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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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 She won the David Unaipon Award for an Unpublished Indigenous Writer in…

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

Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford

Blood Year - Terror and the Islamic State by David Kilcullen (Quarterly Essay 58)

The Strays by Emily Bitto

Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book by Johanna Basford

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Colourtation Anti-Stress Colouring Book For…

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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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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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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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Earlier this week, a customer requested a list of aeroplane reads. Here, different staff share what they consider the ‘perfect’ read for a long-haul flight.

Nina Kenwood

I never buy celebrity magazines until I am faced with a plane trip (of any length) and then suddenly, I must have WHO and NW in my hands. This also applies to books – I read a lot of literary fiction in my everyday life, but I can’t stomach it on a plane…

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100 Story Building is a centre for young writers based in Melbourne’s inner-west, where children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse and marginalised backgrounds are given the opportunity to foster their creative voice. The Readings Foundation is a proud supporter of the centre.

Readings staff member Bronte Coates recently visited 100 Story Building, and was lucky enough to sit in on their weekly book club for secondary school students.

Last week I met with the Level 87…

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Our Managing Director Mark Rubbo has been named the 2015 recipient of the Lloyd O’Neil Award for a person who has made a significant, dedicated contribution to the development and reputation of the Australian book industry. The award was announced at tonight’s Australian Book Industry Awards in Sydney.

Mark is a past president of the Australian Booksellers Association and was founding chair of the Melbourne Writers Festival. In 2006 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia. In…

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