Staff share what they’re planning to see at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) this year. You can find the full program here.

We’ve also prepared a quick ‘at-a-glance’ guide to the program for the time-poor, shared our top picks for book lovers, and compiled a list of family-friendly films.

Lian Hingee’s wishlist includes films about conspiracy theories and cats.

I’m a sucker for space, conspiracy theories and mockumentaries, so Operation Avalanche kind of looks like it…

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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.

Mark Rubbo is reading Nightmare in Berlin by Hans Fallada

Interest in Hans Fallada was re-ignited with the republication of his great anti-fascist novel, Alone in Berlin, a few years ago. His new work, Nightmare in Berlin, is partly autobiographical and set just as Germany is falling to the Russian troops…

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From a gender-bent Vlad the Impaler to the wisdom of Oscar Wilde, here are our top young adult picks for July.

(You can find out find our top children’s book picks here.)

YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE MONTH

When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Mina is a refugee who has fled Afghanistan. She has done her time in refugee camps and detention centres, and now she has worked hard to secure her place as a scholarship student. Michael…

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From geriatric paper route wars to a hilarious family of hyenas, here are our top children’s book picks for July.

(You can find out find our top young adult book picks here.)

2016 READINGS CHILDREN’S BOOK PRIZE WINNER

We’ve just announced the winner of this year’s Readings Children’s Book Prize: Run, Pip, Run by J.C. Jones.

Run, Pip, Run is a heartfelt read about a young girl on the run from the authorities after her foster grandfather is sent…

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For an elegant affair involving Shakespeare…

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

In this offbeat comedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler reimagines The Taming of the Shrew for today. Kate Battista’s eccentric scientist father has cooked up an outrageous plan to prevent his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, from being deported – but it relies on his forthright and strong-willed daughter being, well, less forthright and strong-willed than usual. Our reviewer promises that this modern…

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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 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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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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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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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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