Three emerging Australian writers have been named The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists for 2020. Congratulations to Josephine Rowe, Alice Bishop and Joey Bui!

Here are our bookseller recommendations for each of their books.

Here Until August by Josephine Rowe

‘A beautifully crafted collection that leaves the reader breathless with its beauty. Every sentence in this boo…

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It is a sad and inescapable reality of working at a bookshop that one can not read every book that comes through the door. At times, we simply must resort to handselling titles based on what we’ve heard from others, instead of our own first-hand experiences. With Covid-19 causing Readings to temporarily close the doors of our physical shops, a number of our booksellers have been home, self-isola…

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Chris Gordon is our events and programming manager extraordinaire, as well as our monthly food and gardening columnist. Here is the latest instalment of her self-isolation cooking diary.

What have I learned this week?

Making sourdough bread is not for the faint-hearted – even if you do live in the north. If you haven’t attempted to make it, are you even in lockdown? This process is not somet…

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Feeling stuck in a kids book rut? Maybe some translated children’s literature from all over the globe might help. Here are some of our recent favourite kids books in translation. Forever by Beatrice Alemagna

This gorgeous, simple and very comforting picture book explores how things are always changing and moving, and nothing stays the same forever. Tears dry up, sleep ends, birds and music …

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Kay Kerr’s debut novel Please Don’t Hug Me depicts life on the cusp of adulthood – and on the autism spectrum. Kerr is a freelance writer and former journalist and community newspaper editor from Queensland. She was writing the first draft of Please Don’t Hug Me when she received her own autism-spectrum diagnosis.

If I were asked to name my most life-changing moment, it wouldn’t be my book dea…

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We asked the team at Victorian Women’s Trust to share what they’ve been reading in isolation. Here’s what they said. From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories by Mark McKenna

“If there remains any need to drive the last nail in the coffin of terra nullius, this is it, with riveting historical accounts of overlooked or forgotten encounters between Indigenous people and White Europeans.”

– M…

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The team at Emerging Writers’ Festival have been spending their time looking after their houseplants, planning their entirely online festival for 2020 and of course, reading. Here’s what they’ve been sinking their teeth into during isolation.

“Carmen Maria Machado is such an awe-inspiring (and I usually hate that phrase!) writer and her experimentation with form is chef’s kiss. She’s probably …

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For bookclubs who remember Melbourne’s post-punk yesteryear… Almost a Mirror by Kirsten Krauth

Mona, Benny and Jimmy are drawn into the elegantly wasted orbit of the Crystal Ballroom and the post-punk scene of ‘80s Melbourne, a world that includes Nick Cave and Dodge, a photographer pushing his art to the edge. As it moves between the Blue Mountains and Melbourne, Sydney and Castlemaine, Almo…

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The Australian Book Industry Awards Academy has announced the ABIA Book shortlists for 2020, and the winners of the Rising Star and Hall of Fame Awards.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors, illustrators, narrators, and publishers.

General fiction book of the year Bruny by Heather Rose Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham Silver by Chris Hammer …

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Slime by David Walliams & Tony Ross Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle, Book 2) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff Bluey: Time to Play! Landing with Wings by Trace Balla Eddie Woo’s Magical Maths by Eddie Woo I Can Be Anything by Shinsuke Yoshitake Bluey: Bob Bilby Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery by Renée Treml E-Boy (E-Boy, Book 1) by Anh Do & Chris Wahl What Do You Call a Baby…? by Ka…

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