We’re thrilled to be hosting a free event with Shirley Barrett (filmmaker and now author) this Friday 4 September. Barrett will be in conversation with critic Rebecca Harkins-Cross. Find out more here.

Here, Barrett shares some recipes and housekeeping tips which are referenced in her debut novel, Rush Oh!.

One of the pleasures of writing domestic fiction in a historical setting is the opportunity it presents to waste hours of precious writing time poring over ancient recipe books…

Read more ›

Last month I went to an event at our Hawthorn shop to celebrate the publication of The Hush Treasure Book. The book is a collection of original writings and illustrations by some of Australia’s leading children’s authors, and lots of the contributors came to read their stories to a huge crowd. The book comes out of the Hush Music Foundation which was established by physician Dr Catherine Crock. While working with young cancer patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital…

Read more ›

The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons

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

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

Make Me by Lee Child

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones

Gut: the Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-Rated Organ by Giulia…

Read more ›

September in Melbourne is usually associated with a certain feverish state, namely Footy Finals Fever. It may not be surprising to hear that this common ailment does not affect me, but this year I don’t feel so left out because bookish fevers of other kinds give one plenty of reason to cheer and swoon.

This is the month we celebrate the release of Fever of Animals, our Book of the Month, and the seriously wonderful debut novel from our…

Read more ›

Our staff have been enjoying the Melbourne Writers Festival over the past week. As the final weekend of the festival looms, here’s what we’ve loved so far, and what we’re still looking forward to.

Stella Charls has seen almost everything

I’ve been helping out at the Writers Festival, and was lucky enough to park myself in the Deakin Edge theatre for pretty much the entirety of the first weekend. My bookmarked international guest right from the moment the program launched…

Read more ›

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.

Emily Gale is reading Cloudwish by Fiona Wood

This week it was my pleasure to read Fiona Wood’s young adult novel, Cloudwish, the third in a series of connected stories that can be read completely independently of each other or as a set. Six Impossible Things introduces us to some characters in…

Read more ›

Two Futures: Australia at a Critical Moment by Clare O'Neil and Tim Watts

The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons

Solomon’s Noose: The True Story of Her Majesty’s Hangman of Hobart by Steve Harris

A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

St Gill & His Audiences by Sasha Grishin

Catch and Kill: The Politics of Power by Joel Deane

Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta

All…

Read more ›

We’re delighted to announce the 2015 shortlist for The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction! Established in 2014, this prize supports published Australian authors working in fiction, and recognises exciting and exceptional new contributions to local literature.

The six shortlisted books are:

The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop
Last Day in the Dynamite Factory by Annah Faulkner
In the Quiet by Eliza Henry-Jones
Arms Race by Nic Low
Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman
Heat and Light…

Read more ›

We’ve announced the shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2015. Here, we introduce the six shortlisted authors.

Find more information about this year’s shortlist (including the judges’ report) here.

Stephanie Bishop, author of The Other Side of the World

Stephanie Bishop holds a PhD from Cambridge and is currently a lecturer in creative writing at the University of New South Wales. Her first novel was The Singing, for which she was named one of the…

Read more ›

We’re delighted that Last Day in the Dynamite Factory by Annah Faulkner is one of the six books shortlisted for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Here is a short extract from the novel.

Find more information about this year’s shortlist (including the judges’ report) here.

1997

Jo’s end was brutal, too, but slow. Not felled by a single blow, but eaten away, from the inside.

Chris sat with her during those last few days, giving her…

Read more ›