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News from Australia's annual bookselling conferences

by Martin Shaw

Martin Shaw reports back from the Leading Edge Books and Australian Book Industry Award 2015 conferences.

So we’re all fresh from our annual conference which, as ever, re-charged the bookselling batteries with previews of the many highlights on the literary calendar for the remainder of 2015. Perhaps the book carrying the biggest buzz was the latest novel from Jonathan Franzen – Purity – advance copies of which naturally disappeared fast. But there were also some home-grown authors causing a stir…

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Is The Tsarnaev Brothers by Masha Gessen a good pick for book clubs?

Each month we choose a newly released book that we feel is perfect for a book club. Then we roadtest it.

Here are our thoughts on whether Masha Gessen’s The Tsarnaev Brothers: The Road to a Modern Tragedy is a good pick for for book clubs.

Does the book make for good conversation?

Absolutely! This book raises so many questions that there is simply no doubt that good conversation will be had. Gessen’s exploration of terrorism and the immigrant experience…

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Introducing our event program for June

With the Emerging Writers’ Festival opening last night, it feels necessary to start our highlights reel for June with two free events we’re hosting as part of their festival program.

On Wednesday 27 May (well, it’s almost June), the ever lovely Andy Griffiths will talk about his grassroots beginnings to being a bestselling author for children. This event is for aspiring writers, not for young readers – it’s strictly for writers over 18 years old. Find out more here.

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Rochelle Siemienowicz on turning 20 and reading Praise

by Rochelle Siemienowicz

In 1992 I turned 20 and got married. Raised as a strict Seventh-day Adventist (a boutique form of evangelical Christianity), I believed that the end of the world was near and that sex before marriage was a terrible sin. My boyfriend and I had fallen passionately in love at church, and we knew we had to get married quickly if we wanted to stay ‘good’. So we had our white wedding in the middle of winter during University’s mid-semester break…

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10 Australian debut authors to see at this year's Emerging Writers' Festival

The 2015 Emerging Writers’ Festival kicks off tonight with their Opening Night Extravaganza (featuring must-see guest speaker, Emily St. John Mandel). Here are ten debut Australian authors we’re looking forward to seeing at this year’s festival.

Ellen van Neerven, author of Heat and Light

Ellen van Neerven is a writer of Mununjali and Dutch heritage. She belongs to the Yugambeh people of the Gold Coast and Scenic Rim. She won the David Unaipon Award for an Unpublished Indigenous Writer in…

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Mark Rubbo's acceptance speech for the Lloyd O’Neil Award

Our Managing Director Mark Rubbo recently won the Lloyd O’Neil Award for service to the Australian book industry. The award was announced as part of the 2015 Australian Book Industry Awards.

Here is his acceptance speech from the night.

It’s a great honour to receive this award. Lloyd O’Neil helped set the stage for a truly Australian publishing industry and without him, we perhaps would not be where are today.

I’ve been in the bookselling game for coming up to…

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Getting to know our shortlisted authors: Karen Foxlee

Over the last few weeks we’ve been introducing you to the six shortlisted authors on the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015. (Meet the other five authors here, here and here.) Who are they? Where do their ideas come from? What do they love to read? What do they love to snack on?

We hope you’ll share these mini interviews with your children.

MEET KAREN FOXLEE

The Anatomy of Wings

and

The Midnight Dress

.

Ophelia and the Marvellous

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Getting to know our shortlisted authors: Allison Rushby

Over the last few weeks we’ve been introducing you to the six shortlisted authors on the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015. (Meet the other five authors here, here and here.) Who are they? Where do their ideas come from? What do they love to read? What do they love to snack on?

We hope you’ll share these mini interviews with your children.

MEET ALLISON RUSHBY

The Heiresses

which is about three teenagers in 1920s London, and a romance…

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What we're reading: Grégoire Chamayou, Oliver Sacks and Atticus Lish

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.

Alison Huber is reading Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish

I just finished reading Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish, which was recently announced the winner of the PEN/Faulkner award, and has been getting fantastic reviews all over the place. The story follows the fragile beauty of a relationship…

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