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Ali Smith wins the 2015 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction
Ali Smith has been named this year’s winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, for her sixth novel How To Be Both.
Chair of Judges Shami Chakrabarti said: ‘Ancient and modern meet and speak to each other in this tender, brilliant and witty novel of grief, love, sexuality and shape-shifting identity.’
Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an literary double-take, How To Be Both is a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. Two tales…
The Kibble and Dobbie Literary Awards Shortlists 2015
Congratulations to all the authors shortlisted for this year’s Kibble and Dobbie Literary Awards.
The Kibble and Dobbie Literary Awards are open to Australian women writers who have published a book of fiction or non-fiction classifiable as ‘life writing’.
Here is the shortlist for the $30,000 Kibble Literary Award (for an established author):
Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy by Sophie Cunningham – Read our review
This House of Grief by Helen Garner – Read our review
Photos from last night's launch of Steven Carroll new novel
We had so much fun at the launch of Forever Young – the new novel from acclaimed author Steven Carroll, winner of the Prime Minister’s Award and the Miles Franklin Award. Here are some photos from the night.
Jason Steger said a few words about Steven’s work
Steven gave a lovely thank you speech
The shop was packed
Emily Bitto and Antoni Jach
Shane Maloney brought his dog along to enjoy the festivities!
Readings staff member Tom Hoskins played Bob…
Our featured writer for June: Zoë Norton Lodge
Every month, we do a spotlight feature on one Australian author on our blog and Zoë Norton Lodge is our chosen author for June. Her debut book, Almost Sincerely, is a laugh-out-loud collection of stories about her life and family in Annandale, Sydney.
What’s the book about?
The stories in Almost Sincerely – about neighbourhood warfare, wacky relatives, quashed dreams and facial disfigurement – are told with Norton Lodge’s characteristic comic verve and eye for absurdity and menace. Their…
Read an excerpt from Almost Sincerely by Zoë Norton Lodge
by Zoë Norton LodgeZoë Norton Lodge is the author of Almost Sincerely. Here is an extract from her book: ‘The Red Light’.
A little fly buzzed its way around the room. It bounced from wall to table to wall and then it flew up to the top of the cupboard and settled next to the flashing red light. It nestled itself down next to the red light and it said to me, ‘Zoë, see this red light? This red light is probably…
Zoë Norton Lodge on storytelling and performance
by Zoë Norton LodgeZoë Norton Lodge is the author of Almost Sincerely. Here she tells us about how she came to write her book, and her love of storytelling.
My book is a series of short stories about me, my family and the place I grew up – a suburb in Sydney called Annandale. Taking the maxim ‘write what you know’ to uncomfortable extremes, I have literally just written about people I know and stuff that happened to me. In that sense…
The last five books I've read
by Zoë Norton LodgeZoë Norton Lodge is the author of Almost Sincerely. Here she tells us the last five books she read, and how she rated them.
The very last thing I read was the Magna Carta. Would not recommend. V boring. 1 Star. Does have some highlights – like how we should measure booze and the right to a fair trial, but otherwise it’s a snoozefest.
The last book I read was The President’s Desk by Shaun Micallef. It’s a mish-mash…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons
The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge
Leap by Myfanwy Jones
The Strays by Emily Bitto
Blood Year - Terror and the Islamic State by David Kilcullen (Quarterly Essay 58)
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Drunk Tank Pink: The Subconscious Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel,…
Mark's Say, June 2015
For those of you who’ve read Drusilla Modjeska’s most recent novel, The Mountain, you’ll be aware of her affection for the people of Papua New Guinea. The Mountain is set primarily in the lower reaches of Mt Lamington, an active volcano in Oro Province. Modjeska first went to PNG as the wife of a young academic, in the late 1960s, at a time full of optimism as the nation was preparing for independence. She began returning to PNG many…
Photos from SEAM (Sustain Education Art Melanesia)
Our managing director Mark Rubbo recently travelled to Papua New Guinea to learn more about SEAM, which was founded by author Drusilla Modjeska. You can read about his trip, and the project, here.
Below are some photos.
Arriving at the village
The welcoming ceremony
A Bird of Paradise headdress
Bilums – traditional string bags from Papua New Guinea
Fjord
The audience as Stephen demonstrates the Schoolmate
Children from the school
Children from the school
A final group shot (Mark…
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