Our latest blog posts

Mark's Say, July 2016

by Mark Rubbo

I was lucky enough to meet Nicola Hill, marketing director for the Penguin Press in the UK, recently. Nicola looks after the wonderful books that come out of the Penguin Classic and Allen Lane lists. Part of the challenge for publishers these digital days is to reinforce the idea of the book as a beautiful and interesting object and Penguin with their rich backlist have a lot to work with. You may have seen on our shelves the Little Black…

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Inga Simpson interviews Rajith Savanadasa

by Inga Simpson

Inga Simpson interviews Rajith Savanadasa about his debut novel, Ruins.

Rajith Savanadasa’s debut novel, Ruins, is a vibrant portrait of a family, city and country in the midst of change. It is set in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, around the end of the thirty-year civil war, in 2009. Initially, the conflict is off in the distance, reflecting Savanadasa’s own experience. The war was ‘Something happening up in the north,’ he says, ‘not part of daily reality.’ And yet…

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National Biography Award shortlist 2016

This year’s shortlist for the National Biography Award has been announced.

This Award is presented annually to a published work of biographical or autobiographical writing aiming to promote public interest in these genres.

The six shortlisted titles for 2016 include:

Reckoning by Magda Szubanski

Battarbee and Namatjira by Martin Edmond

Comrade Ambassador: Whitlam’s Beijing Envoy by Stephen FitzGerald

Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather by Karen Lamb

Bearing Witness: The Remarkable Life of Charles Bean, Australia’s greatest war correspondent by…

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10 picture books to celebrate NAIDOC Week

Happy NAIDOC Week! NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Here are 10 gorgeous reads exploring Indigenous culture and history for you to read along with your child.

Shake a Leg by Boori Monty Pryor and Jan Ormerod

From pizza shop to bora ground, here is a joyous celebration of food, dance and cultural understanding. When three young boys go to a pizza parlour and meet an Aboriginal chef who can speak…

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Our top ten bestsellers of the week

Fine by Michelle Wright

Ruins by Rajith Savanadasa

The Dry by Jane Harper

Barkskins by Annie Proulx

The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith

Vinegar Girl: The Taming of the Shrew Retold by Anne Tyler

The Girls by Emma Cline

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)

Firing Line – Australia’s Path to War (Quarterly Essay 62) by James Brown

Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner

Six of the reads in our top…

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Wainwright Prize shortlist 2016

This year’s shortlist for The Wainwright Prize has been announced. Now in its third year, this prize awards £5,000 annually to the work that best reflects renowned nature writer Alfred Wainwright’s core values of celebrating the great British outdoors.

The six shortlisted titles are:

Common Ground by Rob Cowen

The Outrun by Amy Liptrot

Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane

The Moth Snowstorm by Michael McCarthy

The Fish Ladder by Katharine Norbury

The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks

Chair of judges Dame…

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What we're reading: Sean Rabin, Zoë Morrison and Emily Gale

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 The Other Side of Summer by Emily Gale

I don’t read many books for kids and teens, but this gem by Emily Gale made me realise what I am missing out on. The Other Side of Summer completely stole my heart – I found myself caring so much for…

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Dear Reader, July 2016

by Alison Huber

July’s Book of the Month is the superb Music and Freedom, a debut novel from multi-talented Melbourne-based writer Zoë Morrison. It is my long-held opinion that it’s incredibly difficult to write well about music, but this book’s accounts of piano and Rachmaninov make it look easy, and are truly sublime. I recently learned that my childhood piano teacher is a reader of this column: dear Mrs M, I must tell you that this book made me very sorry I…

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June in review

This month, we were delighted to announce that the winner of our Readings Children’s Book Prize is Run, Pip, Run – a moving, tender, wonderfully wry story for readers 9 and up. You can read more about the Prize announcement here, as well as an interview with winning author J.C. Jones here.

June also saw Lisa McInerny named the winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Biting, moving and darkly funny, her novel The Glorious Heresies tells…

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