The Anti-Cool Girl by Rosie Waterland

Purity by Jonathan Franzen

The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz (translated by George Goulding)

Bleed by Bill Williams

The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)

Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)

ST Gill & His Audiences by Sasha Grishin

Prick with a Fork: The World’s Worst Waitress Spills the Beans by Larissa Dubecki

And You…

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CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH:

Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic

While I love a solely plot-driven book as much as I love a blustery action movie (i.e. a LOT), a book that has characters of real depth and diversity, like Resurrection Bay, is quite simply a pleasure to read. And having diversity in a book’s characters is, quite honestly, a relief: it shows awareness of the world around us, one that is not full of much-loved cookie-cutter crime staples…

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It’s often difficult for emerging writers, particularly of longer works, to find spaces to showcase their craft – and the same is true for emerging editors, who can find it difficult to make a name for themselves in a role which is meant to be largely invisible. Seizure’s Viva La Novella Prize, now in its third iteration, combines the two in a yearly competition, teaming up emerging editors with emerging writers, who work together over several months bringing a novella…

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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.

This week, we not only share what our own staff are reading, but also what the team behind Melbourne literary journal Kill Your Darlings is reading too (see here).

Nina Kenwood is reading Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson

Everyone at Readings is talking about this debut Australian novel (our head book…

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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.

This week, we not only share what our own staff are reading (see here), but also what the team behind Melbourne literary journal Kill Your Darlings is reading too.

Hannah Kent, Publishing Director:

I recently read the slender, beautiful A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, translated from the German by Charlotte Collins…

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Longtime Terry Pratchett fan Dani Solomon writes about the bittersweet experience of reading the final Discworld novel. (Please note, there are some spoilers in here.)

A few weeks ago I held an unread Discworld novel in my hands for what would be the last time. I didn’t want to read it. I didn’t want to open it. I didn’t want to never have a new Discworld book to look forward to. Terry Pratchett’s family and friends had a wake and…

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The Anti-Cool Girl is a blackly comic Australian memoir for our times and a clarion call for all anti-cool girls everywhere. This is an edited extract from the book. (For a limited time, we have signed copies of the book available for purchase online.)

Oh Rosie. Not even born yet, and already on the run. How exhausting. At a time when you should be concentrating on not growing an extra thumb, you’re being tossed around in your mum’s belly while…

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Baddawi by Leila Abdelrazaq

Raised in a refugee camp called Baddawi in northern Lebanon, Ahmad is just one of the many thousands of refugee children born to Palestinians who fled their homeland after the war in 1948 established the state of Israel.

Leila Abdelrazaq’s graphic novel is a loosely-drawn account of her father’s childhood in Baddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, and it’s a surprisingly gentle telling given the subject matter. In short chapters, Abdelrazaq depicts Ahmad’s daily life…

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Events Manager Chris Gordon shares her top five picks from our September event calendar.

If your parents ever told you to never talk about sex, religion or politics in polite company then move away now…. We have all taboo subjects covered in our events program for September and some of them will not make you feel good about where Australian is heading, and why. But by joining in the debate, we hope that you feel inspired to listen a little…

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Here are ten recent picture books that collectively demonstrate the enormous depth and variety in this category, and individually stand tall. We think there are a few future favourites in this list.

Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenfeld

Some things never change, and the tradition of a certain type of kid keeping a collection of sticks, stones and other found items in their pockets is one of them. Sometimes these sticks and stones even need a place…

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