Here are eight books that will transport readers to other lands – all from authors appearing in this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival program .

The Wonder Trail by Steve Hely

Part travel guide, part pop history, part comic memoir, The Wonder Trail is the story of Steve Hely’s riotous journey from Los Angeles to the bottom of South America. Throughout his travels, Hely encounters the colourful, the wild and the downright absurd. An award-winning humour writer, Hely has been on…

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Emily Bitto interviews Kate Mildenhall about her debut novel, Skylarking.

At a low point during the writing of her debut novel, Skylarking, Kate Mildenhall wrote herself a letter in the voice of her main protagonist, a young nineteenth-century woman called Kate Gilbert.

‘I don’t totally believe in that idea of channelling characters,’ Mildenhall tells me, ‘but writing the letter did have the impact of being able to do that for me. She said to me, this is what…

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The eighth Harry Potter story (the script of the new West End play) was released on Sunday, and we have LOTS of feelings about it. Here are some important thoughts we had after finishing the book.

Please note – this blog post contains spoilers.

Scorpius is our new favourite character.

Okay, we freaking love Scorpius. He is delightful – a knowledge-hungry, good-hearted, resilient Slytherin with big dreams for the future, and an excellent sense of humour. Plus, his friendship with…

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Welcome to Country by Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy

The Boundless Sublime by Lili Wilkinson

Run, Pip, Run by J.C. Jones

All My Treasures: A Book of Joy by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey

The World’s Worst Children by David Walliams and Tony Ross

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Quidditch Through the Ages by J. K. Rowling

Charlie and the War Against the Grannies by Alan Brough

…

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Harry Potter And The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Amazinger Face by Zoe Foster

Open House Melbourne 2016

The North Water by Ian McGuire

When the Music’s Over by Peter Robinson

The Dry by Jane Harper

The Black Widow by Daniel Silva

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

The eight Harry Potter story was released yesterday at exactly 9.01am and we celebrated with…

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Yesterday we celebrated the release of the eighth Harry Potter story. As part of the festivities, we invited readers to share their favourite Harry Potter memories, and here are just a few of the messages we loved best…

Harry Potter taught a small 11 year old dyslexic girl to read. Thank you. – A 25 year old.

I still remember the first time I read about Dumbledore’s death at the hands of Snape + being in absolute shock!

“After all…

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I feel very lucky that my time on Earth coincides with that of Maxine Beneba Clarke’s and her powerful talent. August brings us her much-anticipated memoir, The Hate Race, our Book of the Month. This book is a confronting story about the lived experience of racism in Australia. It’s honest, shocking, and will provide readers with an alarmingly familiar depiction of the casual and overt racism commonplace in the Australia of the 1980s and 90s. It should therefore make…

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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.

Stella Charls is reading You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

I seem to have spent a lot of time on this blog raving about Megan Abbott (see here and here). I only discovered her work last year and I subsequently felt obligated to share her with pretty much everyone I’ve crossed…

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The longlist, or ‘Man Booker Dozen’, for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize has been announced. Longlisted authors include two-time Booker Prize winner J.M. Coetzee, as well three debut novelists: David Means, Wyl Menmuir and Virginia Reeves.

Chair of the 2016 judges, Amanda Foreman, writes: ‘This is a very exciting year. The range of books is broad and the quality extremely high. Each novel provoked intense discussion and, at times, passionate debate, challenging our expectations of what a novel is and…

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The Australian Crime Writers Association has announced the 2016 shortlists for the Ned Kelly Awards for the best in Australian crime writing.

Here are the shortlists in each category:

Best Fiction

R&R by Mark Dapin

The Heat by Garry Disher

Fall by Candice Fox

Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty

Ash Island by Barry Maitland

Before it Breaks by Dave Warner

Best true crime

Certain Admissions by Gideon Haigh

The Sting by Kate Kyriacou

A Murder Without Motive by Martin McKenzie-Murray

…

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