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The Readings Podcast is a celebration of books, music, film, TV and pop culture. Episodes feature author interviews, event recordings, booksellers chatting about books, and more.
We’ve recently uploaded a stack of terrific new episodes, including interviews with…
Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life
Alain de Botton, author of The Course of Love
Maxine Beneba Clarke, author of The Hate Race
Lili Wilkinson, author of The Boundless Sublime
Steven Amsterdam, author of The Easy Way Out
Phew!
You can…
Why you should read Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
We’re delighted that Lucy Treloar’s debut novel is one of the six books shortlisted for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Here’s why we think you should read this book.
1. Salt Creek is an Australian classic in the making.
Salt Creek has all the trappings of an Australian classic in the making – and it’s stacking up the award nominations to confirm it. This debut novel has won the Matt Richell Award for a New Writer, the…
Our favourite September new releases for kids
From spooky houses to chickens on Vespas, here are the best kids’ books September has on offer.
(Find the best new releases in young adult books here.)
KIDS’ BOOK OF THE MONTH
Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty & David Roberts (3+)
The team that brought us Iggy Peck, Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer are back again with yet another unforgettable character. And if you’ve got a curious kid in your life, you might like to introduce them to…
Our favourite September new releases for teens
From murderous fairies to second-hand bookshops, here’s a selection of the best young adult books out in September.
(Find the best new releases in children’s books here.)
YA BOOK OF THE MONTH
Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
Words in Deep Blue is an amazing coming-of-age tale penned by the incomparable Cath Crowley. It’s a story of two people who were best friends, but now they’re not. It’s a story of surviving terrible loss, even when the odds…
Best new crime reads in September
CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta
Like many readers, I’ve adored Melina Marchetta since my English teacher issued Looking for Alibrandi as a Year 11 text and we all gleefully discussed it in class since all of us actually happily read it instead of reading the study guide and bluffing our way through exams. Here, Marchetta has written her first novel for adults, and it’s a crime book – and nothing could…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
The 78-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Welcome to Country by Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston
The World’s Worst Children by David Walliams and Tony Ross
The 13-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
Little People, Big Dreams: Amelia Earhart by Isabel Sanchez Vergara and Maria Diamantes
The…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
Black Rock White City by A.S. Patrić
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke
Nutshell by Ian McEwan
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall
Grant and I by Robert Forster
Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler
Last Friday, Melbourne author (and our own St Kilda…
Q&A with Miles Franklin winner A.S. Patrić
Congratulations on being named this year’s winner of the Miles Franklin! How did you react when you got the news?
It’s near the end of winter in Melbourne so my wife and daughters were all home on a Monday because of a shared cold. The news came via a phone call near lunchtime and when I hung up and told my family, there was lots of hugging, cheering and dancing around our kitchen. And then, since it was a secret…
Ned Kelly Awards winners 2016
Congratulations to the 2016 winners of the Ned Kelly Awards for the best in Australian crime writing.
Best Fiction
Before it Breaks by Dave Warner
Detective Daniel Clement is back in Broome, licking his wounds from a busted marriage and struggling to be impressed by his new team of small-town cops. Here, in the oasis on the edge of the desert, life is as stagnant as Clement’s latest career move. But when a body is discovered in a local fishing…
Davitt Awards winners 2016
Congratulations to the 2016 winners of the Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women.
Adult novels + Debut + Reader’s Choice Award
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
Caleb Zelic, profoundly deaf since early childhood, has always lived on the outside – watching, picking up tell-tale signs people hide in a smile, a cough, a kiss. When a childhood friend is murdered, a sense of guilt and a determination to prove his own innocence sends Caleb on a…