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Come visit us at EWF

We’re co-hosting two special events at this year’s Emerging Writer’s Festval!

LET’S TALK ABOUT LITERARY AWARDS

Join literary prize managers Bronte Coates (Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction), Kirsty Wilson (The Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing), Aviva Tuffield (The Stella Prize) and Robert Watkins (The Richell Prize for Emerging Writers) with chair Christine Gordon to discuss literary awards: why are they important, how do you win one, what happens next, what do the judges really think, and…

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What we're reading: Lindy West, Amy Liptrot and Heidi Julavits

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.

Chris Gordon is reading Fine by Michelle Wright

This debut collection of stories is due to be released in July, and it’s one to get excited about. With her words, Michelle Wright has managed to pin to the page that very particular emotion that comes to the surface when we tell ourselves that…

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Brilliant feminist memoirs and essays

Our staff recommend some of their favourite feminist memoirs and essay collections.

Nina Kenwood recommends…

Roxane Gay’s essay collection Bad Feminist is full of thought-provoking essays on race, inequality and gender. Gay is particularly brilliant at writing about pop culture from a feminist perspective, and many of her best pieces in the collection are on film and literature. From her love letter to Sweet Valley High to her shockingly powerful and very personal essay on The Hunger Games, Gay’s…

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Lisa McInerny wins the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction

Lisa McInerny has won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel The Glorious Heresies.

The Glorious Heresies

, a superbly original, compassionate novel that delivers insights into the very darkest of lives through humour and skilful storytelling. A fresh new voice and a wonderful winner.’

Biting, moving and darkly funny, The Glorious Heresies tells the story of how one messy murder affects the lives of five misfits who exist on the fringes of Ireland’s post-crash society.

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Inside a teen reader's head

by Liam Dempster

We grill our work experience student Liam Dempster on his reading habits, book recommendations and what he’d ask Harpo Marx.

How would you describe your taste in books? Do you like romance or adventure, science fiction or history, etc?

Lately I have been quite interested in autobiographies and biographies written by people or about people who I look up to. Such books include: Harpo Speaks, Groucho and Me, Jolson and Going Solo. I have been reading some…

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Our favourite June new releases for teens

by Holly Harper

From secret prisons to a modern-day Othello, here are the June YA releases we’re most excited about.

Young Adult Book of the Month

One Would Think The Deep by Claire Zorn

It’s 1997, and after the sudden loss of his mother, seventeen year old Sam finds himself alone in the world. His father is long gone, and the only other family he has is the aunt he cut ties with years ago. But desperate times call for desperate measures…

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Our favourite June new releases for kids

by Holly Harper

From magical umbrellas to missing ballet teachers, here are our favourite children’s books in June!

Kids’ Book of the Month

The Other Side of Summer by Emily Gale

Summer is struggling to cope after the death of her beloved brother Floyd, and when her father announces he’s moving the family to Australia, her life falls further into disarray. In the midst of her grief, Summer picks up her brother’s guitar and continues with the lessons he was giving her before…

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Q&A with Ben Pobjie

by Chris Gordon

When I read Error Australis I thought… This is a history book but not as we know it. This is a book that could be used in schools, but it’s not like the textbooks we had in the 1980s. This is a book that shows irony is not lost on us as Australians. And I wondered, what was your intention in writing the book? Was it to help readers learn more about history, or was it to make people laugh…

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Four booksellers on why you should read The Secret Place by Tana French

We’ve found your perfect new winter crime read…

‘This is one of those twisty, addictive mysteries that had me staying up far too late in the night to learn what happened.

The book’s premise is simple. One year after the murder of a teenage boy at a prestigious girl’s boarding school, a note is found pinned to a board that reads: ‘I know who killed him’. Two detectives come in to investigate – each with their own agenda – and…

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