introducing the Readings Young Adult Book Prize

In 2014, we announced two literary prizes intended to support emerging Australian writers: the Readings Children’s Book Prize, and the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.

Over the past few years, we’ve been delighted to see our customers embracing both Prizes. We’ve loved the way the Prizes amplify our voices as booksellers, and we’ve loved seeing readers getting their hands on these wonderful books from our local talented authors.

And today we’re so pleased to announce that we…

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Jayneen Sanders on Body Safety Education in children's books

by Jayneen Sanders

In recognition of National Child Protection Week (4 – 10 September) we chat with Jayneen Sanders – an experienced primary school teacher, author and publisher who actively advocates for sexual abuse prevention education.

Tell us why you decided to write children’s books that address personal safety.

I have three daughters so when they were very young I naturally taught them that their body was their body and no-one had the right to touch it in an unsafe way. I was…

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Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week

The 78-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton

Mega Weird (WeirDo Book 7) by Anh Do and Jules Faber

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

Welcome to Country by Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy

Mr Chicken Arriva a Roma by Leigh Hobbs

Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Uncensored (So Wrong Book 1) by Michael Wagner and Wayne Bryant

Dog Man (The Adventures of Dog Man

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Environment Award for Children’s Literature winners 2016

The winners of this year’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature were announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival! This annual Award is organised by the Wilderness Society and encourages children to take an interest in nature and feel a sense of responsibility for the places we love and our unique wildlife.

This year, the Award included three categories.

Non-fiction

Atmospheric by Carole Wilkinson

Talking about the weather used to be small talk, now it’s the hottest topic on Earth. In Atmospheric

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What we're reading: J.M. Coetzee, Laura Elizabeth Woollett and Liam Pieper

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.

Amy Vuleta is reading Liam Pieper and Laura Elizabeth Woollett

Last weekend I had the pleasure of co-hosting one of our New Australian Fiction sessions at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

I chatted to Laura Elizabeth Woollett about her collection of stories, The Love of a Bad Man. Each of the stories in…

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