Our latest blog posts

Best literary pets (that we'd secretly like to own ourselves)

Our staff share their favourite pets from fiction – that they wish they could’ve owned themselves!

Lian Hingee especially loves imaginary animals

I read Phoebe and Her Unicorn this year and I’m totally with Phoebe here, if I rescued a unicorn and was granted a wish I would definitely also wish for the unicorn – one Marigold Heavenly Nostrils – to be my best friend/pet. Marigold isn’t just a talking magic unicorn, she’s a talking magic Unicorn with attitude and…

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What I loved: The Mouse and his Child by Russell Hoban

by Mike Shuttleworth

The Mouse and his Child is a perfect book for the word-dreaming child. The tale of two tin wind-up mice in search of their own territory sings with incident, humour and emotion. At its heart is a story of family bonds that cannot be broken. And in Manny Rat the novel also has one of the most villainous figures in children’s fiction.

The Mouse and his Child is undergoing a revival – the Royal Shakespeare Company (who also created the…

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Our 30 essential picture books

Our collection of favourite Australian and international stories to read with every child.

Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen

Beside the sea, there once lived a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig, and a tiny little mouse. One warm, sunny morning – for no particular reason – they decided to go for a row in the bay. Do you know who sank the boat? This funny tale will have everybody guessing.

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley…

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Books to inspire your teenager

by Isobel Moore

I think we’re all prone to forgetting how hard being a teenager can be. Social pressures, gender expectations, school grades, and everything thoroughly marinated in a cocktail of hormones. It’s no wonder that teenagers sometimes get a bit grumpy – I wouldn’t go back there for the world. Despite all this I think everybody can agree that we still want them to grow up into happy, caring members of society… So here are five books to set them on that…

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Books we didn't finish in 2015 (but you might)

Our staff share the books they didn’t finish in 2015 – but that you might want to…

I wanted to love As You Wish, Cary Elwes’ account of the making of The Princess Bride. I’m not a massive fan, but I did really enjoy the film, and the book it’s based on even more. However, I found this memoir a little too sentimental, and slow-moving for my liking. This said, I’ve certainly heard other people rave about As

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My favourite page-turners of 2015

by Bronte Coates

The Every series by Ellie Marney

I tore through Ellie Marney’s Sherlock Holmes-inspired YA detective trilogy in a single weekend. Smart, sexy, and suspenseful, these novels were dangerously readable and had me staying up late into the night. I loved spending time with Watts as she navigated being a teenager and intrepid investigator (the latter sometimes unwillingly). She goes through a scary ordeal in the second book (I was very upset), and I was impressed with how Marney didn’t just…

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Books we wouldn't have read in 2015 without a recommendation

Our staff share the books they loved in 2015, but wouldn’t have read without a recommendation.

Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts! I can’t remember who first recommended this to me but I glad I got round to seeking it out. I loved the speed of Nelson’s thoughts and her writing on queer culture, gender fluidity and family. Groundbreaking stuff. – Jess Au, bookseller at St Kilda

I just finished reading the wonderful short novel The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by…

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The most interesting young women I met this year (in books)

by Stella Charls

This year, for the first time, I kept a record of everything I read. This was largely due to a persuasive argument made by my colleague Nina earlier this year. Looking back, my list isn’t as long as I would’ve liked but when it comes to the books I loved best this year, I’ve noticed a striking theme. Nearly all of them feature women in their teens or twenties that work to challenge the notion of ‘likeability’ – a notion…

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Prime Minister's Literary Awards winners 2015

The 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced with two categories naming joint winners.

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards recognise and reward excellence in Australian literature and history. Award Categories are fiction, poetry, non-fiction, Australian history, young adult fiction and children’s fiction.

Congratulations to the winners in each category.

Fiction

The Golden Age by Joan London

Non-fiction

Joint winners:

Wild Bleak Bohemia: Marcus Clarke, Adam Lindsay Gordon and Henry Kendall by Michael Wilding

John Olsen: An Artist’s Life by…

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