Our latest blog posts

Which book should win this year's Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction?

Last month, we hosted a Shortlist Showdown with Kill Your Darlings in which six readers and writers made a case for their favourite book from the shortlist to win this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.

In anticipation of our announcement of the winner next week, here’s a recap of their arguments which have all been published in full on the Kill Your Darlings website.

Elizabeth Flux makes a case for In The Quiet by Eliza Henry-Jones

“If…

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A window display of Shaun Tan's sculptures

Shaun Tan’s new book The Singing Bones features photographic images of a range of extraordinary clay sculptures created by Tan, each one capturing the essence of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

We’re delighted to announce, for one week only, we have a selection of the sculptures on display in our Carlton shop window!

We’ll be returning them to Tan on Monday 26 October, so make some time over the next week to take a look.

Our Carlton shop is located…

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What we're reading: Lauren Groff, Debra Adelaide and Colin Barrett

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.

Ann Le Lievre is reading Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life by Jonathan Bate

This is an insightful, engaging book. It was happily residing in the middle of a pile of fabulous new October releases, but when I saw it had been shortlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize, it made a sudden…

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Nominees for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2016

by Holly Harper

The nominees for the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award have been announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Over two hundred authors, illustrators and storytellers from fifty nine countries are in the running to win the world’s largest children’s literature prize.

Candidates from Australia and New Zealand are:

Joy Cowley

Lynley Dodd

Ursula Dubosarsky

Libby Gleeson

Morris Gleitzman

Alison Lester

Melina Marchetta

Markus Zusak

Click here for a full list of nominees.

Australian authors Sonya Hartnett and Shaun Tan took home…

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Best new cookbooks in October

by Chris Gordon

The Moroccan Soup Bar by Hana Assafiri (available 26 October)

Over the last 17 years the Moroccan Soup Bar has become a much-loved Melbourne institution. It’s a unique dining experience with Hana, head chef and owner, telling you what’s what on the menu. She says: ‘At the Moroccan Soup Bar we strive to rectify the imbalance where women in all societies and religions are among the most vulnerable and marginalised. Modern cooking is underpinned by the innovation and creativity of…

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Marlon James wins the Man Booker Prize 2015

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James is the winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2015!

In A Brief History of Seven Killings, James combines brilliant storytelling with his unrivaled skills of characterization and meticulous eye for detail to forge an enthralling novel of dazzling ambition and scope. Set across three decades, the novel uses the true story of the attempt on the life of reggae star Marley to explore the turbulent world of Jamaican…

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Best new crime in October

by Fiona Hardy

CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH:

The Dark Inside by Rod Reynolds

As someone who’s never been to America’s south, I only know what I read in books: lots of diners, folks who don’t like the look of you, and dirt tracks where any manner of thing can go wrong. And I love it, that southern tale: the heat, the secrets, something about the writing that is sweet and sour like ripe old candy. It surprised me to realise that Reynolds…

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