To celebrate our inaugural New Australian Writing (NAW) Award shortlist, we’re running a NAW Reading Challenge.

This week our participants have read The Tribe by Michael Mohammed Ahmad. Here are their responses to the novel (Ed. note: may contain spoilers!).

Alice says:

We are born, we procreate, we die. Birth, death and marriages are ceremonialised in all human societies. They are an integral part of what makes us humans the social animals we are. In The Tribe…

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We interview Julia Gillard about her autobiography, My Story. You can watch the interview in the below video.

We have limited signed copies of My Story available from all five of our shops but hurry! Our stock is limited.

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Anaïs Lellouche is the curator of the world-first exhibition, Victor Hugo: Les Misérables – From Page to Stage, now showing at the State Library of Victoria until Thursday 9 November. Here she talks on what it was like to prepare for the exhibition.

This exhibition began with a research trip to Paris, London and to Hugo’s incredible museum, Hauteville house in Guernsey. Well, my co-curator Tim Fisher and I had to view the material to ensure we brought the…

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Our crime specialist Fiona Hardy talks with Nadia Dalbuono about her writing process, Italy and her debut crime novel.

You’ve spent the past fifteen years travelling the world as a documentarian for various companies in the UK. Were you scribbling story ideas in your downtime while on location, or has writing fiction been a recent creative pursuit for you?

I wasn’t exactly scribbling ideas but I did get some inspiration from my travels. I have always wanted to write but…

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Events Manager Chris Gordon shares some highlights from our October program of events.

Roll up roll up… Our October events program is full to the brim with goodness. We are covering all the bases this month…

Do you have a passion for dance?

In anticipation of Sea of Rhythm – a brand new festival of rhythm, music and dance set over three days in November – we’re hosting a Q&A with festival performers about the history of jazz music and…

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

A Rightful Place: Race, Recognition and a More Complete Commonwealth (Quarterly Essay 55) by Noel Pearson

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi (available in-store Friday 26 September)

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein

We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

When the…

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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.

Chris is reading the Tom Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith

I’ve never been part of a book club as I often don’t finish the novels I start and most book clubs seem to have this as a requisite for attendance. (Even though I’m more than happy to give my opinion without meeting this…

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A note before I begin… This month a sudden influx of brilliant, varied picture books meant that I felt compelled to write a separate blog post about them. If you’re a picture book lover, whatever age, you can find my write-up here.

Moving along now into books for independent readers… I’ve seen how incredibly loyal children are once a book captures their imagination, which explains the phenomenal success of many series. It’s the comfort of the familiar world, I…

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Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. - Anthony Browne

We couldn’t agree more. And although Readings’ already has a list of collective favourites (see our 30 Essential Picture Books here) it’s always cause for celebration when some new notable picture books catch our eye. Here are 10 recent picture books we’d love to recommend to you, each one tied to a theme.

On independence:

A House Of…

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Bronte Coates talks with journalist and television presenter Geraldine Doogue about her new book featuring conversations with Australian women in power.

In The Climb, you explore how women are represented at the top levels of power in Australia. What prompted you to approach this topic?

I was very angry around the time of Julia Gillard’s demise at some of the references to her – especially from people like Alan Jones. When he attributed her father’s death to shame at…

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