Our latest blog posts
What we're reading: Rick Yancey,Meg Medina and Elspeth Muir
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.
Angela Crocombe is reading Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
I loved reading this atmospheric young adult novel set in Queens, New York during the infamous summer of 1977 when a serial killer was on the loose, a spate of arson attacks were plaguing the city, and a blackout turned the entire city…
Our favourite books of 2016 (so far)
Our staff share the best books they’ve read so far this year, including new releases and older titles just discovered.
Mark Rubbo, managing director:
It’s always challenging to select the ‘best’ books when faced with so many wonderful offerings. However, the first book that comes to mind is Helen Garner’s latest collection of essays, Everywhere I Look. This collection of pieces from the last 15 years of her writing career is a pleasure to read – and a reminder…
Our top picks of the month for book clubs
For a night of dysfunctional family stories…
The Healing Party by Micheline Lee
We recently included this fantastic debut from Australian author Micheline Lee in a list of brilliant new novels featuring dysfunctional families, and our reviewer writes that Lee ‘breathes new life’ into these kinds of narratives. A young woman returns home to her estranged family to care for her sick mother. One day her father says he has received a message from God that his…
Best new crime reads in June
CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
Sunset City by Melissa Ginsburg
Short and anything but sweet, Sunset City paints a neon-soaked picture of Houston’s grimiest places, visited by a drunk and bereaved Charlotte Ford, trying to find solace after the death of her oldest friend. Danielle was murdered – beaten to death in a hotel room – and the cops are wondering why, after years of distance, Charlotte spoke to her just days before she died. Charlotte wonders the same thing…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Dry by Jane Harper
Saved to Remember by Frank Vajda
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith
Dead Men Don’t Order Flake by Sue Williams
Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)
The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith)
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Our bestselling book of…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
The World’s Worst Children by David Walliams and Tony Ross
The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey
Tom Gates: Super Good Skills (Almost) (Book 10) by Liz Pichon
Circle by Jeannie Baker
In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
The Other Side of Summer by Emily Gale
New Guard (Book 17) by Robert Muchamore
Run, Pip, Run by J.C. Jones
The Treehouse Fun Book by Andy Griffiths, Jill Griffiths and Terry Denton
The…
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…
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…
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…
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.
, 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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