Given the sizeable number of new releases that arrive in store each month, it’s easy to miss some hidden gems. We’ve compiled a short list of books you might have missed in August.

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

Several of our staff members can attest to the fact that Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls was extremely terrifying. Her newest release, Broken Monsters looks set to the same. In Detroit, violent death - along with foreclosure and despair - is a…

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A few years ago our events manager, Christine Gordon, some friends of Readings and I went to the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF). For lots of reasons it was the best literary festival I’d been to. Sorry Melbourne, sorry Sydney, sorry Adelaide and sorry Ubud, but none of you can match the vibrancy, diversity and sheer size of the JLF. This year, Readings has recruited Marieke Brugman to lead a tour to the 2015 JLF. Marieke has been taking tours to…

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We’re thrilled to announce the six shortlisted books for Readings New Australian Writing Award!

The Readings New Australian Writing Award is for an Australian author’s first or second book of fiction, and recognises exciting and exceptional new literary talent.

Here are the shortlisted books for 2014:

The Tribe by Michael Mohammed Ahmad (Giramondo)

An Elegant Young Man by Luke Carman (Giramondo)

Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette)

Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey (Hamish Hamilton)

The Night Guest by…

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To celebrate our our inaugural New Australian Writing (NAW) Award shortlist, we’re inviting everyone to take part in our NAW Reading Challenge!

Take the six book challenge and commit to reading the entire shortlist, or the three book challenge and read any three books on the shortlist, by Friday 17 October. Participants will have the opportunity to share their thoughts on the shortlisted books and win gift vouchers.

Here is what you’ll receive upon signing up (along with the…

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The Readings New Australian Writing Award is for an Australian author’s first or second book of fiction, and recognises exciting and exceptional new literary talent. Here is the judges’ report of the six shotlisted titles for 2014.

The Tribe by Michael Mohammed Ahmad (Giramondo)

Told from the point of view of a child called Bani, The Tribe introduces the members of a Muslim family who fled to Australia just before the civil war in Lebanon, and the narrative progresses through…

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In 2012, Favel Parrett won the Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship, and was able to travel on Antarctic resupply vessel, Aurora Australis, in order to research her novel When the Night Comes. Here, she tells us about the voyage and shares an excerpt from her journal of the voyage.

It was a busy trip – a major re-supply of the base, plus passenger drop-off and pick-up. The ship carried over one million tonnes of fuel to offload, as…

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The Inkys are international awards for teen literature, voted for online by the readers of the State Library of Victoria Inside a Dog website. Together, the six teen judges on this year’s panel have selected five Australian titles (for the Gold Inky) and five international titles (for the Silver Inky).

The Gold Inky 2014 Shortlist:

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

The First Third by William Kostakis

Every Breath by Ellie Marney

Fairytales for Wilde Girls…

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This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial by Helen Garner

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

The Good Fight by Wayne Swan

Optimism: Reflections on a Life of Action by Bob Brown

Adultery by Paulo Coelho

All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld

Will to Win by Don Miller

We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

The Life of I: The New Culture of…

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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.

Deb is reading Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin

If Patti Smith recommends a book I tend to take note. A chance encounter with a glossy magazine with Smith espousing the life-changing charms of Astragal found me jotting down the name Albertine Sarrazin, and searching Readings’ shelves for my target. ‘Oh, it’s THAT book. Of…

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Vogliamo Tutto (We Want Everything) by Nanni Balestrini

This book from Italian writer Nanni Balestrini was first published in 1971. Vogliamo Tutto (We Want Everything) focuses on the ‘hot autumn of 1969’ that started with a big strike at Fiat, Turin, and sparked nearly 10 years of radical action in Italy. This is the first English translation of the work, and is published by a new Melbourne-based press, Telephone Publishing. The book is designed by Warren Taylor, a lecturer…

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